China • Provinces & Regions
China
33 places: 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and Hong Kong and Macao. Taiwan is in the non-UN deck.
The Big Four
Four huge regions take up half the map: Xinjiang and Tibet (Xizang) in the west, Qinghai between them, and Inner Mongolia, a long arc across the north.
The Northeast
Three provinces in the corner between North Korea and Russia: Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, south to north.
Four Cities
Four cities are places of their own: Beijing and Tianjin in the north, Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze, and Chongqing, far up the river, inland.
The South Coast
Hong Kong and Macao, specks either side of the Pearl River's mouth, beside Guangdong, and Hainan, the big island to the southwest.
Where You'll Start
You'll start with the anchors, a few places to hang the rest on: Xinjiang, Tibet (Xizang), Inner Mongolia, Hainan, Beijing, and Shanghai. Then chapter by chapter, or the whole deck at random.