Taiwan Inaugurates First Female President

Today's featured postcard was a private swap from Taiwan showing the Office of the President, Republic of China in Taipei with a ROCUPEX '13 TAIPEI commemorative postage label from the 2013 National Stamp Exhibition of R.O.C. and International Invitational Stamp Exhibition, and a matching pictorial postmark on August 23, 2013. The Office of the President is the site of the inauguration ceremony this Friday, May 20, 2016 where Tsai Ing-wen took oath of office to become the first female president of Taiwan.

Tsai Ing Wen (R) replaces former President Ma Ying Jeou (L) after a landslide election victory on January 16, 2016. She faces immediate challenges to revitalize the economy, and to balance the demands of the her electorate for greater independence and the pressure of One-Country from China.

Embed from Getty Images

Last in 2013 or First in 2014?

Postcard ES-215704 from Spain was the last official card I received in 2013. However, since the PostCrossing server resides in UTC/GMT zone, the registered arrival date was January 1, 2014. That would make this card my first in the New Year.

The postcard shows a night view of Seville, the fourth-largest city in Spain, with the Torre del Oro (Gold Tower) at the left-center by the Guadalquivir River and the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See at the top-right in the background.

Built in the early 13th century, the Torre del Oro was a military watch tower that controlled access to Seville via the river. It got its name due to its golden shine projected on the river, caused by its building materials: a mixture of mortar, lime and pressed hay. It served as a prison during the Middle Ages. 

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral that ranks as the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world. It was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, along with the Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies.

Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2011

Postcard RU-1967483 arrived today after "traveling" 92 days, showing an original photo of Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2011 by the sender. It is worth to note that the first card expired and the sender was kind enough to resend the card. I feel bad about it because it was the very first card she sent since joining the PostCrossing project. I still remember the anxiety and excitement when I was waiting for my first card to get registered. Hope it's an exception for her and wouldn't discourage her to enjoy the experience. The second card has a postmark on November 14, 2013. It reached U.S. from Russia in 15 days.

First Bridge of the Yangtze, Wuhan, China

Postcard US-2293208 to Belarus shows the Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge ( 武汉长江大桥) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China with a photo taken on October 1, 2007. The double-deck road and rail bridge was the first bridge across the Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world. It opened to public traffic fifty six years ago on October 15, 1957.

The Wuhan metropolis is an amalgamation of three cities located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and one of its branches: the Han River: Wuchang is located on the southern bank of the Yangtze; Hanyang is on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the west bank of the Han; and Hankou sits on the northern bank of the Yangtze and the eastern bank of the Han. Wuhan lies in the heart of Central China and has been a transportation hub between Beijing, the political and culture center in the north and the trading ports of Guangzhou and Hong Kong in the south. The Beijing-Wuhan railway line went into full service in 1906, followed in 1936 by the Wuhan-Guangzhou railway line. Before the bridge was built, train cars travelling between northern and southern China had to be ferried on barges over the Yangtze River, a laborious and time-consuming practice. Plans for the bridge's construction were first made in 1910; and four exploratory surveys were made between 1913 and 1948 for site selection. However, the construction did not start until 1955 due to economic constrains and the combination of World War II and the Chinese Civil War. The construction lasted for two years and was assisted by a 28-person delegation of engineers from the then Soviet Union.

The bridge extends 1.6 kilometers or 1 mile from Turtle Hill in Hanyang, on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, to Snake Hill in Wuchang, on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. The upper level of the bridge has four lanes for two-way automobile traffic while the lower level is a double-track railway on the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line.

Since then, there have been 60 bridges and 3 tunnels built by September 2013 over the 2,884 km or1,792 m main stretch of the Yangtze River, representing a broad array of bridge designs and significant achievements in modern bridge design and engineering.