Sunday Stamps - (H) Huangmei Opera from China

For the letter H - Huangmei Opera

2014 - China - Arts & Culture

Designer: Zhang Wang

Released on 6 July 2014, the picture on this stamp is entitled "The Emperor's Female Son-in-Law". This is one of the grand plays staged for the Huangmei Opera. Huangmei Opera traced its origins from 200 years ago in the rural parts of China, among which are Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces. The costumes used in the plays are less extravagant as compared to other forms of Chinese opera. The focus was more on the tone and the beautiful singing. Storylines mirrored reality and that's why it has won the hearts of the audience. Huangmei Opera is in the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage.

For more stamps with letter "H" - visit See It On A Postcard

P.S. The Postcards for the Weekend re-opens next weekend. Woohooo! It will be open by 12 AM, 13 Oct and close by 12 NN, 15 Oct. It shall follow the same schedule every weekend from then on. As before, there will be a different theme for each weekend while every first weekend of the month will always be dedicated for anything you wish to share. Hope to see more beautiful postcards from all deltiologist bloggers! Thanks to Eva of Mail Adventures for encouraging me to restart this linky! Cheers x

Postcards for the weekend 68: Winter Scenes

The temperature has been dropping here in Singapore. It was around 26 two weeks ago and now it's at 22 degrees Celsius. Standing in the kitchen earlier this evening while hanging my laundry to dry, I feel the chill with the wind continuously blowing stronger than usual. This isn't normal for us here with the temperature normally ranging from 29 to 34 degrees Celsius throughout the year. 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Sweden

It makes me wonder how much cooler it is for countries where there's actually winter and where nature freezes around you. Thank you, Monica for sending me this "really snowy Christmas card". You're right, I don't get to see snow here on my side of the world. There are no four seasons in Southeast Asia. 

Private Swap, sent from Taipei, Taiwan
Traveled 1,161 km

Tracing upwards though, like in China -- some parts do freeze. Here's a frost-covered UNESCO World Heritage Site Wulingyuan Scenic & Interest Area in Hunan Province, China. According to the sender of this postcard, James Cameron's floating islands on his movie, Avatar was based on the quartz-sandstone pillars on the backdrop.

Have a nice weekend and stay warm, folks!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 47: Bridges

CN-2086490, Sent from Hangzhou
Sent 17 Nov 2016, Traveled 3,621 km in 90 days

Nedi, the sender of this postcard wrote: This picture is the seventeen-hole bridge. It's one of the famous scenes at the Summer Palace in Beijing. 

I love this scene captured during the golden hour.

DE-5986656, sent from Leipzig
Sent 15 Feb 2017, Traveled 9,998 km in 12 days

Here's a winter view of Blick vom Johannapark, at the Leipzig city center. I must admit, finding bridges within city parks & gardens always thrills me. There's that adrenalin rush of getting from one side to the other, regardless how relatively small of an accomplishment it might seem.

Friendship Gift Postcard, hand-delivered

Now, this last postcard means so much to me. It was hand-delivered to me by a colleague when she came back to the office from her Australia trip. At the back was written, "Sometimes people need to fall apart, to realize how much you need to get back together. You just need to believe that everything happens for a reason and God has bigger plans for you! Hang in there!!" This postcard was pinned to my office cubicle where I can see it every day while facing my laptop screen. That year, 2014, was tumultuous, to say the least -- this postcard was one of my links to sanity.

I'm sure you folks have noticed the delay in my weekend posts. It's been a real challenge for me these couple of weeks with responsibilities at work. At the moment, I'm finally on my last week of a 3-week series of trips from Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, and now here in Jakarta (moving to Malang on Wednesday!). After that, I'm back to Singapore for 1 week and then I''m off to the foot of the Alps, for a 2-week break. I'm hesitant about this, but I really need a time off from electronics & gadgets so I decided that for 5 & 12 August, I won't be hosting the linky. However, if someone would want to substitute for me on those 2 weekends, please let me know in the comment and I will pass the HTML codes for the link-up platform.

Hope you're all having a free & easy weekend,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Northern Hemisphere

I've read in one website that 90% of the Earth's population are in the northern hemisphere. It's logical as it is because of the land mass concentration.

For the northern hemisphere theme for Sunday Stamps this week, here are stamps from China -- the most populous country on Earth. The stamp design on the left is from the Huangmei Opera set of 3. The two other designs and the description of the series can be found here. On the right is of the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. This design is called Devotion to Service. Information about the rest of the sheet can be found here. For the prime minister, here.

