In 2005, the Chinese National Geography magazines listed 114 places in 17 categories as the most beautiful places in China.
The list was not developed through voting competitions by tourists to select their favourite places but by academics and specialists, who are experts in each of the categories so it's the most authoritative list so far. You can feel the difference when comparing this list to those titles you can find in bookshops as the justification for the places were very professionally explained.
We visited a few places and they are indeed beautiful. Since then, we always try to include these places in our travel plans. Only challenge is that these places can be quite remote and not very well known outside China. But the rewards are really, as the title suggested, beautiful places that make each visit worthwhile.