The city of Handan in Hebei province is the birthplace of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China. That illustrious history isn’t apparent today. Aging, coal-burning steel factories belch grime over the city of 1 million, one of China’s 10 most polluted. Dotting the downtown area are half-constructed high-rises, relics of a property bubble that started more than five years ago but was finally punctured last summer after the central government in Beijing curtailed credit and developers stopped paying creditors. Locals who lost their savings in dodgy real estate investments regularly block city streets in angry protests, demanding their money back from the developers. (James Whitlow Delano)