A herd of once-endangered Siberian ibexes was recently spotted foraging on a mountain cliff in Tekes County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The rare species is under second class national protection in China.
The first snowfall of this autumn turned the mountains into white. The Siberian ibexes were captured through the lens foraging on the snowfield or running and gazing out from the cliff.
Siberian ibexes live mostly in areas with steep slopes and rocky scree at an altitude ranging 3,500 to 6,000 meters.
They are mostly found in central and northern Asia, where they prefer to live in alpine grassland during summer and migrate to lower altitudes when temperatures fall.
Thanks to continuous efforts made in ecological protection, the Kyzyltas (transliteration) pastoral area in Tekes County has become the main habitat for local Siberian ibexes, and its population has been steadily increasing at a rate of five to eight percent every year.
Rare Siberian ibex spotted on mountain cliff in Xinjiang
Over 80,000 foreign travelers have entered south China's Hainan Province visa-free since the launch of the island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), an increase of 64 percent year on year, according to official data.
Since the special customs operations began on Dec 18, 2025, ports across the province have maintained stable operation, with the number of foreign travelers continuously growing.
Data from the Haikou General Station of Immigration Inspection showed that from Dec 18, 2025 to Friday, ports across Hainan inspected 180,000 foreign nationals entering and exiting the country, an increase of 46.5 percent year on year, accounting for 58.6 percent of the total number of inbound and outbound travelers during the same period.
A total of 80,000 foreign travelers entered under visa-free policies, accounting for 94.2 percent of the total number of foreign tourists entering the country during the period.
Most of the foreign travelers came to China for tourism, who were mainly from Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, and Singapore.
Hainan sees sharp increase in foreign travelers entering visa-free
