An old man carries a basket of corn during China's harvest time, when all non-essential work ceases and seemingly every available space is used for corn drying. In fact, when a 2,100-year-old terra cotta army was found at Han emperor Jing Di's tomb, excavation was halted so workers could harvest corn.

(Text adapted from and shot on assignment for, but not published in "A Chinese Emperor's Army for Eternity," August 1992, National Geographic magazine)