Golden grain fields transform into pastoral tableau in Xinjiang's Tarbagatai Mountains

By early August, the wheat harvest was completed in the fields at the foot of the Tarbagatai Mountains north of the city of Tacheng, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The vast expanse of farmland, once a rolling sea of golden grain, had taken on a new pastoral tableau. Across the fields, rakes combed the stubble, gathering scattered straw, while automatic balers shuttled back and forth, compressing and packing the straw into neat, compact bales that dotted the landscape in orderly rows.

They lay like verses inscribed on the earth or like musical notes dancing across the field, a silent ode to the bountiful harvest.

The Tacheng Prefecture Integrated Media Center contributed to this story.