3196 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Former Marine Police Headquarters

Now officially renamed as 1881 Heritage, the Former Marine Police Headquarters Compound is one of the four oldest surviving government buildings in Hong Kong. It compound used to be occupied by the Marine Police, now a unit within the Hong Kong Police Force, since its establishment until late 1996, when it was moved to Sai Wan Ho. The Compound and the Old Kowloon Fire Station have been re-developed into a heritage hotel, opened in 2009.

3191 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Pottinger Street

Known also as the Stone Slabs Street (since it is paved unevenly by granite stone steps), Pottinger Street is located in Central District, and was named in 1858 after Henry Pottinger, the first Governor of Hong Kong, serving from 1843 to 1844. The street was originally on the slope between Queen's Road Central and Hollywood Road. It then crosses Stanley Street and Wellington Street and ends at the western end of Hollywood Road, just after it meets Wyndham Street.

1061, 3164 CHINA (Guangdong / Guangxi / Guizhou / Hainan / Hubei / Hunan / Sichuan / Yunnan) - Miao people

3164 Miao people

Posted on 21.04.2014, 08.10.2017

Miao is an ethnic group who live primarily in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei, but also, in smaller numbers, in northern Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Miao is actually the official Chinese term for four distinct groups of people who are only distantly related through language or culture (and doesn't reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people): the Hmu people of southeast Guizhou, the Kho (Qho) Xiong people of west Hunan, the A-Hmao people of Yunnan, and the Hmong people of Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

1061 Long Skirt Miao women in Guizhou

There are some nine million Miao in China, of whom the Hmong constitute probably one-third. The Miao are related in language and some other cultural features to the Yao; among these peoples the two groups with the closest degree of relatedness are the Hmong (Miao) and the Iu Mien (Yao). Much of the Miao area is hilly or mountainous, and is drained by several big rivers. The weather is mild with a generous rainfall, and the area is rich in natural resources. Major crops include paddy rice, maize, potatoes, Chinese sorghum, beans, rape, peanuts, tobacco, ramie, sugar cane, cotton, oil-tea camellia and tung tree.

3085, 3098 INDIA / CHINA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo) International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

3085 INDIA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo)
International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

Posted on 12..06.2017, 26.06.2017
On May 7th, 2017 took place this meetup, actually two meetups which holded in same day, at the same hour (China is 3 hours earlier than India) in Chennai (India) and Ningbo (China). Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and one of the biggest cultural, economic and educational centres in South India. Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province in China, with a port which is among the busiest in the world.

3098 CHINA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo)
International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

With this occasion, the postcrossers from the two countries issued a special postcard, one alone, on which are joined yoga postures and kung fu stances. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India, and has as ultimate goal moksha (liberation). Kung fu is an umbrella term for the Chinese martial arts, several hundred fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China.

3093 CHINA (Yunnan) - Pumi people

The Pumi people are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China, ethnically related to the Tibetans, and recognized as an official minority nationality unique to Yunnan, with a population of 30,000. They live on rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level, cut by deep ravines. They live in approximately 500 villages spread in rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level, cut by deep ravines. In many locations they live beside members of the Naxi nationality. Prinmi, the Pumi language, belongs to the Qiangic branch of the Tibeto-Burman family.

3018 CHINA - Yao people

The Yao people are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China, and one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognised by Vietnam (where they are called Dao), but they also live, in small numbers, in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. In the last census in 2000, they numbered more tahn 2,600,000 in China and roughly 470,000 in Vietnam. In China they reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south. Long ago, there were about 20 Yao subgroups (and many of them still exist as separate ethnic groupings). Each of these groups had different customs and lifestyles.

3015 CHINA (Gansu) - Yumen Pass - part of Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (UNESCO WHS)

3015 The ruin of The Small Fangpa Castle at Yumen Pass

Yumen Pass, or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate (named for the many jade caravans that passed through it), is a pass of the Great Wall. During the Han dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), this was a pass through which the Silk Road passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia and China, the former called the Western Regions. Although the Chinese guan is usually translated simply as "pass", its more specific meaning is a "frontier pass" to distinguish it from an ordinary pass through the mountains.

2127, 3007 CHINA (Yunnan) - Jino people

2127 Young Jino woman

Posted on 16.12.2015, 01.04.2017
The Jino people are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group, which live in an area of about 70x50 km in the Jinoshan Mountain, in the extreme south of Yunnan province, in a series of mild hills with wet climate, crisscrossed by numerous rivers and streams. They are one of the less numerous (about 22,000 people) of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China and the last one included as "national minority", being recognized in 1979.

3007 Jino women beating in a Sun Drum

It is said that they migrated from Pu'er and Mojiang or from places even farther north, and when they settled around the Jinoshan Mountain, still lived in a matriarchal society. This gave way to a patriarchal society some 300 years ago, but they were still in the transitional stage to a class society at the time when the People's Republic was founded in 1949. Zhuoba (the village father) and Zhuose (the village mother) were the leaders in a communal village.

CHINA / KAZAKHSTAN / KYRGYZSTAN - Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (UNESCO WHS)

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that were for centuries central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the East and West and stretching from the Korean peninsula and Japan to the Mediterranean Sea. While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the trade in silk (and horses) carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty (207 BCE - 220 CE). The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.

