15 places to live differently

China's westernmost living ancient city — where the Silk Road still breathes.

A Bai heritage town framed by rice paddies — old courtyards, slow days

The foremost Dong village — five drum towers and centuries of song

Land of a thousand stone towers on the Dadu River

Turquoise lanes, Uyghur old quarters, and the best ice cream in Xinjiang

A remote trekking village where alpine lakes meet snow-capped peaks

Sacred alpine lake and Tuvan villages in Northern Xinjiang's wild frontier

China's last frontier town on the Pamir Plateau

Ancient kingdom of Kucha, where Silk Road music meets old bazaar streets

Sichuan's "Corridor of Light and Shadow" — a photographer's paradise on the Tea Horse Road

China's last matriarchal society, cradled by a sapphire highland lake

China's northwesternmost village — where the frontier meets the taiga

A Buyi village built entirely of stone slabs, beside Huangguoshu Falls

Qinghai's "Little Switzerland" — alpine grasslands beneath Zhuo'er Mountain

A fairy-tale Tuvan village where mist curls through pointed wooden cabins