Stone statues on the streets of the ancient town of Nanxun, Zhejiang province.

Nanjing

Neighboring Nanjing's visitors can boil in the broth of Soup Mountain. Tangshan, as it's known in Chinese, is pocked with hot mineral springs where you can melt away travel stress by soaking in steaming caldrons.

Nearby, Lion Mountain offers a different peak experience, enabling visitors to view the cityscape from the seven-story Yuejiang Tower. A river runs a horseshoe around three sides of the crag, while a Ming wall fortifies the fourth.

Indeed, history conjures much of the allure of the former national, and current provincial, capital. Many travelers cruise the Qinhuai River's Confucius Temple area to glimpse ancient manors and gardens that huddle along the banks.

Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in the Purple Mountains is a place of pilgrimage for patriots.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall opened a new hall in late December, displaying over 7,000 exhibitions around the themes "crime, resistance, surrender, trial and peace". Its concept is to move beyond merely documenting atrocities to celebrating victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).