AP PHOTOS: Banners herald China’s Communist Party congress

In this Friday, Oct. 13, 2017, photo, a street barber cuts hair beneath a billboard for the upcoming Communist Party congress in Beijing. As China’s ruling Communist Party kicks off its twice-a-decade national congress on Wednesday, buildings, bridges and construction sites around Beijing have been festooned with banners heralding the party’s merits and its goal of realizing the “Chinese Dream” of greater prosperity. The billboard says “To more closely unite around the party central committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, continuously strive for achieving new victories of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)