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)

Chinese archaeologists announced the discovery of 110 life-sized terracotta warriors, guarding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor.

Photo: Archaeologists work on a terracotta warrior in the third excavation of pit one at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province Saturday, June 9, 2012. (Photo by AP)

The 2012 Magic Art Special Exhibition Of China is now open at the Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition and Conference Centre of the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Photo: Visitors poses with a 3D painting during a show featuring over 50 such works in China on July 20, 2012. (Photo by Associated Press)

Chinese folk artists perform the lion dance at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Dragon on January 22, 2012 in Beijing, China. Falling on January 23 this year, the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Tourists in traditional costumes visit a rose garden during a rose cultural festival on April 27, 2021 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A woman has her photo taken wearing tradtional clothing as a Tibetan Buddhist woman and her family walk the kora near the Jokhang Temple, a UNESCO heritage site, during a government organized visit for journalists on June 1, 2021 in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A man disinfects the personal protection suit of a medical worker at a nucleic acid testing station, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China, June 16, 2022. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A child performs opera during celebrations on the eight day of Chinese Lunar New Year of the Pig, in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China on February 12, 2019. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)