26 places to live differently

A UNESCO World Heritage highland town beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

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

China's original digital-nomad hub, cradled between mountains and a highland lake.

The last pure land on the blue planet — a Tibetan realm of sacred snow peaks

China's northwest frontier — where three borders meet and skiing began.

Where the Yellow River meets the Tengger Desert — oasis living under desert skies

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

Where the Yellow River enters Ningxia — an ancient pear orchard village.

A Nasi valley village in the shadow of snow peaks

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

China's last frontier town on the Pamir Plateau

Grassland temples under the sacred Mt. Yala

Gobi emerald lakes and starlit yardang wilderness in Qinghai

Rainbow mountains meet a riverside oasis on the ancient Hexi Corridor

A Tibetan stone-village valley that explorer Joseph Rock called paradise on Earth.

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

Home of the heavenly horses and vast seas of rapeseed bloom

Tibet's lush southeast — where snow peaks meet alpine valleys

Glaciers, snow peaks, and valleys of wild peach blossoms in Tibet's southern gateway.

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

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

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

Where the salt lake becomes a mirror to the sky and stars

A Tibetan monastery town straddling two provinces — China's "Little Switzerland"

Where an oasis town meets the desert below the Flaming Mountains.

A Tibetan trail-head village beneath the sacred peaks of Meili Snow Mountain.