Lower-tier cities in China always fascinate me, because they’re so anonymous and unknown, yet house hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. (I wrote more about this phenomenon in an article about Danyang.)

Anyway, today we’re in Ningguo (宁国) in Anhui, where 400,000 people live, and while Eva still sleeps I’m taking a quick walk around the area.

This is an old area that’s being slowly pushed out. A shushu is gardening some crops.

Old houses being pushed out by modern high-rises.

A statue of an inventor of rockets or something.

It’s the National Holiday in China so lots of families have a week off — hence it’s a convenient and popular day to get married. In an hour’s walk I saw about five caravans of cars — ranging from BMW’s and a Rolls Royce to cheaper cars.

Now back to the hotel for our breakfast!