FDC's from Hong Kong: Year of the Rabbit

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for these nice FDC's from Hong Kong!

FDC from Hong Kong: A circle of 12 years!

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for this nice FDC from Hong Kong! What a big size!

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) is one of the two major convention and exhibition venues in Hong Kong, along with AsiaWorld-Expo. It is located in Wan Chai North, Hong Kong Island. Built along the Victoria Harbour, it is linked by covered walkways to nearby hotels and commercial buildings. The venue was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, in association with Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd. Larry Oltmanns led the design, who is a former Design Partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre is not to be confused with the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre, which is another exhibition venue in Wan Chai North.

The original building was built on reclaimed land off Gloucester Road in 1988. The glass curtain was the world's largest at the time, overlooking the Victoria Harbour on three sides.

The second phase of the centre, located on an artificial island, was constructed from 1994 to 1997, and features a bird-like rooftop. The project took only 48 months from reclamation to completion. The main constructor of the extension was a joint venture named Hip Hing Construction Co Ltd Dragages et Travaux Publics. Originally, Phase Two was connected to Phase One with an atrium link (a sky bridge), and to Convention Road with two road bridges, but now the two phases are connected by an expanded exhibition hall. The complex's construction was financed by New World Development, with the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and Harbour View Apartments on top of it. HKCEC made a second expansion during 2006-2009. Upon completion, the HK$1.4 billion expansion added 19,400 sqm to the HKCEC, bringing the total exhibition space to nearly 83,000 sqm and total rentable function space to over 92,000 sqm.

Discovery Bay of Lantau Island

Discovery Bay (DB) is a mixed, primarily residential, development comprising a residential development and private and public recreational facilities in Hong Kong. It is situated on the north-eastern coast of Lantau Island in the New Territories. The development spans an area of 650 hectares, and includes two bays, the Tai Pak Bay (大白灣) and Yi Pak Bay (二白灣).

DB currently (April 2009) consists of 13 residential development phases with properties ranging from garden houses to high-rise towers of up to 24 storeys. The development also features a 400-metre-long privately owned beach (accessible to the public but no lifeguards present), four private membership clubs including a golf club and a marina club and a public park (Siena Central Park). The absence of public recreational facilities is a bone of discontent with the residents especially in view of the fact that the developer has an outstanding obligation to provide 300,000 square metres of such facilities as part of the original plan. Though DB is considered in Hong Kong to be a low-density development due to the amount of open spaces (as measured by the plot to development ratio of 0.12), DB is however the second most populous district (after the New Town of Tung Chung) on the sparsely populated Lantau Island. Unlike many other developments in Hong Kong, pets are allowed in DB, whereas other developments generally ban them.

Johnston Road, Hong Kong

Johnston Road is a major road in Wan Chai on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It spans from the junction with Heard Street, Hennessy Road and Stewart Road are at its east towards another junction with Hennessy Road and Queensway at its west near Asian House. It is shaped like a bow with the string being Hennessy Road and the Caltex gas station, Southorn Playground and Methodist House in between.

The road was named after Alexander Robert Johnston, the British Deputy Superintendent of Trade during the First Opium War. He was the government administrator even before Sir Henry Pottinger was appointed the first Hong Kong governor in 1842. The fact that the street was named after Sir Reginald Johnston was actually a myth. The road is built on the margin of the oldest building cluster in Wan Chai. Many Hong Kong residents are trying to preserve the old buildings and trees from redevelopment. The century old transport Hong Kong Tramways goes through the road with its first service opening in 1904. Although the name of Johnston Road named in 1920s, part of the road can be traced back to 1851 or earlier when the area was known as Praya East. The section from Spring Garden Lane to Wan Chai Road was known as "Strand Road", for its proximity to the coast.

FDC from Hong Kong: Biodiversity

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for this nice FDC from Hong Kong!Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on an entire planet. Biodiversity is one measure of the health of biological systems. Life on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The year 2010 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity.Biodiversity is not consistent across the Earth. It is consistently rich in the tropics and in specific regions such as the Cape Floristic Province; it is less rich in polar regions where conditions support much less biomass.

Rapid environmental changes typically cause extinctions. 99.9 percent of species that have existed on Earth are now extinct. Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions have led to large and sudden drops in Earthly biodiversity. The Phanerozoic eon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity in the Cambrian explosion—a period during which nearly every phylum of multicellular organisms first appeared. The next 400 million years was distinguished by periodic, massive biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events. The most recent, the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, occurred 65 million years ago, and has attracted more attention than all others because it killed the nonavian dinosaurs. The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing reduction in biodiversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly the destruction of plant and animal habitat. In addition, human practices have caused a loss of genetic diversity. Biodiversity's impact on human health is a major international issue.

