One of China's biggest Web portals, Sina, has published photographs of one of Beijing's controversial man-made islands in the South China Sea--the Fiery Cross Reef.

The artificial islands have invoked the ire of Washington as well as other countries in the region because of alleged military connotations, but the photos shown on the Web site seemingly appeared harmless. There are female soldiers posing for the camera as well as vegetable gardens and hogs inside a pig pen.

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Earlier this week, China announced that some of its land reclamation work on the Spratly or Nansha Islands would be nearing completion, according to The Guardian. Beijing identified the purpose of the work as for maritime search and rescue, environmental protection and navigation, disaster relief and undefined military purposes.

Naturally, concerned parties would focus on the work on Spratlys, but the recent images of the Fiery Cross Reef shows a bit of progress on the island as well.

The Sina slideshow was headlined "Gratifying results on China's Yongshu Reef: Building vegetable greenhouses (and) growing fruit trees." It features 17 photographs of facilities on the islands, which would support its troops.

Apart from some greenery, there are also statues.

The plants, which are carefully tended by China's soldiers, come from every province in China, all tended over by hardworking soldiers, according to The Shanghaiist.

Animals in the photos include some healthy hogs and some puppies. Other vegetation found on the island include flowers and fruit trees.

Perhaps the star attraction or distraction in the photographs are the attractive female and male soldiers.

In one photograph, six female sailors posed in front of the camera wearing camouflaged uniforms. They are seen in front of a break wall with a greenhouse at the back.

In another photo, a female soldier is seen standing in front of a stone that read "Awe-inspiring South China Sea."

It is unclear who took the pictures or when they were taken, but it appeaers they are from other Web sites that include state radio and a celebrity gossip site. There were no captions on the photos, reported Reuters.

What was not in the photos, however, are some commercial satellite images taken from a recent flyover by an American military plane, which showed Fiery Cross Reef's 3,000-metre runway and early warning radar systems. There were also dredgers or land reclamation equipment amiss in the slideshow.

Fiery Cross Reef, or the Yongshu Island, is among the seven land reclamation projects by China in the South China Sea. The country has been building the islands despite growing alarm and criticism from Washington and other countries in the region.

See the photos from the Chinese Web site Sina here.

Tagssouth china sea veggie gardens female soldiers, veggie gardens, female soldiers, spratlys, yongshu island, great wall of sand