Women wearing gauze masks ride bike against a sand storm on a street in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Friday March 9, 2006. A strong sand storm hit Hohhot on the afternoon of March 9.

Sandstorms frequent the northern part of China in the spring.

Local residents cycled against the sandstorm.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2006)