Maisaka from "Tokaido Journey"

Postcard US-4002386 to China shows the sun over a torii (鳥居) on a 21.5cm x 32.2cm serigraph painting Maisaka from "Tokaido Journey" by William Zacha in 1982.

An entry from Wikipedia explains that a torii, which literally means bird abode, "is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred." They are a common sight at Japanese Buddhist temples as well.

Merged into the city of Hamamatsu in 2005, Maisaka (舞阪町) was a fishing town on the Pacific coast of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. According to William Zacha, this torii is at the departure point for ferrying across the narrow stretch of water that connects Lake Hamana (浜名湖) with the ocean. It's a great fishing area, famous for eel.

Campus Map of Peking University

In celebration of the Homecoming Day for Peking University's alumni, and the 118th university's anniversary, today's featured postcard was a private swap from China, showing a hand-painted campus map of Peking University (北京大学) on a shaped card. Found in 1898, it is a major Chinese research university located near the Summer Palace in Beijing.

The university moved to the current site in 1952, the former campus of Yenching University, It was the site of royal imperial gardens in the Qing Dynasty. On the map, you can see many historical structures such as the West Gate, beautiful natural landscape such as the Weiming Lake, as well as the academic buildings such as the library.

The Sacrament of the Last Supper

Postcard US-3957031 to China shows a painting The Sacrament of the Last Supper by Salvador Dalí. Completed in 1955 after nine months of work, it remains one of his most popular compositions. Since its arrival at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1955, it replaced Renoir's A Girl with a Watering Can as the most popular piece in the museum.

Under One Big Roof

Postcard US-3898447 to Tennessee, USA shows 大厝顶 which literally means "big roof", a traditional rural dwelling found in Fujian Province, China where members from an extended family, build, and later extend when the size of family grows, their living units all under one big roof in the same household. The postcard was published by SkyPixel with a drone photo taken by Yuanfeng Zhang (张元锋) using a Phantom 3 Professional.

Orton Hall at OSU, Ohio

Postcard US-3620809 to China shows Orton Hall, one of the oldest remaining buildings on Ohio State University campus. Opened in 1893, it was named after Dr Edward Orton, Sr. who served as OSU's first president, Professor of Geology from 1873 to 1899, and Ohio's State Geologist from 1882 until his death in 1899.

According to Wikipedia, the Hall is built of forty different Ohio building stones. In the outside walls, these stones are laid in stratigraphic order according to their relative positions in Ohio's bedrock. The capitals of the numbered columns in the entrance hall feature carvings of fossils, such as trilobites, as well as other objects such as the races of Man. The bell tower was dedicated in 1915 and contains 25,000 pounds of bells that can be heard regularly tolling across campus in the key of E-flat. Encircling the top of the tower are 24 columns with gargoyle-like figures which are restorations of fossil animals. Orton Hall was placed into the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1970, along with University Hall and Hayes Hall. It presently hosts the School of Earth Science, laboratories of Paleontology, Historical Geology and Sedimentology, the Orton Geological Museum, and the Orton Geological Library.

1984 Summer Olympics Torch Station

Outgoing postcard US-3373220 to China was a stamped postal postcard for the 1984 Summer Olympics with an Olympic Torch Station postmark in Los Angeles, California on July 28, 1984.

The torch was lighted at 9:30 a.m. on May 8, 1984 on the lawn in front of the United Nations building, with the energy from the Olympic flame in Athens, Greece via a "heat reading" device and underwater cables. It then traveled 33 states in a 9,000-mile or 15,000-kilometer marathon relay from New York to Los Angeles in 82 days, passing through the hands of thousands of runners from all walks of life.

Since I had a layover at LAX airport in Los Angeles earlier today en route to San Francisco, I thought it would be neat if I could mail it from LAX. To my disappointment, I found out that there was no US Mail drop box in the airport. The closest U.S. post office was at 9029 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90009.

So the postcard will have to be mailed from San Francisco.

Toucan World Cup

Outgoing postcard US-3373322 to China shows a vintage color poster advertisement featuring Guinness and a football (soccer) supporting toucan with an Irish shamrock scarf, with a tag line "Lovely day for a Guinness."

As for the 2014 World Cup in the recent news, the last two of the 12 stadiums built for the purpose of hosting the Brazil World Cup have finally been completed, 10 months after the tournament ended, while at least four others have either turned into a parking lot, been used by homeless people, or become other white elephants. The waste fueled the continued controversies about the amount spent on the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, which, as many protesters claimed, should have been used to deal with the poverty issues and to improve infrastructures in the country.

