Traveling the China road in search of stories to explain a beat as big and complex as the People’s Republic can’t help but impress a group of reporters with the country’s marvelously varied visual resources. Every pile of bricks stacked outside a construction site, every flash of conspicuous consumption, every farmer who says that a hard life is less hard than it used to be attests to the fact that China is undergoing a remarkable transformation from the grassroots up. That process is inescapably reflected in the country’s rich menu of images – by turns gritty and elegant, stodgy and sweeping, indelibly grim and endlessly uplifting, uptempo and sophisticated. Our reporters, photojournalists and multimedia-istas found such to be the case in the big cities as well as the outlying rural communities. Herewith the Reporting China team offers a selection of photos chronicling our journey from Beijing to Xi’an and Shanghai. . . .

Reporting China students offer a collection of photos chronicling early impressions from their journey through the People’s Republic.

Westerns may scrutinize China, but a farmer looks at his village and sees something quite different.

Many great questions have been pondered throughout Chinese history. On a hot June day in 2009, four brave women dared to ask: “Where is the toboggan?” Their quest was part of this year’s Reporting China assault on the Great Wall of China and a special mission to search out a toboggan ride discovered by the 2008 Reporting China team that provides travelers the option of a little mechanical help in getting up to and down from the battlements, with a few thrills and chills thrown in for good measure. Join them now to see how they fared.

After three long days of final exams, teachers, families and friends gathered to watch 112 fifth-graders graduate at the first private school to open in Shanghai.

The early morning scene in a Chinese public park is part Lollapalooza, part Jazzercise convention and part Karate Kid, with just a tinge of One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest. While youth might rave or hip-hop the Shanghai night away, it’s the seniors who rule the dawn.

On a typical early morning in Zhongshan Park, no fewer than 17 activities share the walkways and grassy enclosures. From badminton, ballroom dancing and tai chi to table tennis, Chinese elders have taken the government’s physical fitness call-to-arms to heart. . . .

Xi’an is undergoing vast modernization to make itself more inviting to tourists and locals and is simultaneously attempting to keep all of its history important. This subject is controversial to some Chinese who worry about the city losing sight of its historical importance.

Beishe is a village located in rural Shaanxi province, a two-hour drive from the ancient capital of Xi’an. While change has come to Beishe over the years – the introduction of electricity, an increase in motor vehicles and other labor-saving devices, and overall improvement in the quality of life – it has come at a much slower pace than in the country’s booming urban centers. This video offers glimpses of a day in the life of the people of Beishe, who manage to honor age-old rhythms in a time of dramatic national transformation.

Youth learning centers allow elementary school-age students to excel in China’s educational sweepstakes.