China
A vast country that spans an immense 9.6 million square kilometers, and that is home to an astounding 1.3 billion people and backed by a storied 5,000-year-old history, China is as diverse, exotic and complex as one could imagine. From the cultural powerhouse of Beijing in the north to the cosmopolitan Shanghai in the central Yangtze River basin to the ethnic potpourri of Yunnan in the southwestern hinterlands, this once-isolated kingdom is now a beguiling juxtaposition of ancient wonders and breakneck-speed development.