A worker operates machinery at a beer bottling plant in the model village of Nan Jie Cun, China on Aug. 26, 2009. The village's industries are collectively owned, and workers receive free housing and healthcare. But the village's businesses operate on a strictly capitalist basis, competing in China's ruthlessly competitive market.

Chinese youth practice military drills outside of their school in the model village of Nan Jie Cun. For many, Nan Jie Cun has become a different type of model, a mixture of the free market and government control that has made China a new world power.

Wind turbines operate at the Da Bancheng Wind Farm, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Urumqi city, in Xinjiang. China's top legislature recently passed a resolution on climate change, after a report by the country's policy experts said the government should take action so the country's carbon dioxide emissions peak around 2030.

Swimmers head for a pool at a water park in Beijing.

Participants line up to take part in the first major dress rehearsal for China's 60th anniversary parade in Beijing. Beijing closed down streets in the heart of the city near Tiananmen square as tens of thousands of people joined in the first dress rehearsal for the parade.