Chengdu Skyline, China

Postcard CN-1366988 from China was a beautiful 3D card showing the city skyline of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province in China. With 14,047,625 residents (7,415,590 in nine urban districts and 6,632,035 in the surrounding area), Chengdu is the fifth most populous city in China as of 2010.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms, that killed 69,197 people and left 18,222 missing. The epicenter was 80 kilometers or 50 miles west-northwest of Chengdu.

Peking University Library, Beijing, China

Outgoing postcard US-3368775 to Ohio shows the Peking University Library at the Peking University's main campus in Beijing, China. Its predecessor, the Imperial University library, was founded in 1902. Peking University, along its library, moved from downtown to the former Yenching University campus during the university re-grouping in 1952. The main building opened in 1975 at the center of the campus. A new building, shown on the postcard, was added in 1998. It holds 5.3 million books, among of which are 1.5 million ancient books and 170,000 rare books and special collections.

Peking University, a major research university and the first modern national university in China that was founded as the "Imperial University of Peking" in 1898, celebrates its 117th anniversary and the Homecoming Day on May 4th, 2015.

Flower Market, Guangzhou, China

I just got this postcard from a private swap showing a pair of kids in traditional Chinese costume at a flower market in Guangzhou, China. The Guangzhou Flower Market, held annually during the Spring Festival, is a city-wide street fair where the public can purchase all kinds of flowering and decorative plants as part of the Chinese New Year celebration. As vendors literally line up the streets, the Flower Market is also known to locals as the "Flower Streets" where you can go shopping flowers by "walking the Flower Streets." The tradition can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Peony, orchid, and related arts, crafts and supplies are popular items in the market.

Qianshan Mountains in China

China Post issued its second series of Landscape Stamped Postcards between 1995 and 2003. In all, nineteen sets of stamped cards had been issued over the nine years, with identification numbers starting with "FP". Each edition has A series with pre-printed domestic postage and B series with international postage.

Postcard CN-1510270 from China was one of the ten postcards from FP6(B) Liaoning Scenery issued in 1998. It shows Qianshan Mountains (千山), a National-level Scenic and Historic Interest Area which is equivalent to a national park. Located 17 kilometers or 10.6 miles southeast to Anshan City, Liaoning Province with a total area of 44 square kilometers or 11,000 acres, it is a branch of the Changbai Mountains on the China-North Korea border. It is the location of a mainstream Taoist shrine. Yiphinwai from Malaysia also recorded a copy from Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.

The pre-printed postage on the right shows the International postcard rate at 4.20 Chinese Yuan in 1998

Wuhan by Ferry

Postcard CN-1520549 from China shows people taking ferries to cross the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Wuhan (武汉), the capital of Hubei province and the most populous city in Central China, is located at the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers, consisting of the conglomeration of three cities, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang.

Those three cities face each other across the rivers and are now linked by bridges, including one of the first modern bridges in China. Ferries were the only transportation to cross the rivers before the Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge opened in 1957. Even after the Metro Line 2, the first Metro line crossing through Yangtze River, opened on December 28, 2012, ferries remain a best choice for going directly across the Yangtze River since it's inexpensive and quick, and you can take your bicycle to the ferry for a nominal fee.

In addition, it's a scenic ride to see the rivers and skylines of the three cities. Many ferry terminals for the more than dozen ferry lines are located by the Snake Hill in Wuchang where the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a historic tower first built in 223 A.D., overlooking the Yangtze River.

Shit Happens

Postcard US-3135200 to China was from a colleague of mine who bought it during a trip to Germany, showing one of the many great comics from Ruthe.de.

A lot of things have gone wrong recently. For three days, Paris was under siege as terrorists killed satirical comic magazine editors and took hostages. AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea before the New Year, and the elusive black boxes still have not been recovered after two-week intensive searches. SpaceX rocket's booster landing was unsuccessful after launching the Space Station supply ship.

Shit Happens. However, we can not let those setbacks to hold us down. The Paris attacks have brought out one million people marching in unity, and stirred up debates about freedom of speech, religions, national identity and security. The investigations on the causes of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 accident and SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's first stage landing failure will certainly contribute to a safer air travel and the advances of reusable rocket technology.

