2025 - China, land of contrasts

It's fair to say that photographically, China has no end of possibility. It spans all climatic zones, from harsh deserts to sub-tropical forests, rugged high altitude mountains, 14,000km of coastline, and temperatures ranging from the deepest freeze to sweltering humidity. And then there's the human aspect, a huge range of ethnicities and associated clothing, traditions, customs and food, from the 'poorest' remote rural subsistence farmer to the high-flying city dwelling tech entrepreneur.

China has a city tier system that classifies and ranks cities based on their development, economic importance, and population. It goes from 1 to 5 and there's a very noticeable difference between the upper and lower tiers. I experienced cities in multiple tiers as well as rural villages and life. Sometimes overwhelming, always interesting. What was noticeable and somewhat surprising (thank you western media) is how much the country is celebrating its various, unique ethnicities.

Modern China is very modern in some aspects, much more so than any other place I've been in terms of internet infrastructure / integration and electric vehicle uptake. And China's high speed rail network... unparalleled at now over 50,000km long, representing two-thirds of the entire world's network, all built in the last 10-15 years, a fact worth dwelling on. Of course, this modernisation often contrasts heavily with what was basically still an agricultural society only a few decades ago; the rate of change this population has witnessed is mind boggling.

Broadly, the 2 month stay, all undertaken by rail, was as follows:

• Nanchang (Tier 2) - a moderately sized (6m) inland city adjacent the gigantic Poyang Lake (up to 6,000 square km, so yeah, huge). Unsurprisingly, it has a long history including having played a significant role in China's revolutionary events.

• Wuyuan area - beautiful, quiet countryside filled with tea plantations, fog covered mountains, rivers and remarkable ancient villages, many still functioning in their original way. A great place to escape the cities.

• Huangshan - the famous Yellow Mountains of so much myth and Chinese art, truly a natural wonder to see and an excellent place to permanently ruin your legs on the literal tens of thousands of steps required to ascend. Mind the crowds!

• Hangzhou (Tier 2) - super interesting 2,000 year old city translated as "Heaven on Earth", sitting alongside the historically important West Lake that's a pleasure to ride around on the city bikes.

• Shanghai (Tier 1) - need I describe this city?

• Guilin - towering limestone mountains along vast rivers, come here for the quintessential Chinese landscape depicted in paintings.

• Guangzhou (Tier 1) - hot and humid metropolis blending the modern with ancient, known for its Cantonese cuisine.

Overall, my experience in China is best summed up as it being a place of contrasts. As everyone who's visited would agree, China's portrayal in western media and perception is completely different to the reality on the ground. You need to see it yourself.

Strangely, I found China challenging photographically, I think due to the the density of activity in cities (hard to see the wood for the trees) and outside the cities I found it difficult to create 'unique' captures (i.e. something not cliche).

The below gallery contains photos in no particular order, nor entirely complete in terms of coverage of places.