Where to next?

The Western and Jundu mountains form a protective curved rampart to the north, releasing the vast North China Plain toward the horizon.

Where the Yangtze River discharges into the East China Sea, the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek converge across an alluvial delta.

Tianjin crowns the northeastern reaches of the North China Plain where the Haihe River collects northern tributaries before entering the Bohai Gulf.

Chongqing rises along hillsides above two rivers. Bridges, slopes and stairways connect its neighbourhoods, with noodle shops and hotpot restaurants woven into the mountain city.

The Pearl River braids through Guangzhou in broad, silt-laden reaches where fresh and salt waters once sustained the empire's oldest maritime gateway.

Flanked by the Pearl River estuary to the west and Daya Bay to the east, Shenzhen is far from an isolated modern invention.

Silt from the Min River built the Chengdu Plain flat, sheltered beneath a persistent ceiling of grey basin fog.

The Qiantang River rushes violently to the south, the Grand Canal reaches its historic southern terminus, and West Lake lies cradled on three sides by soft, forested hills, meeting urban commerce only on its eastern shore.

The Qinling Mountains block humid air from the south, while the Wei River washes yellow loess into the flat, fertile Guanzhong Basin.

The Yangtze curves gracefully around its western flank, Purple Mountain rises in dragon-like majesty to the east, and Xuanwu Lake rests serenely against the northern walls.

The Yangtze and Han rivers converge here, carving Wuhan into the three historic quarters of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang.

Lake Tai breathes vast expanses of silver mist to the west, while the Grand Canal glides smoothly around the perimeter of the ancient walls.

At the mouth of Jiaozhou Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, undulating granite headlands plunge directly into the Yellow Sea.

The Xiang River cuts northward through Changsha, bordered on the west by the forested slopes of Yuelu Mountain and on the east by the sleepless, neon-lit alleys of Chaozong Street and Pozi Street.

Shenyang commands the southern expanse of the Liaohe Plain along the Hun River, long serving as the strategic gateway controlling northeast China.

Harbin straddles the Songhua River along the southeastern fringe of the Songnen Plain, born from the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway at the turn of the twentieth century.

Nestled along the shores of Dianchi Lake in the heart of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Kunming is cradled by mountains where southwest monsoons and high-altitude sunshine preserve perpetual spring.

Sheltered by calm coastal bays, Xiamen Island has long served as a maritime nexus for the Maritime Silk Road and overseas merchant networks, while preserving an unhurried Minnan domestic tempo.

Where the Yuyao and Fenghua rivers converge into the Yong River before meeting the open ocean, Sanjiangkou has witnessed Ningbo's maritime journey as an origin port along the ancient Maritime Silk Road.

The Zi River carves through the wild gorges of the Xuefeng Mountains, establishing Anhua as a historic cradle of the Tea Horse Road.

The Tianmu mountain range stretches northeast across northern Zhejiang, cloaking hundreds of thousands of valley acres in towering moso bamboo forests.

The Han River rushes down from the northeastern highlands before slowing past the ramparts of Chaozhou, spanned by the Guangji Bridge with its central floating pontoon of eighteen lashed timber skiffs.

Dali lies in western Yunnan, with old towns, villages and fields between Cangshan and Erhai Lake.

Resting across the upper Sanggan River basin, Datong is sheltered by Great Wall ramparts and the Yin Mountains to the north, and anchored by Yanmen Pass to the south.

Dujiangyan commands the gorge where the torrential Min River breaches the Longmen Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau to enter the Chengdu Plain.

Fed by glacial meltwater descending from the Qilian Mountains, the Dang River carves an oasis basin between the Badain Jaran and Kumtag deserts.

Known alongside Hankou, Zhuxian, and Jingdezhen as one of imperial China's four great commercial centers, Foshan anchored the Pearl River Delta's artisanal manufacturing, martial arts, and lion dance traditions.

Where the Fuchun River widens through Fuyang, forested ridges soften into mist, prompting Yuan master Huang Gongwang to build his recluse studio and paint the immortal handscroll Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.

The Min River flows through mountain passes before emptying into the East China Sea, sheltering Fuzhou within an amphitheater of forested ridges.

Guilin rests within the limestone karst forest of northern Guangxi, where the emerald ribbon of the Li River cuts southward past vertical green pinnacles.

Spread across karst peaks and subterranean river channels in central Guizhou, Guiyang is a forest metropolis formed directly from stone and river bends.

Gutian rests in the forested hill country where the Daiyun and Jiufeng mountain ranges converge in eastern Fujian, cradling the expansive artificial waters of Cuiping Lake.

