Chizhou, China

With a population of 1.3 million, Chizhou is a sprawling prefecture-level city in southern Anhui. The terrain is unforgiving, with high elevations in the southeast gradually stepping down to the Yangtze River in the northwest. Bureaucracy is a persistent headache - the city has been shuffled between different administrative jurisdictions over the decades. And the climate is hardly idyllic, prone to flooding in spring and summer, followed by droughts in autumn. For those undeterred by the challenges, Chizhou may offer opportunities in the Jiangnan industrial hub, but it's hardly a picturesque Chinese haven.