A man dressed as a zombie poses during the Thrill The World 2009 event, which sees fans from all over the world dance simultaneous to Michael Jackson's “Thriller” at Luna Park on October 25, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

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)

Soniya, 6, whose family moved to Islamabad from Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province to look for work, stands outside their house on the outskirts of Islamabad January 1, 2015. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

Warriors from the Suri tribe in Ethiopia still stage the savage “Donga” battles – even after many fighters have been died from their injuries. Donga stick fights take place after the harvests, the Surmas count days owing to knots on a long stem of grass or jags on the trunk of a tree dedicated to that specific use. Here: A tribeswoman sporting a huge lip plate and wearing a skinned animal carcass on her head. (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media)

A herd of elephants cross a road that passes through the flooded Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam, India, July 12, 2017. (Photo by Anuwar Hazarika/Reuters)

A Highland Cow at sunset on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, Wiltshire, United Kingdom on October 18, 2020. (Photo by David White/PictureExclusive)

Melissa March, 13, is seen backstage during the Cuban Otaku festival in Havana, Cuba, July 24, 2016. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

Women take part in Glowork exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on September 28, 2017. (Photo by Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters)