Christmas, New Year's Day, Spring Festival and Valentine's Day. Ma Yuqiang counted the several holidays that would soon be coming in quick succession and shook his head with a sigh.
The old resident identity cards will be obsolete as of Jan 1, and public security departments in some major cities will begin collecting residents' fingerprints when people apply for a new ID card.
Tourists feed gulls on the bank of Kunming's Dianchi Lake, in Southwest China's Yunnan province, on Wednesday. More than 35,000 gulls have migrated to Kunming for the winter this year.
Soldiers of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force practice fighting skills in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Wednesday, when the first snow of this winter hit the city.
Chinese courts have convicted 29,852 people of crimes relating to intellectual property rights since 2008, Chief Justice Wang Shengjun said on Tuesday.
Seals play on sea ice near the shore of Yantai, Shandong province, on Tuesday after a powerful cold wave hit the area and froze seawater over the weekend.
China will begin its first nationwide geographic survey next year. The survey, which will cost about 1.1 billion yuan, will take three years to monitor China's nature and geographic conditions relating to humans.
Two wrestlers compete in front of a group of spectators during the Naadam festival in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region's Chen Barag Banner on Monday. The three games held during the festival are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery.
Nine people were killed and 19 injured when a vehicle collided with a truck on Sunday morning in Zhengzhou, Henan province. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
Senior leader Liu Yunshan on Sunday urged transparency and fair cadre selection in future.
Thirty-five high school students dressed as Santa Claus pedal their bicycles during a green travel promotion in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on Wednesday.
The country will stick to its family planning policy as one of its basic national policies and will maintain a relatively low fertility rate on the mainland, said Wang Xia, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission at a meeting on Tuesday.