Childhood on Loess Plateau

 

This card comes from Greta and it’s one of my favorite ones. Because it’s real. Because it’s different than all the glossy touristic images they usually put on postcards. Because it shows something from the real life. And I believe postcards are about that – about showing different people and cultures, about showing their way of life. However glossy it is. 🙂

The Loess Plateau, also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle reaches of China’s Yellow River. Loess is the name for the silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages. Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water; in fact, the soil of this region has been called the “most highly erodible soil on earth”. The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, as well as parts of Gansu province, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Postcrossing meeting in Wuxi

This meeting card is from the first Wuxi meetup that took place on 18 August, and was sent to me by Rainy Dy-lan. 🙂

It pictures the Plum Flowers Garden in Wuxi. It is famous for being the best place to view and appreciate plum blossoms in south China. It is located in the western suburbs of Wuxi, facing Lake Tai and bordered by Dragon Mountain and the Nine Peaks of Mount Hui. At present, the garden contains three primary viewing areas. First is the plum blossom scenic spot, which has many cultural relics. Second is the garden area, which includes a hanging bridge, a windmill, a church, cafés and diverse styles of gardens. Finally, there is Huaxi scenic spot, which displays one-hundred species of exotic flowers.

Temple of Heaven

 

The Temple of Heaven in Southeastern Beijing, China, is comprised of several buildings of note, which are surrounded by a park that is popular with both tourists and locals alike. The most notable building in the Temple of Heaven complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, which is one of Beijing’s most famous architectural landmarks. A UNESCO World heritage Site since 1998, the Temple of Heaven is a must-see in terms of architecture, design, and history.

The Temple of Heaven was built according to strict philosophical requirements as each construction is meant to represent the ideas of Heaven and Earth. The symbolism is echoed throughout the design of each individual building and its design as Earth is represented by a square, and Heaven by a circle. The entire complex is surrounded by two separate circular walls and lies on an axis directly in line with the Temple of Earth to the north, the Temple of the Sun to the east, and the Temple of the Moon to the west.

This card came from Moon from China. 🙂