Want to relax and catch the last bit of summer sunshine before winter? Rizhao, in East China's Shandong Province, is the destination for you.
Located in the southeastern part of Shandong, Rizhao is a coastal city that is famous for its blue sea, azure sky and golden beaches.
It is a convenient escape that's just a four-hour bullet train ride from either Beijing or Shanghai.
According to the city's tourism bureau, each year Rizhao attracts over 7 million tourists domestically and abroad who are looking to enjoy the views and relax on the beaches.
It's not as famous as Qingdao, -another coastal city that is well-known for its old villas, streets, beaches and of course, Tsingtao beer.
So, what makes Rizhao so special? It makes you want to settle down there. With a population of about 2.8 million - roughly 10 times less than Beijing's population, Rizhao was crowned by the United Nations as one of the most habitable cities in the world in 2009.
Paradise city
Rizhao, the "sunshine city" in Chinese, is blessed with a temperate climate all year round.
In the 1980s, Rizhao was still a fishing village from which the local fishermen shipped their fish across the Yellow Sea to South Korea and Japan.
Since the 1990s, the local authorities have been working on environmental projects and investing in renewable energy such as solar and wind.
If you wander around the city's urban areas, you will notice the gray concrete roofs of the apartment buildings are equipped with solar panels.
Spearheaded by the slogan "Planning an Ecological City and Building a Livable Home," local authorities now require that all new buildings have these installed. Currently, nearly all households in central Rizhao use solar water heaters and almost all the city's lighting is powered by solar energy.
If you are wondering how much the locals save by using solar energy, OnEarth Magazine did the math in one story about Rizhao: By using a solar heater for 15 years, a family can save over $2,000 on electricity bills.
Due to its environmental policies, the city has been listed as one of the best cities in China for air quality and received China's Environmental Model City award in 2005, the World Clean Energy Award in 2007 and the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award in 2009. As a result, the city's economy has grown, as has foreign investment.
Meet the facekini
To make the most of our trip, we immediately hit the beach after we arrived to enjoy a day of warm sunshine.
Rizhao has an more than 100 kilometers of golden beaches. The Wanpingkou Beach area is one of the best in the city. During the summer, it is often packed with tons of sun- and beach-lovers.
Honestly speaking, the beaches in Rizhao are not as good as the ones in Thailand - the sand is not that fine, the water doesn't seem that clean and it's overcrowded.
Hmm … welcome to China.
If you don't mind paying a 60-70 yuan (about $10) entry ticket, there is a nice beach located inside the National Forest Park where there are fewer people but finer and softer sand.
So, what can you see at the beaches here that you cannot see in Thailand? Probably the famous made-in-China facekini! What is a facekini? The name says it all. It's a cloth that covers your face and only reveals your eyes, nose and mouth. It has different colors and patterns for you to choose from.
The facekini was first spotted on a beach in Qingdao in 2015 and soon made international headlines. Not long after, it became a weird fashion trend on many beaches throughout China.
Do you think wearing a facekini is enough to protect your skin from the blazing sun? The answer is no. Looking at the women around me, I could see those who were wearing a facekini were also wearing sunglasses or holding an umbrella.
