The Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Hubei province. The seaside in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Erik Nilsson/China Daily]

Wuhan

The ancient Yellow Crane Tower offers a bird's-eye view of Wuhan's futuristic cityscape from the Yangtze's shore.

Visitors can understand why it has been immortalized in the minds of modern Chinese by ancient literati like eighth-century poets Cui Hao and Li Bai.

The tower takes its name from a legend-versions vary-about an immortal, who rode said waterfowl to Wuhan's Snake Mountain.

Visitors stroll along the city's snack street to sample such fare as duck necks and hot-and-dry noodles.

Optics Valley's pedestrian street hosts random statues among European-style buildings frequented by cosplaying livestreamers. Think of youths in bear and soldier costumes roaming among sculptures of Spiderman and a giraffe fleeing a T-Rex.