Humble beginnings for one of the world's most famous scientists.

A musical instrument played by the sea.

A rehabilitation center for some of South America's most unique and endangered animals.

No one knows for sure why this town's dead refuse to rot.

This Bogotá museum houses the world's largest collection of pre-Columbian gold relics.

The caldera of this mini-volcano has been turned into a naturally heated mud bath.

This picturesque mansion has gone from opulent ruin to nature museum.

Stone shrouds of Prince Liu Sheng and Princess Dou Wan of the Han Dynasty, created to preserve their flesh for eternity.

A bisected journey through evolution's history in the heart of Beijing.

Beijing's World Park offers the excitement of international sites without the travel.

The largest traditional Chinese medicine market in the world sells ingredients that may make you squirm.

This ratty natural history collection is a charming relic among a city rushing into modernity.

The largest statue in the world towers at 420 feet high atop another 66 feet of pedestal.

An out-of-place slice of France, smack in the middle of Shanghai.

This smaller cousin of the Forbidden City has gone from ancestral sacrifice to tourist's whispers.

The tiny statues form China's only known terracotta army from the Han dynasty.

Home to over 200,000 artifacts, this museum attempts to guide visitors through the ancient history of Beijing and Imperial China.

This sensational Chinese temple walks visitors through the 76 weird departments of the afterlife.

An collection of Chinese propaganda posters from 1949 to 1979.

Rivers of cattle blood gone, a strange Escheresque building remains, the last of its kind.

This probably wasn't what Mao had in mind.

Massive series of 45 caves and over 51,000 sculptures carved from cliffsides in China.

This Tang Dynasty behemoth is the biggest Buddha in the world.

The ancient settlement attracts tourists from all over looking to learn about the Chinese vision of the afterlife.