X is for Xanthic Roofs in Forbidden City, China

For letter "X" -- 

Friendship Postcard, Sender: Daphne
Sent: 31 Mar 2015 from Beijing, China
Received: 15 Apr 2015, Traveled 4,469 km in 16 days

I almost posted this entry for "X" as the letter being a prohibitory sign representing the word, "forbidden". I was lucky though to bump with the word xanthic, which is relating to the glazed yellow brick roofs on this postcard of the Forbidden City. 

And ooops, I realized that yellow could have been a perfect entry for the next letter of the alphabet, "Y". We'll find another building/structure on postcard for that. For now, let me share a trivia for this word and color. 

Xanthic is an adjective, from Greek, xanqo's yellow. Yellow is a color widely used in Chinese imperial buildings. It means respect in their culture. It's also a representative color of the element, earth. With the elements: metal, wood, fire, water, and earth -- earth is the central element. The ancient Chinese believed that the emperor is the center of the universe. Hence, earth/yellow on the roof of the imperial palaces is a royal emblem. 

~maria

Q is for Qīngyī Yuán Imperial Palace, China

Facebook Swap, Sender: Chuan
Sent: 9 Sep 2012 from Taipei City, Taiwan
Received: Not stamped on postcard, Traveled 1158 km

I remember reading about this palace when I was in middle school and being so curious how it looks like inside. Also known as Summer Palace, it served as a resort to the famous Dowager Cixi. Uncle Wiki says she diverted 3 million taels of silver for the expansion of this place.

It was inscribed as a UNESCO WHS in 1998.

~maria

G is for Great Wall of China

Hand-carried from China, Received 3 June 2011, Traveled 3106.22 km

The interesting fact for this postcard is that this was also the same ticket my friend was given for entrance to the Great Wall. Inscribed in 1987 to the UNESCO WHS list, it is a structure that was continuously built from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD.

My friend who went to the Great Wall told me that for some Chinese, climbing the wall on a yearly basis is like religion. They even have a saying, "Who are we if we haven't climbed the Great Wall?"

Well, I hope I can have the chance to climb this wall too!

~maria

International Day of the Girl Child

Postcrossing Direct Swap, Sender: Jack-Liu
Sent: 4 Aug 2012 from Shaanxi, China
Received: 28 Aug 2012, Traveled ~1,847 km in 24 days

I am following Shiela at A Postcard A Day's theme on International Day of the Girl Child for this post. This international day of observance was declared by the United Nations last year and is celebrated on 11 October.

This girl child wearing a traditional costume was sent to me through a direct swap in Postcrossing.com. Jack-Liu wrote: ... in China, people won't wearing clothes like this although it's very gorgeous [sic]  

I have a very close friend who has a Chinese boyfriend. I wonder if she gets me as a bridesmaid on her wedding, I might be able to wear a gorgeous dress like this. ;-)

The postcard came with a nice stamp from the Overseas Chinese Culture set issued in 10 July 2011. It makes me smile that Jack-Liu picked a matching pink stamp for the pink skirt and ribbon on the dress of the girl child.

For more postcards, check Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday and for more pinks, hop on to Beverly's Pink Saturday.

    

~maria

Colorful stamps

I wish the scanned versions are as bright as the original ones.

I'm calling this, an experience in the limits of technology.

Nevertheless, I'm sharing some colorful stamps here 

for Viridian's Colorful Sunday Stamps roll for today.

Enjoy!

My guess is that this stamp shows the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

I can't get more information about it. If someone knows more info, 

please leave in the comments section. Thank you so much!

These two attractive Ukranian stamps are from the subject: 

Treasures of Ukranian Museum - Hanna Sobachko-Shostak's works.

The ox-eye daisies and the nestling box.

These were printed on 2 August 2002.

Stamps from Poland, starting from left:

Subject: Toy World - a xylophone, printed 1 June 2008

The one in the middle, I'm really sad the colors were faded.

It's for the World Post Day, issued on 9 October 1998.

The last one is the Europa stamp, issued 22 May 2012.

~maria

Mantis & Beetles

The theme this week @ Viridian's Sunday Stamps 

is stamps from China and Taiwan.

I'm happy to find insects at the back of postcards received from 

China and Taiwan. This is like part 2 for my post last week, 

which are beneficial insects from Canada.

Here is a Tenodera aridifolia sinensis or Chinese mantis.

