People take pictures with public art instalation titled “GIANTS: Rising Up” by the French artist JR, at Harbour City, Hong Kong, China on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Lam Yik/Reuters)

Tourists walk as others relax on the beach in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, Egypt, July 17, 2017. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

People carry lychee for sale on a motorbike on a street in Luc Ngan, Bac Giang province, Vietnam, 22 June 2016. Lychee output in Bac Giang province is expected to reach 130,000 tonnes this year. China is still Vietnam's main lychee export market so far, buying around 60 percent of the annual crop, according to official reports. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA)

Listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species, a humphead wrasse, or Napoleon fish, swims in an aquarium during an event in Tokyo's shopping district of Ginza on August 5, 2019. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)

A traditional Chinese opera actress wearing a face shield poses for a picture during Lunar New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, February 12, 2021. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

People attend New York's Annual Village Halloween Parade dressed as soldiers from the United Nations in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., October 31, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A screen shows what Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan claims are extraterrestrial life forms at the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City, Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Mexican legislators held another hearing dedicated to the potential for extraterrestrial life forms and UFOs following a controversial spectacle in September in which Maussan displayed what he said were “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution”. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

Nine years ago, Tom Carter traveled from San Francisco to China, responding to a job posting that turned out to be a scam. He managed to find another job as a teacher, and saved enough money to embark on a 56,000 km trip through all of China's 33 provinces that lasted two years. Carrying a camera – just a a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot – Carter captured some amazing images of the widely varying landscape, people, and architecture across the nation. Photo: Buddhist pilgrim family from Sichuan. (Photo by Tom Carter via The Atlantic)