So in China the term "city" (市, shi) is sort of misleading, as it usually refers to prefectural-level cities, which are directly below provinces (≈states) and would be ≈ counties. Below cities can be urban districts (区, qu), rural counties (县, xian), or even other smaller cities. This can inflate city population numbers.

With that said, here are some lower-"tier" (prefectural-level) cities for an example of what I mean:

INTERIOR NORTH CHINA:
Puyang, Henan
Baotou, Inner Mongolia
Siping, Jilin
Yan'an, Shaanxi

INTERIOR SOUTH CHINA:
Shangrao, Jiangxi
Yueyang, Hunan
Xuancheng, Anhui

Interior regions of coastal provinces (so these would be like Buffalo, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, and Springfield, MA)
Heze, Shandong
Quzhou, Zhejiang
Sanming, Fujian
Shaoguan, Guangdong

WEST CHINA:
Bijie, Guizhou
Zigong, Sichuan
Any city in Qinghai, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, or Lanzhou really

Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, western Yunnan, and Hainan island are known to be kinda exotic ish, but those are more analogous to Alaska and Hawaii I'd say.

These are lesser known capitals:
Taiyuan, Shanxi (shown)
Shijiazhuang, Hebei (less visited than the areas near Beijing)
Zhengzhou, Henan (less visited than Luoyang and Kaifeng which are already less developed and minor)
Nanning, Guangxi (less visited than Guilin)
Guiyang, Guizhou

As a coastal chang American who's never visited the Midwest, I'm curious what you anons think about the same question but for China.

So in China the term "city" (市, shi) is sort of misleading, as it usually refers to prefectural-level cities, which are directly below provinces (≈states) and would be ≈ counties. Below cities can be urban districts (区, qu), rural counties (县, xian), or even other smaller cities. This can inflate city population numbers.

With that said, here are some lower-"tier" (prefectural-level) cities for an example of what I mean:

INTERIOR NORTH CHINA:
Puyang, Henan
Baotou, Inner Mongolia
Siping, Jilin
Yan'an, Shaanxi

INTERIOR SOUTH CHINA:
Shangrao, Jiangxi
Yueyang, Hunan
Xuancheng, Anhui

Interior regions of coastal provinces (so these would be like Buffalo, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, and Springfield, MA)
Heze, Shandong
Quzhou, Zhejiang
Sanming, Fujian
Shaoguan, Guangdong

WEST CHINA:
Bijie, Guizhou
Zigong, Sichuan
Any city in Qinghai, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, or Lanzhou really

Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, western Yunnan, and Hainan island are known to be kinda exotic ish, but those are more analogous to Alaska and Hawaii I'd say.

These are lesser known capitals:
Taiyuan, Shanxi (shown)
Shijiazhuang, Hebei (less visited than the areas near Beijing)
Zhengzhou, Henan (less visited than Luoyang and Kaifeng which are already less developed and minor)
Nanning, Guangxi (less visited than Guilin)
Guiyang, Guizhou