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Places and stories of China

Somewhere new. A story worth following.

From a path beside a lake to a mural in the desert, discover China through the people, crafts and legends of its places.

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Qianjiang New City from the Qiantang River · 2020
Hangzhou

2026.10.25

Today’s reading threads

A few stories from our editors’ selection, refreshed each day, about the people, crafts and legends that give places their character.

01 / IFreeing

Familiar cities

Start with cities whose names may already feel familiar, then find what makes each one its own.

Hangzhou

A lake held in poetry. A canal carrying the memory of trade. A river opening towards a new skyline. Between them, Hangzhou makes room for quiet mornings, bright evenings, and the small rituals of everyday life.

Xi'an

The Guanzhong plain's main city, where Ming walls, Qin pits and Tang palace earth still shape the street grid.

Chengdu

Sichuan's capital, where a river-fed plain, teahouses and ancient Shu sites sit inside one city.

Suzhou

Gardens, water streets and nearby canal towns reveal different ways of making room for life beside water.

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Places worth a closer look

Palaces, painted caves, waterfalls and gardens: follow a visible detail into the story of a place.

Forbidden City

The Ming and Qing palace in the centre of Beijing, a museum since 1925.

Mogao Caves

A cliffside Buddhist sanctuary where painted rooms, clay figures and changing communities left a thousand years of work in Dunhuang.

Huangguoshu Waterfall

The Baishui River drops through Anshun’s waterfall country, joining geology with a long history of looking at water.

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Find provinces on the map

Coloured provinces have stories to explore. Choose one to discover its cities and stories.

Select a coloured region to explore its cities and stories.

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Photo credits and rights
  1. Qianjiang New City from the Qiantang River · 2020MasaneMiyaPA · CC BY-SA 4.0 · resized and re-encoded Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
  2. Excavated remains of the Xuanquan post station near Dunhuang.Author not specified on source page · Rights status not determined Photo source ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
  3. Lanzhou Yellow River waterwheelAuthor not specified on source page · Rights status not determined Photo source ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
  4. Mogao Caves cliff façadeAuthor not specified on source page · Rights status not determined Photo source ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
  5. Gate tower of the Xi'an city wall above cypress trees and city roofs · Xi'an City Wall, Xi'anxiquinhosilva / CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗
  6. Teahouse chairs in People's Park, ChengduDaderot / CC0 · CC0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
  7. Canal-side walls and traditional roofs along Suzhou's Pingjiang Road.kevinmcgill from Den Bosch, Netherlands · CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized and converted to WebP.
  8. Timber eaves and a raised pavilion protect and frame a cave opening in the cliff.Windmemories · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Orientation normalised, proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or retouch.
  9. Water falls in a broad curtain at Huangguoshu, with mist gathering at the base. Photograph by Kcx36, 31 July 2026; CC BY-SA 4.0.Kcx36 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ The display image was proportionally reduced and converted to WebP, without enlargement, cropping, or retouching.
  10. A garden walkway reveals how shade and framed views shape a visit to the Humble Administrator's Garden.xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized and converted to WebP.