I've lived in China for 16 years and been to nearly all the cities mentioned in the article plus many more. I agree they are interesting to visit, however for d

I've lived in China for 16 years and been to nearly all the cities mentioned in the article plus many more. I agree they are interesting to visit, however for different reasons. Personally I have little tolerance for the east coast cities for all but a whirlwind visit, generally being too large and natureless to justify an extended stay. The great things you can see are random new architecture (a highly successful architect friend of mine recently described China as a "playground for architects"), old stuff (though increasingly fake / rebuilt - if you are a real history buff you need to do some research to find the less visited sites), interesting and highly regionally varied food, and almost total street-level safety. Things that can be not so fun: transportation crushes, higher prices (it is no longer cheap to travel here), communications and cultural issues, general lack of tourism infrastructure or infrastructure limited to handful of sites with a mass tourism focus. Personally I prefer the smaller towns, natural areas, and obscure cultural attractions like locally preserved architecture, performance traditions and wacky foods. Overall it's a very interesting country and worth a look, though if you have a very picky diet (eg. vegan), a weak stomach or constitution, or tire easily it may not be the destination of choice. Anyone from HN passing through Shenzhen is welcome to hit me up for a beer!