Jinli old street, Chengdu

This old street is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The figures, dating from 210 BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Chinese: 秦始皇陵; pinyin: Qín Shǐhuáng Ling).

The figures vary in height, according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.

Temple on Mount Qingcheng

Mount Qingcheng is a mountain in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, China. It is amongst the most important centres of Taoism (Daoism) in China. In Daoist mythology, it was the site of the Yellow Emperor's studies with Ning Fengzhi. As a centre of the Daoist religion it became host to many temples. The mountain has 36 peaks.

Longji Terrace

This Terrace is located in the Southwest of China.

FDC of China: Year of the Rabbit

I got two FDC's during the Chinese New Year, on which there were two different cancellations. Actually, there should be more than one hundred special postmarks on this theme on the first issue day.

A snow land: Heilongjiang

Heilongjiang is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑 (pinyin: Hēi). The Manchu name of the region is Sahaliyan ula (literally, "Black River"), from which the name of Sakhalin is derived. Heilongjiang borders Jilin in the south and Inner Mongolia to the west; it also borders Russia to the north and east. The Amur River marks the border between the People's Republic of China and Russia to the north. Heilongjiang contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe County along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the junction of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers).

Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum

The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is the tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain, located east of the historical center of Nanjing, China. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tomb, 13 identical processions of funeral troops started from 13 city gates to obscure the real burying site. The construction of the mausoleum began during the Hongwu Emperor's life in 1381 and ended in 1405, during the reign of his son the Yongle Emperor, with a huge expenditure of resources involving 100,000 laborers. The original wall of the mausoleum was more than 22.5 kilometers long. The mausoleum was built under heavy guard of 5,000 military troops.

The sacred way started from Sifangcheng (Rectangular city) which was a pavilion where a splendid carved stone stele in the memory of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was erected. The stele, known as the "Shengong Shengde Stele" (神功圣德碑), has an inscription in honor of the Hongwu Emperor written by his fourth son, the Yongle Emperor. Standing on top of a giant stone tortoise (5.15 m long, 2.54 m wide and 2.8 m tall) and crowned by intertwining hornless dragons, the well-preserved stele stands 8.78 m tall (including the toroise) and is one of the best-known examples of its genre. The roof of the Sifangcheng pavilion no longer exists, however.

In the middle of the 1800-meter-long winding sacred way, 6 kinds and 12 pairs of animals guard the tomb. Beyond them is a pair of decorative columns called huabiao in Chinese. Four pairs of ministers and generals of stone have been standing there for centuries to accompany His Majesty beneath. On an inscribed stone tablet outside of the gate of the mausoleum, an official notification of the local government in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is ordered to protect the tomb. Inside the gate, there is a pavilion in which 5 steles stand. The one in the middle, also mounted on a stone tortoise, is inscribed with 4 Chinese characters, "治隆唐宋", which were written by the Qing Dynasty's Kangxi Emperor on his third inspection tour of the South in 1699. The text is interpreted as alluding to the greatness of the Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang, matching (or surpassing) that of the founders of the Tang and Song Dynasties of old.

Behind the pavilion, there used to be other annexes; however most of them have collapsed into relics from which the original splendor can still be traced. The emperor and his queen were buried in a clay vault, 400 meters in diameter. On a stone wall surrounding the vault, 7 Chinese characters were inscribed, identifying the mausoleum of Emperor Ming Taizu (respected title of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang). The mountain to the south of the tomb, known as Meihua Shan ("Plum Flower Mountain"), is the mausoleum of Sun Quan, King of the Kingdom of Wu in the Three Kingdoms period (220-265). The existence of this tomb is the reason why the Sacred Way is not straight. The mausoleum complex suffered significant damage during the mid-19th century Taiping War, but was mostly restored during the Tongzhi era thereafter. In 2003, along with the Ming Dynasty Tombs north of Beijing, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum of Nanjing was inscribed by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Sites "Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties".

Mail box of Shanghai II

I found this interesting mail box in Anting, West Shanghai.

Wulingyuan

Wulingyuan is a scenic and historic interest area in Hunan Province, China, famous for its approximately 3,100 tall quartzite sandstone pillars, some over 800 meters in height, which are a kind of karst formation. It is part of Zhangjiajie city, about 270km from the capital of Hunan Province, Changsha. It lies between the coordinates of 29°16′0″N 110°22′0″E / 29.266667°N 110.366667°E / 29.266667; 110.366667Coordinates: 29°16′0″N 110°22′0″E / 29.266667°N 110.366667°E / 29.266667; 110.366667 and 29°24′0″N 110°41′0″E / 29.4°N 110.683333°E / 29.4; 110.683333. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. Wulingyuan forms part of the Wuling Range.