Haikou anchors the northern coast of Hainan Island where the Nandu River flows into the Qiongzhou Strait, serving as the historical gateway across the water to the mainland.

Hohhot rests on the Tumochuan Plain beneath the imposing granite ridge of Daqing Mountain, north of the Yellow River.

The East River rushes westward toward the delta, spreading beneath urban Huizhou into the serene expanses of its West Lake.

The Tiao River flows northward into Lake Tai, where thousands of ancient mulberry-dike fish ponds nourish this serene northern Zhejiang realm.

Jiajiang straddles the Qingyi River in the southwestern fold of the Sichuan Basin, backed by the foothills of Mount Emei.

Settled along the Jianxi River at the southern foothills of Mount Wuyi, Jianyang was the agricultural heart and craft hub of northern Fujian.

Filtered through deep limestone strata sloping northward from Mount Tai, subterranean waters encounter impermeable volcanic rock beneath Jinan, bursting upward through bedrock fissures into dozens of artesian spring clusters.

The Chang River tumbles out of the deep mountain ravines of Yaoli, cutting past Mount Gaoling where the world's purest porcelain clays lay hidden.

Jinghong rests within the fertile tropical basin along the Lancang River in southernmost Yunnan, fringed by wild coconut palms and warm monsoon breezes.

Spreading across the heart of the central Zhejiang basin, Jinhua sits where the Jinhua and Wuyi rivers converge into the Lan River beneath old Wuzhou's stone city walls.

Kaili sits along the Qingshui River surrounded by the folded peaks of the Miaoling Mountains, serving as the cultural gateway to the Miao and Dong valleys of southeastern Guizhou.

The Tan River weaves through the alluvial plains of Siyi, flanked by vivid green rice paddies and swaying banana groves.

Kashgar flourishes in an alluvial oasis at the eastern foot of the Pamir Mountains, where the Taklamakan Desert ends and historic overland trade arteries diverge.

Lantian lies tucked against the northern escarpments of the Zhongnan Qinling Mountains where the Ba and Wangchuan rivers flow onto the Guanzhong plains.

The Yellow River charges off the Tibetan Plateau, slicing between the North and South mountains to confine Lanzhou within a narrow alluvial trench.

Lhasa occupies the broad valley of the Kyichu (Lhasa River) in southern Tibet at 3,650 metres, encircled by the Himalayan and Nyenchen Tanglha ranges.

Lijiang sits in a high alluvial basin at 2,400 metres at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Liuzhou rests within a karst basin in central Guangxi, where the clear Liujiang River carves a dramatic horseshoe bend embracing the old city like a pot.

Longquan crowns the mountainous summit where Zhejiang and Fujian meet, anchored by Huangmaojian peak, the highest elevation in the Yangtze Delta region.

The rugged mountain ranges of western Fujian are deeply incised by the rushing headwaters of the Jiulong and Ting rivers.

Positioned at the western end of the Jinhua-Quzhou basin where the Qu River meets the Lingshan River, Longyou was an essential shipping nexus linking four interior provinces with coastal trade.

Ringed by mountains in the Yiluo River basin south of the Yellow River, Luoyang served as the capital of thirteen dynasties from the Bronze Age through the Tang.

The Mei River threads through the layered hills of northeastern Guangdong, where Meizhou stands as the cultural heart of the global Hakka diaspora.

The Wuding River flows between Yulin and Yan'an in northern Shaanxi, nourishing Mizhi, a historic loess township renowned for producing China's premier golden millet.

Nanchang presides over the fertile Ganfu Plain where the Gan River flows north into Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater expanse.

At Nantong, the Yangtze River expands dramatically as sediment builds a calm, fertile river-sea delta.

Perched high in the Jiufeng mountains of eastern Fujian, Pingnan was carved out by the Huotong Stream into sheer canyons and cascading tributaries.

Pingyao occupies the Jinzhong basin, enclosed by more than six kilometres of intact Ming-era brick ramparts.

Pu'er occupies the mountainous watershed of the middle Lancang River in southern Yunnan between the Ailao and Wuliang ranges, celebrated as the historic cradle of compressed tea and the staging ground of the Tea Horse Road.

Putian curves along Xinghua Bay in central coastal Fujian, centered on the estuary where the Mulan River meets the Pacific tides.

Qiandongnan lies folded within the Leigong and Moon mountains where the Guizhou plateau descends toward Guangxi.