FDC from Hong Kong: Characteristic Streets

Pottinger Street($1.40)-The street was originally built from Queen's Road Central up to Hollywood Road. Because of its steep slope, the street was praved entirely with stone slabs, forming steps in an undulating pattern to make it easy for people to go up and down and to drain away stormwater.

Nathan Road($1.40)-It runs through the hustling and bustling Yau Tsim Mong Distric, lit up like a kaleidoscope by neon signs of shops, hotels, shopping arcades and restaurants along the way.

Hollywood Road($2.40)-This street is lined with antique shops that lend an air of nostalgic elegance.

Temple Street($2.40)-For a real taste of Hong Kong culture, there is no better place that Temple Street, the street named after Tin Hau temple in Yau Ma Tei. Dubbed "People's Night Market" for its all-time bargains, Temple Street comes alive when the city lights up at dusk.

Des Voeux Road West($3)- Des Voeux Road West is a traditional marketplace for ginseng products and herbs as well as dried seafood.

Stanley Market($3)- Stanley Market Road and Stanley Main Street, Stanley Market is a popular tourist attraction in Southern District on Hong Kong Island.

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for this nice FDC!

FDC from Hong Kong: Expo 2010

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for this FDC on the theme of Expo 2010 held in Shanghai!

FDC from Hong Kong: Fujian Tulou

Fujian Tulou is "the most extraordinary type of Chinese rural dwellings" of the Hakka and others in the mountainous areas in southwestern Fujian, China. They were mostly built between the 12th and the 20th centuries.

A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick load-bearing rammed earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city.

The fortified outer structures are formed by compacting earth, mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and other readily-available materials, to form walls up to six feet (≈2m) thick. Branches, strips of wood and bamboo chips are often laid in the wall as additional reinforcement. The end result is a well lit, well-ventilated, windproof and earthquake-proof building that is warm in winter and cool in summer. Tulous usually have only one main gate, guarded by 4-5 inch thick wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron plate. The top level of these earth buildings has gun holes for defensive purposes.

Two FDC's from Hong Kong: Year of the Tiger

On Feb.6th the Hong Kong Post issued a set of four stamps and a minisheet plus a souvenir sheet with high value on the traditional theme "Chinese New Year". Many thanks to Hiu Fan for these above FDC's. One was sent registered and the other not, because it is banned in Hong Kong, that a letter is sent registered with special postmark on it, which sometimes makes collctors very sad : (

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, commonly referred to as CUHK, is the second oldest university in Hong Kong; it is campus-based and also the only collegiate university in the territory. The motto of the university is "博 文約禮" in Chinese, meaning "to broaden one's intellectual horizon and keep within the bounds of propriety".

The Chinese University does not conduct its classes solely in Chinese. Cantonese, English, and Mandarin are the languages of instruction. The University was ranked 46th worldwide in the World's Best University: Top 200 by U.S. News & World News and the second best university in the Asia by 2009 Times Higher Education Supplement.

FDC from Hong Kong: Stonecutters Bridge

Stonecutters Bridge is a high level cable-stayed bridge which spans the Rambler Channel in Hong Kong, connecting Nam Won Kok, Tsing Yi Island and Stonecutters Island. The bridge deck was completed on 7 April 2009, making this the second longest cable-stayed span in the world, and opened to traffic on 20 December 2009.

The bridge spans 1.6 km, with 3 lanes in each direction. It is a cable-stayed bridge with two bridge towers, one on Tsing Yi Island and the other on Stonecutters Island. With a main span of 1,018 m, Stonecutters Bridge has the second-longest cable-stayed span in the world, after the Sutong Bridge. It was built at a cost of HK$2.76 billion (U$356 million).

Many thanks to Hiu Fan for the nice cover!

FDC from Hong Kong: The East Asian Games

The East Asian Games is a multi-sport event organised by the East Asian Games Association (EAGA) and held every four years since 1993 among athletes from East Asian countries and territories, as well as the pacific island of Guam. Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country, was a former participant.

From Dec.05 to Dec.13 the 5th East Asian Games was held in Hong Kong.

FDC from Hong Kong: Football

On November 5th Hong Kong Post issued a set of 4 stamps "Football" jointly with Brazil.
On the first cover you may see two sets of stamps by both of Hong Kong and Brazil. On the second one is a registered airmail sent on the first issue day. Many thanks to Hiu Fan!

FDC from Hong Kong: 60th anni. of P.R.C.

Another nice FDC from Hong Kong on the same day. Registered with a beautiful sheet.

FDC from Hong Kong: 60th anni. of P.R.C.

Many thanks to Wong Hiu Fan for this nice FDC ! She sent this cover on 1.Oct.2009 from Hong Kong. And the stamp affixed on the cover is 2.40 HK Dollar, which is just the airmail postage from Hong Kong to Mainland China for 20g letter.

Hong Kong, China