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)

Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, presents the Playstation Vita at the Sony Playstation media briefing on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. More than 45,000 people are expected to attend the annual three-day convention to see the latest games and announcements from the gaming industry. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The finishing touches are made to a new wax figure of Theresa May at Madame Tussauds in London, England on November 7, 2017. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Shan boys pray before they have their heads shaved in anticipation of their ordination in the Poy Song Long Ceremony at Wat Pa Pao in Chiang Mai, Thailand on April 3, 2018. Poy Sang Long (“The Festival of the Crystal Sons”) is a ceremony that marks a rite of passage among the Buddhist Shan people in Myanmar and northern Thailand. Boys between seven and fourteen years of age are ordained as Buddhist novices during a three day ceremony. Before the ceremony starts the boys have their heads shaved. (Photo by Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The Rio dry cargo ship that has ran aground during a storm in December 2018 in Kabardinka, Krasnodar Territory, Russia on August 11, 2020. The vessel has become a tourist attraction of the region. (Photo by Alexander Ryumin/TASS)

A stunt rider performs on the wooden wall during a fair in Bogra, Bangladesh, February 10, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Children play on a flooded highway during a summer downpour in Edsa, Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines on April 25, 2018. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Reuters)

Bicycle rickshaw drivers chat as they wait for customers near the Drum Tower in a traditional neighbourhood on September 30, 2021 in Beijing, China. China will mark National Day and the Golden Week holiday from October 1st. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)