Building a garden in the ocean

At the end of every Spring Festival holiday, people returning to work often carry goods ranging from festive clothing to hometown delicacies.

However, the frontier guards of the Chinese People's Armed Police stationed in Sansha - China's most southerly prefecture-level city - on Yongxing Island in the South China Sea, want nothing more than soil and seeds to transform their coral outcrop.

Fu Chuanbiao, 30, has been serving in the city since 2012. Every time he takes a boat to return from his home in a different part of Hainan province, he hides a bag of soil in a bag of rice to ensure that the ship's security will not toss it out like garbage.