Being a fan of Kung Fu Panda, a computer-generated action/comedy

martial arts film, I was curious whether the mantis technique is related to the 

Chinese Mantis. The answer is yes. Mr. Wiki said that the Praying Mantis kung fu

was developed in the Shangdong Province of China in the mid-1600's

based on the quick movements of the Chinese mantis.

Our second insect is the Aphrodisium faldermannii yuagii.

What a long scientific name! Whew! It's common name is the

"musk long horned beetle". It was issued by the Chunghwa Post in 2010

to raise the awareness about the long-horned beetles.

It's a relatively relaxed Sunday for me so I'll probably get a nap after posting.

I wish it's a relaxed day for all of you, too!

Happy Sunday Stamps, everyone!

~maria

Blue & Green Satin

CN-637227, Sender: Jack-Lee
Sent: 12 June 2012, Sent from Yäntai, China
Received: 13 July 2012, Traveled 2,538 km in 31 days

Jack said that this is the Qing Dynasty's royal clothing. It is a blue and black lined pale green satin cloth, with hydrangea and butterflies pattern. It was worn around the Guangxu reign, the period of 1875-1908.

Hoping everyone is having a great start for the week! Happy Monday for all of us!

~maria

Pink Trees of Wuhan Old Library

The back of the card reads:

Located in the high ground of the Lion Mountain, the old library is landmark and spirit symbolic of WHU which was completed in September 1935. The roofs of the two ancillary buildings connected with the large reading room which looks like 'Xieshan with ridge'. The reading hall is octagonal when viewed from outside with a circular outer corridor for student to rest and sightseeing. The old library is the model of Chinese and western culture, also the national key protected relic, also one of the Wuhan's Five City Landmarks.

I was totally surprised when I got this card. I didn't know that my bestfriend from kindergarten went to China. Ahh...some friends keep nice secrets sometimes. Not that I feel bad about it... I just wish I knew so I could have requested for lots of postcards :p

I'm curious of what ancient books and relics are inside this old library... It's also interesting why the trees are pink. Perhaps they're cherry blossoms? What do you think?

Happy Pink Saturday everyone! :)

~ maria

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Lovelyn Lasac

Sent from Wuhan, China, Sent on April 30 2012

Received on May 4, 2012, Traveled 1,908.5 km in 5 days

Sunset-Loving Wednesday

I love sunsets. I am always amazed on how the sky in the horizon are painted with bold colors, mostly hues of orange and red -- my favorites.

Sunset at the beach tops my list. Dreamy, serene, and comforting. With the sun setting at the horizon, the calming lullaby of the waves carries me to the world of my dreams. It's always easier and more inspiring to dream when you have the world painted with your favorite colors in front of you.

This evening, I was delighted to see cards on my study table and one of them is this sunset card, a direct swap from Poland. Breathtaking, isn't it? Much gratitude to Adam, the sender, for picking this card for me. :D Being drawn into the comfort of this card is definitely the best way to relax from a day spent with field work.

Checking my postcard collection for more sunset cards from other senders, I found a painting of the Venice Lagoon by Ivan Aivazovsky. The painting was from 1841. I received this card from Russia early this year.

The third card is another private swap. It also came early this year, it's from Tianjin, China. The postcard however shows a view from Da Li, Yunnan. This is the Three Pagoda Monastery during sunset. Now I wonder how it would feel to experience the delight of a sunset from a monastery. Would it be more serene, since monasteries are holy places? I wish I can try to take in a wonderful sunset experience from a monastery by the sea real soon.

It's a sunset-loving Wednesday for me. Visit This Kind of Love by clicking on the photo below to see what other bloggers are hooked up to on this third day of the week. Wishing everyone is having a smooth week so far! :)

~ maria

Orange red -- almost summer!

It's almost summer here in the Philippines. The sky is perfect blue and the days are starting to seem more gay. I always love this atmosphere when everything seems to be radiant. There are birds chirping in the laundry area of our apartment, probably delighted by the morsels of rice that were washed down from the sink.

This makes me miss life in the province even more, especially around dusk -- when the world is orange red. The surroundings of our home would look serene...the flowers would seem to be retreating for the night, the bees would still be around -- teasing the flower buds, while the birds are cooing from a distance.

Here's a postcard that I received from September last year which brings me back home to the province. The card is from China, though.

The card looks kinda similar with the stamp that came with it. I am sharing this post with Viridian for the Sunday Stamps. Visit her page for more cool stamps. Happy Sunday everyone!