China, Portrait of a Country

Snaking across northern China is the country's most famous landmark, the Great Wall. The Great Wall was created to defend the three states of Yan, Zhao and Qin. The separate walls created for the different states did not become a "great" wall until the Qin dynasty, when Emperor Qin Shihuang succeeded in joining the walls to fend off the Huns in the north. United, the Wall stretches almost 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) from east to west Photograph: Chen Changfen/PR

China launches the Shenzou No. 6, its first manned spacecraft, from Jiuquan Space Center in the Gobi Desert in 2003 Photograph: Zheng Pingping/PR

Two Chinese girls who are members of the Young Pioneers perform in a skit to denonce the newly disgraced Jiang Qing - better known as Madam Mao - in Shanghai. Following the death of Chairman Mao in October 1976, the so-called "Gang of Four" headed by Jiang were arrested. She was brought to trail in 1981 and sentenced to death, but was later released. She committed suicide in 1991. Photograph: Liu Heung Shing/PR

Marshal Ye Jianying holds court on the beach at a seaside resort in Hainan province. An influential Party grandee and military general, he led the conspiracy to oust the "Gang of Four" from power in 1976, effectively ending the chaos of the Cultural Revolution Photograph: De Xiuxian/PR

Workers in the upper reaches of the Yangtse River, here pulling a boat upstream; a job they do naked to protect the few clothes they possess. Photograph: Qin Wen/PR

Chinese rickshaw drivers and local residents rush two people wounded during the June 4 government crackdown on the students in Tiananmen Square to hospital. Accurate figures have never been confirmed, but it is thought that between two and five thousand were killed when tanks moved against the demonstrators Photograph: Liu Heung Shing/PR

On June 5, 1989, a young couple waits beneath Jianguomenwai bridge on the fringe of Beijing's diplomatic area, as PLA tanks roll above them. The previous day, tanks moved on Tiananmen Square to quell student protests that had been winning widespread support. The massacre was followed by heavy repression Photograph: Liu Heung Shing/PR

Shanghai's famed Xiangyang market, prior to its closure in June 2006 to make way for new developement amidst soaring property prices across China Photograph: Xu Haifeng/PR

Rio Tinto has shrugged off talk of an impending collapse in the commodities market, pointing to recent research that suggested China will build up to 50,000 skyscrapers in the next 20 years, the equivalent of 10 New Yorks, creating sustained long-term demand for steel and other raw materials Photograph: China Photo Agency/PR

A child is dressed in the ornate custume of Beijing opera performer, beneath an oversized head piece. Youth, traditions, luxury, weath and decadence, are all taken as common themes for art photography such as this Photograph: Zhang Peng/PR