Zhangjiachuan, China

With a population of just 62,497, Zhangjiachuan is a rural backwater in Gansu province that offers little to tempt most foreign transplants. The county's primary economic activity is mining iron, lead, copper, and zinc - hardly the stuff of cosmopolitan dreams. And while the descendants of Hui refugees expelled from Shaanxi during the 19th-century Dungan Revolt have found a home here, the persistent bureaucracy is a headache for anyone hoping to put down roots.

Those seeking a launchpad for a Lanzhou beef noodle empire may find Zhangjiachuan to their liking, as over 18,900 of China's noodle restaurants hail from this remote region. But for the average expat, this isolated county offers little beyond a remote, unglamorous outpost far from the country's economic and cultural centers.