This world never ceases to startle us. This series of images—vessels that bump kins, pumpkins that sail—resonates beyond its description for a leisurely flip or a deep read this week
Image: Handout / OWEN KANG / AFP
 A newly married Taiwanese couple, Iris Hsueh and her fiance Ian Ciou, pose for a photograph in front of a garbage hill in Puli, Nantou County, Taiwan, on October 14, 2023. The environment-conscious bride wanted to show her guests the trash hill to discourage them from generating it.
Image: Hector RETAMAL / AFP
Visitors walk next to a giant sculpture at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention in Chengdu, China, on October 21, 2023. According to the China Science Fiction Research Center, the output value of China's science fiction industry, including publications, films and others, totalled 87.75 billion yuan (about $12 billion) in 2022.
Image: China Coast Guard/Handout via REUTERS
A China Coast Guard vessel (right) blocks and collides with a Philippine supply boat in the disputed waters of the South China Sea in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released on October 22, 2023. The Philippine boat was on its re-supply runs to an outpost on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, a hotly contested region where Beijing deploys ships to assert its claims over almost the entire sea.