Our Own Spiritual Journey

Postcard CN-1487943 from China shows Ranwu Lake (然烏湖), located in Basu County, Changdu, Tibet. As one of the sources of Palongzangbu River which is in turn a tributary of Brahmaputra River, Ranwu is a barrier lake formed by natural damming caused by landslide and mudslides blocking the river. At the elevation of 3,850 meters or 12,631 feet, the lake covers 22 square kilometers or 8.5 square miles, surrounded by the Kangri Garpo Mountain Range and the Laigu Glaciers. The climate near the lake is warm and humid, with an average annual temperature of 8.5 °C or 47 °F and an average annual rainfall of 849.7 millimeters or 33.5 inches. The lake is largely supplied by the surface runoff. State Road 318 runs through the lake on its east bank.

Countdown to 2015

The countdown to 2015 is on, and LasVegas is expecting a record of 340,000 visitors in this New Year's Eve, despite of a forecast of freezing temperature and snow.

More than 80,000 fireworks will light up the night sky, shooting from the rooftops of MGM Grand,
Aria, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, The Venetian, Treasure Island and Stratosphere, in a 7 minute and 11 second synchronized show.

Postcard US-3087107 to China shows a collage photo that includes many major landmark hotels and casinos in Las Vegas under the fireworks.

Update: The anticipated snow did not materialized. Only bursts of spectacular fireworks filled the sky, ushering in a brand new year.

Fireworks from Planet Hollywood and Aria after countdown to 2015.

Winter Solstice Festival

Postcard DE-3748381 from Germany arrived with a message "I love snow" on December 22 when meteorological winter starts in the Northern Hemisphere. However, there is no white Christmas in sight as the temperature at McCarran International Airport reached a record high at 22.8°C or 73°F today.

Winter Solstice Festival (冬至), one of the most important seasonal festivals celebrated in China and other East Asia countries during the winter solstice, falls on Monday, December 22 in 2014. Since the winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year, the festival celebrates the beginning of a period when the daylight hours are getting longer with an increase of positive energy pouring in from the sun. The favorite snacks during the festival are dumplings in the Northern China, wantons in the Eastern China, and red bean sweet rice cakes in the Southern China.

St. Mary's Cathedral, Covington, KY, USA

Postcard US-3100095 to China was a 1940 vintage postcard showing the Roman Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky. Designed by Detroit architect Leon Coquard and built in 1895, its exterior was inspired by the Notre Dame of Paris in an one third scale replica. Services were first held in 1901. However, the construction stopped in 1915 with planned 52- feet or 16-meter tall towers un-built. Pope Pius XII elevated the cathedral to the rank of minor basilica on December 8, 1953.

The restoration of the Cathedral was recognized by the Cincinnati Preservation Association with a Preservation Award in 2002.

Fujian Tulou

 

Postcard CN-1464982 from China shows a Fujian Tulou (福建土楼),  the most representative and best preserved example of the earthen houses in China. Located in the mountainous regions in Fujian Province, those houses exemplify a particular combination of communal living and defensive functions, with a harmonious building relationship with the environment. A group of 46 earthen houses built between the 15th and 20th centuries was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

Fujian Tulou reminds me the elevated pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings that Ancient Pueblo peoples built in the present-day Four Corners area in the United States.

Secret Memo to the Emperor

Postcard TW-1378800 from Taiwan, styled after file folders for secret memos to the emperor in ancient China, was one of the three new postcards made by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Those memos ranged from official statements of the facts, proposals of measures, and greetings. The emperor would mark the memo as read with a cinnabar red pen and return it to the sender. Last year, the National Palace Museum in Taipei issued paper tapes with an emperor's handwriting "marked as read", as part of a cultural and creative project. It was an instant success.

Taiwan celebrated the Double Ten Day - its National Day on October 10, 2014, the 103rd birthday of the Republic of China (ROC). The ROC government fled to Taiwan in 1949 in a civil war against communist forces in mainland China, and moved more than 696,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks from the Forbidden City in Beijing to Taipei, which became the National Palace Museum's permanent collection.

Taxkorgan, the Stone Fortress

Postcard CN-1385641 from China is a postal stamped card by China Post, showing the 2000-year-old hill fortress in Taxkorgan (塔什库尔干), meaning Stone Fortress, seat of Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang, China. It had been a strategically important junction on the historical Silk Road, as major caravan routes converged here leading to Kashgar in the north, Karghalik to the east, Badakhshan and Wakhan to the west, and Chitral and Hunza to the southwest in Gilgit Baltistan of today's Pakistan. Today, as the last town in China 120 kilometers or 75 miles from the border with Pakistan, Taxkorgan is on the Karakoram Highway that follows the old Silk Road route from China to Pakistan.