People around the world take part in rituals to celebrate the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar.
Mayan prophecy: a new beginning
22 Dec 2012
A man dressed in an Aztec costume performs a dance during a ceremony to mark the close of the 13th bak'tun outside the Pre Columbian archeological zone of Teotihuacan on December 21, 2012. Thousands of mystics, hippies and tourists celebrated in the sunshine of southeastern Mexico on Friday as the Earth survived a day billed by doomsday theorists as the end of the world and a new era began for the Maya people. Photo: Reuters
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Huangpu is a district of pigeon fanciers and the skies over Shanghai have seen birds racing back to their coops for the best part of a century. Words and pictures by Jonathan Browning.
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![]( "Yuan Zhitong (left) and wife Zhang Junmei (right) wait inside Shenzhen railway station before boarding their train to Shangqiu, Henan province, on Tuesday February 5, 2013. Photo: Helene Franchineau/SCMP")
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![]( "Hongkongers protested after a Dolce & Gabbana store banned photos being taken. Photo: Felix Wong")
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![]( "A man dressed in an Aztec costume performs a dance during a ceremony to mark the close of the 13th bak'tun outside the Pre Columbian archeological zone of Teotihuacan on December 21, 2012. Thousands of mystics, hippies and tourists celebrated in the sunshine of southeastern Mexico on Friday as the Earth survived a day billed by doomsday theorists as the end of the world and a new era began for the Maya people. Photo: Reuters")
News22 Dec 2012 -
![]( "Inspired by Hollywood doomsday film ‘2012’ and the 2004 Asian tsunami, Chinese furniture maker Liu Qiyuan has constructed spherical emergency shelters in a village in Langfang, Hebei. Liu believes his structures could save his family from big floods, earthquakes or solar storms. Photo: AFP")
Photos20 Dec 2012 -
![]( "A watch displays the time \"12:12\" and the date \"12-12-12\". Photo: AFP")
News13 Dec 2012 -
![]( "Citizens sweep the grave of their ancestors and burns incense and paper offerings on Chung Yeung Festival at Diamond Hill Cemetery. Photo: Felix Wong")
News24 Oct 2012 -
![]( "A worker walks past new excavators at a Lonking factory in Shanghai in this March 1, 2011 file photograph. Photo: Reuters")
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![]( "In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Cambodian Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk mourns for her husband and former King Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing, capital of China, on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012. Photo: AP/Lan Hong Guang")
Photos15 Oct 2012 -
![]( "A girl cries in memory of the ferry disaster as Kowloon Tong Government Primary School marks three minutes of silence on Thursday. Photo: SCMP")
News4 Oct 2012
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