2844 CHINA (Anhui) - Mount Huangshan (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the humid subtropical monsoon climate zone of Anhui province, Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is renowned for its magnificent natural scenery which includes massive granitic boulders and ancient pine trees which are often enhanced by cloud and mist effects.  This dramatic landscape includes formations of natural stone pillars, grotesquely-shaped rocks, waterfalls, caves, lakes and hot springs, formed by its complex geological history.

2813 CHINA (Guangxi) - Cormorant fishing at the Li River

Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae) is a family of some 40 species of aquatic bird, which range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands. They are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of 0.35-5kg and wing span of 45-100cm. The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings.

2787 CHINA (Macau) - Guia Fortress - part of Historic Centre of Macau (UNESCO WHS)

2787 Macau - Capela de Nossa Senhora da Guia
and Guia Lighthouse at the Guia Fortress.

The Guia Fortress is a 17th-century colonial military fort, chapel, and lighthouse complex, located in the St. Lazarus Parish, in Macau Peninsula. The fort was constructed between 1622 and 1638, after an unsuccessful attempt by the Netherlands to capture colonial Portuguese Macau. Inside the fortress stands Guia Chapel, originally established by Clarist nuns, who resided at the site before establishing the Convent of St. Clare. Its elaborate frescoes depict representations of both western and Chinese themes, displaying motifs of religious and mythological inspiration that are a perfect example of Macao's multicultural dimension.

2773 CHINA (Inner Mongolia) - Camel racing

The Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), the camel with two humps, is one of the tavunhorshoo (five snouts), the five domesticated animals on which the mongolian's herding economy depends (horse, cow/yak, sheep, goat, and camel). With its tolerance for cold, drought, and high altitudes, it enabled the travel of caravans on the Silk Road. A Bactrian camel can go nine days without water, 33 days without food.

2707 CHINA (Inner Mongolia) - Hādá

A Hādá (khata, dhar, khadag or hatag) is a traditional ceremonial scarf in tengrism and Tibetan Buddhism, so is common in cultures where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. It symbolizes purity and compassion and are worn or presented at many ceremonial occasions, including births, weddings, funerals, graduations and the arrival or departure of guests. Tibetan khatas are usually white, symbolising the pure heart of the giver, though it is quite common to find yellow-gold khata as well.

CHINA (Macau) - Historic Centre of Macau (UNESCO WHS)

It's said that in the 16th century, when the Portuguese landed at the coast of South China Sea, somewhere between the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) estuary and the Xi Jiang (West River), just outside the A-Ma Temple (dedicated to Matsu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen) and asked the name of the place, the natives replied with the name of the temple, so the name of the peninsula remained Macau. And because natives have proven polite, and the port was well placed, the Portuguese decided to remain and to trade, paying an annual rent.

2604 CHINA (Inner Mongolia) - Mongolian yurts

2604 Yurts in Inner Mongolia in 1986

"...They [the Mongols] have circular houses made of wood and covered with felt, which they carry about with them on four-wheeled wagons wherever they go. For the framework of rods is so neatly and skillfully constructed that it is light to carry. And every time they unfold their house and set it up, the door is always facing south." Even though seven centuries have passed since Marco Polo wrote the above, the Mongols still live in such dwellings, whether they live in Mongolia, in China (Inner Mongolia) or in Russia.

2564 CHINA (Inner Mongolia) - Tsagaan sar, the White Moon Festival

Tsagaan sar (literally White Moon) is the first day of the year according to the Mongolian lunar calendar, and is a big celebration for the Mongols. The traditional Mongol calendar is a lunisolar calendar based on Tegus Buyantu zurkhai system developed in 1747 by monk Ishbaljir. The Mongol year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average year is equal to the solar year.

2550 CHINA - The General Guan Yu

Guan Yu (died 220), courtesy name Yunchang, was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty, who played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the dynasty and the establishment of the state of Shu Han, founded by Liu Bei, in the Three Kingdoms period. He was deified as early as the Sui dynasty and is still worshipped by many Chinese people today, especially in southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among many overseas Chinese communities.

0039, 2402 CHINA (Hong Kong) - Images of Hong Kong

2402 Images of Hong Kong

Posted on 14.11.2011, 24.03.2016
Located on the southern coast of China, at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises, but also one of the three most important financial centres alongside New York and London, and the world's number one tourist destination city. The 44th-largest economy in the world, Hong Kong ranks top 10 in GDP per capita, but also has the most severe income inequality among advanced economies.

0039 A panoramic view of Hong Kong Island from the Avenue of Stars,
located in Tsim Sha Tsui, in Kawloon Peninsula.

 

After the First Opium War (1839-1842), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy.

2392 CHINA (Inner Mongolia) - A Wedding Ceremony

The Mongolian wedding ceremony has changed over time, but still the Mongolian people are trying to keep the traditional rituals. When a couple agrees to marry one another, they explain their engagements to the groom’s parents. Then the groom’s father gives a hadag (a specially made band of silk) and a silver bowl-like cup filled with milk to the bride’s father, this meaning that he welcomes his daughter-in-law and they will treat her like their own daughter. When the bride’s family accepts the engagement, it means they accept the groom as their own son.