In an area in the far northwest of China are earthen walls and temple ruins spread over an area of about 1.45 square kilometers. Locals call this site situated in a desert "the broken city".

Xin Junfeng, 32, grew up near this site in Jimsar county, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"Many years ago, people of my father's generation often found jade bracelets there," he says.