Thames Town Post Office

This post office is located in the Thames Town, West Shanghai.

Jinmu Coner

Jinmu Coner is located in the Hainan Province, South China.

Mail box of Shanghai

You may easily find such a mail box in Shanghai.

Post Office in Shanghai

This post office is quite near to my university, and I always sent registered mails and FDC's there.

Taihu Lake, Suzhou

Taihu Lake is a large lake in the Yangtze Delta plain, on the border of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the People's Republic of China. The waters of the lake belong to the former in its entirety with part of its southern shore forming the boundary between the two provinces. With an area of 2,250 km² and an average depth of 2 metres, it is the third largest freshwater lake in China, after the Poyang and Dongting Lakes. The lake houses about 90 islands, ranging in size from a few square meters to several square miles.

Taihu Lake is linked to the renowned Grand Canal. The lake is also the origin for a number of rivers, including Suzhou Creek. In recent years, Taihu Lake has been plagued by pollution as a result of rapid economic growth in the surrounding region.

Post Office in Huaian

Last winter I visited this city in the North of Jiangsu Province, East China and took this picture of this post office located in the center of the city.

Beijing No.8 Middle School

It's a campus card showing Beijing No.8 Middle School,which is a highly prestigious public beacon secondary school (Grade 7-12) located in Xicheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Original cover of China: Gulangyu

I went to Xiamen by the end of June for a short travel. And there I made this registered cover for myself, on which I affixed a set of three stamps showing this small island issued in 2003. Gulangyu is a car free island off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province in southern China, about 2km2 in area. It is home to about 20,000 people and is a very popular tourist destination. Visitors can reach it by ferry from Xiamen Island in about 5 minutes. Gulangyu Island is renowned for its beaches and winding lanes and its varied architecture. The island is on China's list of National Scenic Spots and also ranks at the top of the list of the ten most-scenic areas in Fujian Province.

Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou, in English and other European languages also known as Canton (which was first romanized from the Cantonese pronunciation of Guangdong by the Portuguese) and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city located in southern China in the middle of Guangdong Province north of the Pearl River, about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Hong Kong. It is the third largest city in China and the capital of Guangdong Province, southern China's largest city and key transportation hub and trading port, located on the Pearl River which is navigable to the South China Sea. As of the 2000 census, the city has a population of 6 million, and an urban area population of roughly 11.85 million, making it the most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in China.

Wuyuan, the most beautiful county of China

The Wuyuan county is an administrative district of the province of Jiangxi, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Shangrao. Wuyuan, on the boundary of three provinces in Jiangxi's northeastern corner, has a magnificent landscape dotted with strange caves, deep secluded rocks and numerous historic sites. It has been described by some overseas photographers as the "most beautiful of Chinese villages. Wuyuan County is home to some of the best-preserved ancient architecture in China. Each of the numerous ancient buildings has a distinctive shape and structure. They emerge from among the emerald green mountains, clear rivers, green trees and the crisscrossing paths between the fields.

Wuyuan's structures were built in 740 during the Tang Dynasty, its remoteness and inconvenient transportation protecting its villages' beauty from too many visitors. Thus the idyllic scene remained unsullied ... pure, clean brooks, seemingly delicate wooden buildings, unique bridges and, most precious of all, the tranquil lifestyle enjoyed by local people. Virtually every village has something special to offer, often some tiny but unique feature that can stop you in your tracks and positively beg to be photographed. So was it in Wuyuan, our no-rush itinerary allowing for a visit to one village each day. We stayed over at each, and headed for the next on the list each morning.

Shangri-La

Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. In the book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. In the ancient Tibetan scriptures, existence of 7 such places are mentioned as Nghe-Beyul Khimpalung. One of such places is mentioned to be situated somewhere in the Makalu-Barun region.

In China, Tao Qian of the Jin Dynasty described a Shangri-La in his work Story of the Peach Blossom Valley. In modern China, the Zhongdian county was renamed to 香格里拉 (Shangri-La in Chinese) in 2001, to attract tourists. The legendary Kun Lun Mountains in Tibet offer other possible Shangri-La valleys. A popularly believed inspiration for Hilton's Shangri-La is the Hunza Valley in northern Pakistan, close to the Tibetan border, which Hilton visited a few years before Lost Horizon was published. Being an isolated green valley surrounded by mountains, enclosed on the western end of the Himalayas, it closely matches the description in the novel. A Shangri-La resort in the nearby Skardu valley is a popular tourist attraction. Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of southern Kham in southwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destinations of Lijiang and Zhongdian. Places like Sichuan and Tibet also claim the real Shangri-La was in its territory.