Qingshen borders the eastern bank of the middle Min River in southwestern Sichuan, historically revered as the territory of ancient Shu ancestor Cancong who pioneered sericulture.

Perched along Zhejiang's highest southwestern escarpments, Qingyuan cradles Baishanzu peak at over eighteen hundred meters, forming the headwaters divide of three major river basins.

Known in antiquity as Zayton, Quanzhou stood alongside Alexandria as one of medieval Eurasia's two greatest seaports, celebrated in the travelogues of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta.

Qufu rests where the central Shandong hills descend into western plains, embraced by the ancient Si and Yi river courses.

Resting at the southern tip of Hainan Island facing the open waters of the South China Sea, Sanya enjoys tropical maritime conditions shaped by warm equatorial currents.

Shangri-La lies cradled within the snow peaks and river gorges of the Hengduan Mountains in northwestern Yunnan, where the Jinsha and Lancang rivers churn through granite canyons.

The Kuaiji Mountains form a deep green ridge to the south, feeding the cold waters of Lake Jian into thousands of urban canal veins.

Shaxi lies hidden in a secluded river basin along the Heihui River in southwestern Jianchuan County, celebrated as the sole surviving intact market town on the ancient Tea Horse Road.

Encircled by the Siming, Tiantai, and Kuaiji mountain ranges in eastern Zhejiang, Shengzhou occupies the valley basin of the Shanxi River.

Shexian served as the historic seat of ancient Huizhou Prefecture, where the Lian and Xin'an rivers merge in mountain gorges.

Shunde lies at the heart of the Pearl River Delta's alluvial plains, where tidal waterways branch like capillary veins through historic mulberry-dyke fishpond wetlands, earning the proverb: Eat in Guangzhou, but find your chef in Fengcheng.

Taishun lies locked deep within the corrugated folds of the southern Zhejiang borderlands, where jagged valleys channel turbulent mountain torrents.

Taiyuan sits in the Fen River valley sheltered by the Taihang and Lüliang ranges.

Backed by the glaciated summits of Mount Bogda in the Tianshan range and facing the sweeping gravel basins of the Junggar Basin, Urumqi stands as the major metropolis farthest from any ocean in the world.

Mount Wuyi rises as a dramatic Danxia terrain draped in subtropical virgin rainforest, where the jade waters of Nine-Bend Stream coil around thirty-six crimson sandstone peaks.

Wuyuan rests cradled in the green mountain folds where northeastern Jiangxi meets old Huizhou.

Xiangxi lies cradled in the folds of the Wuling Mountains of northwestern Hunan, carved by the Tuojiang and Youshui rivers into steep limestone gorges.

The Huangshui River carves through the transitional threshold where the Tibetan Plateau meets the Loess Plateau, spreading across a high, sunlit valley basin at 2,200 meters.

Xuanwei sits along the southern shoulders of the Wumeng Mountains in northeastern Yunnan, commanding high valleys where the headwaters of the Beipan River originate.

Ya'an guards the sharp tectonic rise where the western rim of the Sichuan Basin meets the high Tibetan Plateau, cradling the Qingyi River within steep gorges.

The Yan River cuts through the deeply eroded ravines of northern Shaanxi's Loess Plateau, carving a river valley between Pagoda Hill and Mount Qingliang.

The Moyang River flows through the highlands of western Guangdong before opening into the South China Sea facing Hailing Island.

Where the Grand Canal meets the broad flow of the Yangtze, grain barges from the south and merchant wealth from the salt monopolies converged for centuries, cultivating an unhurried, exacting appreciation for subtle craft.

Yanji rests in the mountain basin flanking the northern slopes of Mount Changbai, where the Buerhatong and Yanji rivers wind through the valley.

Yibin stands at the southern gateway of the Sichuan Basin where the Jinsha and Min rivers unite to form the Yangtze River, venerated as the First City of the Yangtze.

The Helan Mountains rise as a stark slate barrier along the northwest, halting the encroaching dunes of the Tengger Desert and cold Siberian gales.

Tucked into the low hills southwest of Lake Tai, the bedrock of Mount Huanglong conceals an extraordinary geological gift: five-colored zisha clays.

Yuanyang rises across the precipitous southern ranges of the Ailao Mountains above the deep gorge of the Red River.

Tucked inside the western highlands of Wenzhou's Ouhai district, Zeya unfolds along steep ravines dense with moso bamboo and roaring torrents.

Zunyi occupies the Dalou mountain folds of northern Guizhou along the Xiang River valley, guarding the vital crossroads between Sichuan and Guizhou.