7. The Loess Plateau along the Yellow River

The Loess Plateau, also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km2 in the upper and middle of China's Yellow River and China proper . Loess is the name for the silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages. Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water; in fact, the soil of this region has been called the "most highly erodible soil on earth". The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and parts of others.

The Yellow River, China's second-largest river, passes through the Loess Plateau. You can drift on a raft along the Yellow River to view the plateau. The best time to visit the Loess Plateau is from March to October.