Photographers in Asia capture the extraordinary, tragic and wonderful in 2023

Individually, the photographs are the product of a moment, capturing glimpses of joy, grief, rage, hope, and resilience.  

As a whole, the work this year of Associated Press photojournalists in Asia forms a visual patchwork quilt, an extraordinary reflection of the varied panoply of human experience in one of the world’s most fascinating regions.

Some of these pictures delight. Some horrify.

Some, even after repeated examination, retain a sense of mystery.

Take an American ballerina, clad in shimmering white, caught in a blur of revolving motion as she rehearses in China. Or a Muslim bride who gazes pensively through a saffron-colored veil during a mass wedding ceremony in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

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American Ballet Theater's ballerina Devon Teuscher rehearses for a performance at the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Or footprints left in a patch of green moss after prayers in New Delhi.

In Malaysia, a base jumper dives from a tower above the sparkling city lights of Kuala Lumpur at night. Blood splatters like raindrops from the tattooed body of a Filipino penitent as he flagellates himself to atone for sins.

There is violence and tragedy here, too.

An enraged young man leaps onto the fallen body of a security officer in Bangladesh. Ethnic Rohingya wade through the surf, their meager belongings clutched in their hands, after being denied refuge in Indonesia.

As with many great news photographs, a single image is often all it takes to illustrate the complex political and social currents that sweep through the region.

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Activists of the the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party attack security officers during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

A dozen police officers in Hong Kong, for instance, surround a single woman as they march her away on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.  

A blurred double image shows Russian President Vladimir Putin as he delivers a speech in China.

A group of men help support the elderly Dalai Lama after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader speaks to a group of students, his flowing robes blending into those of the monks around him.

Some of this year’s most powerful photos reveal the beautiful, often deadly power of nature.

A vast ocean of stars glitters in the night sky over traditional sheepskin tents in remote Mongolia. Whales dive in a harbor near Sydney, their tails poised above the water in lovely synchronicity.

A veil of sand and dust seems to envelop a man wearing a green mask as he walks among Beijing’s office buildings.

And in the Philippines, lava flows like red icing down the black slopes of a volcano.

Tamang community members perform rituals during Temal festival at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Footprints are seen on the moss ridden roof of Jama Masjid during Eid al-Adha prayers, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A woman wearing a face mask walks by an advertisement outside a commercial office building in Beijing, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Indonesian Muslims perform an evening prayer called 'tarawih' marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

A girl runs as she plays in a fountain at a shopping mall in Beijing, Friday, June 23, 2023, as authorities issued a rare red alert for high temperatures in parts of China's capital. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

People dance and throw colors at each other to celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, in Hyderabad, India, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A robot face capable of mimicking human-like expressions is displayed near robotic arms at the annual World Robot Conference at the Beijing Etrong International Exhibition and Convention Center in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Ethnic Rohingya disembark from their boat upon landing in Ulee Madon, North Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Rahmat Mirza)

A man walks by a large screen at a shopping mall showing CCTV broadcasting news of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, in Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Hindu devotees crowd the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya, or the new moon day which is the most auspicious day during the annual month long Hindu religious fair "Magh Mela" in Prayagraj, India, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Satya Prakash)

A man holds an umbrella against strong wind and rain as he walks on a street Friday, June 2, 2023, in Tokyo, as a tropical storm was approaching. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

An Indian Army soldier carries his child and walks past graduating soldiers from the first batch of Agniveer scheme during their graduation ceremony in Bengaluru, India, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan plays a backhand return to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Folk artists wait to participate in a procession marking 'Atham', the first day of the ten-day-long Onam festival in Kochi, Kerala state, India, Sunday, Aug.20, 2023. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)

People cremate their relatives who died from heat-related illnesses, as a scorching heat wave overwhelmed hospitals and filled a morgue to capacity in Ballia, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Monday, June 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Members of an honor guard march during a ceremony to mark Myanmar's 76th anniversary of Union Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

A village girl places flowers on the feet of a wild elephant that succumbed to injuries after being hit by a speeding train at Kurkria village, outskirts of Guwahati, India, Thursday, Aug 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A base jumper dives at night from the Kuala Lumpur Tower during KL Tower International Jump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A toddler peeks out of a plastic curtain on a cold day in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A woman whose family members are trapped under rubble wails after a landslide washed away houses in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Kolkata Knight Riders' cricketer Rahmanullah Gurbaz celebrates after scoring his fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match against Gujarat Titans, in Kolkata, India, Saturday, April 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Bikas Das )

Members of Meira Paibis, powerful vigilante group of Hindu majority Meitei women, march toward the site of a gunfight in Kangchup, near Imphal, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Thursday, Jun 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Supporters of the Move Forward Party display mobile phones with flashlights on during a protest in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A man tries to recover a vehicle submerged in mud in the flood-affected area along the Teesta river in Rongpo, east Sikkim, India, Sunday, Oct. 8. 2023. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Villagers gather around a well to draw water in Telamwadi, northeast of Mumbai, India, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Police officers take away a member of the public in the Causeway Bay area on the eve 34th anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square massacre in Hong Kong, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Rescuers carry the body of a victim at the site of passenger trains that derailed in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A Filipino penitent flagellates himself as part of Maundy Thursday rituals to atone for sins or fulfill vows for an answered prayer on April 6, 2023 at Mandaluyong city, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Pita Limjaroenrat, wearing a white shirt, leader of Move Forward Party, waves to his supporters, in Bangkok, Monday, May 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A U.S Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter transports a M777 howitzer during a joint military drill between South Korea and the United States at Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Sunday, March 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is helped by attending monks after he addressed a group of students at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

People gather to watch others playing in the mud in a paddy field on Asar Pandra, or paddy planting day, at Bahunbesi, Nuwakot District, 30 miles north of Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A man poses for a photo sitting outside the glass cage of a Bengal tiger at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, June. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Stars light up the night sky over Lkhaebum's ger, a portable, round tent insulated with sheepskin, in the remote Munkh-Khaan region of the Sukhbaatar district, in southeast Mongolia, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A Kashmiri man cools off at a stream on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Dancers wait to perform during the opening of Bali Arts Festival in Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Whales swim past as a fisherman stands in his boat at Boat Harbour north of Sydney, Australia, Monday, June 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Cricket fans arrive to watch the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final match between Australia and India at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

A private car warehouse is submerged in water from River Hindon following excessive rains, in Greater Noida, out skirts of New Delhi, India, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Piyush Nagpal)

A washerman washes clothes on the banks of the river Brahmaputra on World Water Day in Guwahati, India, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

China's Qin Haiyang competes during the men's 4x100m medley relay swimming final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Lava flows down the slopes of Mayon volcano as seen from Legazpi, Albay province, northeastern Philippines, Thursday, June 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A man wearing a face mask walks on an overhead bridge against the office buildings in the central business district as dust and sand storm sweeps through Beijing, Thursday, April 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Mini, a nurse, trims the nails of Saradammal at the Signature Aged Care in Kochi, Kerala state, India, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/ R S Iyer)

A participant at the Pride Parade in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A man on a motorcycle crosses a suspension bridge over the Bagmati river in Lalitpur, Nepal, Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

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Lead photo: A Kashmiri Muslim bride looks through her veil during a mass wedding in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Thursday, June 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Photographers in Asia capture the extraordinary, tragic and wonderful in 2023, by Foster Klug

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