URUMQI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A photography exhibition has opened in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to call attention to glacier protection.

The exhibition displays more than 30 photos shot by Fan Shucai, a photographer of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Fan has taken many aerial pictures of the region's Tianshan, Altai, and Kunlun mountains over the past 20 years.

"People will never know how severely the glaciers have retreated in the region until they see them," he said. "I hope people can be more aware of the change and cherish our living environment."

China has 46,377 glaciers, with 18,311 -- or 46.8 percent -- of the national ice reserves located in Xinjiang. Global warming, grazing, mining and tourism have accelerated destruction of the glaciers.