-
Great Wall
There are many ways to look at the Great Wall of China. Postcards show them all. One story has it that the Wall was built to stop the advance of horses. Card mailed in 1980, with one stamp and full postmark. Grade: 1
-
Yearning Resort
When you visit this sprawling resort in southern China, you get a large ticket whose perforated portions are collected the further in you go, leaving you with pre-stamped postcards with maps filling the message space, but room for address. It sounds more complicated than it is. Two of these are available. Grades: 1
-
Fujian, Tou Lou (set of 20)
At less than $1 per card, these are tremendous values. The set, called “Fujian Classic Earth Buildings”, is unused and in the original plastic shrink wrap. The cards depict the extraordinary round communal dwelling units (Tou Lou) of Fujian Province. Grade: 1
-
Chengdu, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza
Two unused cards are available, from the 1990s. At the time, it seemed quite luxurious to have a Holiday Inn in Chengdu. Probably still does. Grades: 1
-
Dalian, Furama Hotel
Five cards are available, apparently issued or at least sanctioned by the Shanghai Posts and Telecommunications Administration–not sure why, as Dalian is quite far from Shanghai. Four are unused, and these show a misprint near the stamp area: “the Pelple’s Republic of China” (Grades: 1, $4). The fifth was mailed in 1997 with three stamps and two complete postmarks, but those stamps cover the misprint (Grade: 1, $6).
-
Beijing, Jianguo Hotel
Two cards are available, commemorating the hotel’s 15th anniversary in 1997. One is unused (Grade: 1, $4). The other was mailed from Malaysia (NOT China!) in 1998, with two Malaysian stamps but only partly readable postmark (Grade: 3, $5).
-
Shanghai, Jianguo Hotel
Nice unused card that makes this hotel look quite formidable. Grade: 1
-
Guangzhou, Gitic Riverside Hotel
Unused card, beginning to age a little bit. Grade: 2
-
Guangzhou, Gitic Riverside Hotel room
Unused card, beginning to age a little bit but still excellent. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing
Two unused cards are available. As-new. Grades: 1
-
Hangchow, West Lake, Taukwong Temple
We are guessing the writer of this card, mailed in the USA in 1925 with a one-cent stamp and full Pennsylvania postmark, was a Catholic nun who was either in transit or who got the card out of the country somehow for mailing. Grade: 3
-
Wuhan University
A card mailed in 2009 with stamp and full postmark. Grade: 1
-
The West Lake
The writer took care to load up the reverse with four different, large, and colourful commemorative stamps plus a blue bilingual airmail sticker. There are three postmarks, the card is in good condition, and it’s worth the cost. Grade: 1
-
Train
When we get around to it, we’ll check the Chinese caption on the reverse to see where this actually is in China, but for now we just focus on the railroad. Card was mailed from Hong Kong (not yet China) in 1979, with stamp and its colourful margin strip, and completely full Hong Kong postmark, as well as blue tri-lingual airmail sticker affixed. Grade: 3
-
Shanghai, The Bund
One of the most famous riverfronts in the world, on a card from the late 1970s mailed with four brilliant different stamps and two full postmarks. Rapidly becoming a vintage Chinese postcard! Grade: 1
-
Kwangchow, Bird’s-eye view
In the 1970s, when China was opening up, Canton was becoming Kwangchow, on its way to becoming Guangzhou now. You may know–and if you don’t, just trust us–that the city doesn’t look at all like this now. Of course, neither does any other city in China. Two of these cards are available, each with a stamp and different postmark. Grades: 1
-
Kweilin, Green pinnacles by the river
Kweilin has developed as a tourist area but this card predates all the glitz and kitsch. Mailed in 1978, the card is captioned in three languages, of which one is English and two are Arabic script. The stamp is there, and full postmark. Postal marking on the front. Grade: 2
-
Nanning, China International Travel Service
Mailed in 1978, with stamp, full postmark, and some postal imprints on the front. Grade: 2
-
Kwangchow (folio)
This is a folio of eight unused cards published in 1975 by the Foreign Languages Press in Peking. As you may know, China was just starting to emerge from isolation and postcards were a novelty. Grade: 2
-
Red-crowned crane
Card issued by the China State Postal Bureau, with one pre-printed stamp and one more; two full postmarks. Grade: 2
-
Shenzhen, Shangri-La Hotel
Five of these unused 5″ x 7″ postcards are available, from 2010. Grades: 1
-
Beijing Airport
Unused card most likely from the early 2000s. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, train station
The caption on this unused card, as with others in this series, is only in Chinese. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, market complex
On this unused card, the long caption is only in Chinese, but we think it says this is something like a mega-market shopping mall. Feel free to give us correct information! Grade: 1
-
Beijing area, forestry development
We’re not sure of this either–should have spent more time learning to read Chinese captions–but we think it is something connected with forestry. Unused. Stain on upper border. Grade: 3
-
Beijing, museum
Long Chinese caption, and though we know it’s a museum, we don’t know which one. Unused. Grade: 2
-
Beijing, exhibition centre
Long caption in Chinese on this unused card. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, aerial view of road
Unused card. Can you tell us which road this is? A very long caption, in Chinese only. You might wonder why, since we live in Hong Kong, we can’t figure this out for ourselves. Well, it’s a long story. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, expressway interchange
Unused card. If you read Chinese, the caption will tell you all you want to know. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, reservoir
Unused card. We think the primary use of this reservoir is for electricity generation, but aren’t 100% certain of that. Grade: 1
-
Great Wall (UNESCO World Heritage)
This 4-5/8″ x 6-1/2″ card was mailed in China with stamp and full postmark. There’s a red Par Avion rubber stamp and another similar red postal marking on reverse; and the caption is in Spanish. Go figure. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, Dazhaimen Restaurant
From the restaurant, with a perforated tab still attached. The card was mailed in 2010, with a bird stamp and fully legible postmark. The preprinted reverse is bilingual Chinese and English, just somewhat more the former than the latter. Grade: 1
-
The Postcard of Old Canton (folio)
Directly from Guangzhou in 2010, this is a shrink-wrapped folio of black-and-white card reproductions. It has never been opened, and we do not know how many cards are in there (probably 10) or what they show. Grades: 1
-
Beijing, Peking Palace Museum
Nice, clean card from 2010, with three different stamps, two full postmarks, and bi-lingual Par Avion rubber stamp as well. Grade: 1
-
Guangzhou at Night (folio)
Two of these unwrapped, unused, and somewhat handled folios are available. The photo here shows the back cover and therefore the ten cards connected by a perforated edge inside. Each card has bilingual Chinese and English captions. Grades: 2
-
New Foshan (folio)
This photo shows only the front cover of this unwrapped, unused, and somewhat handled folio. Ten different cards are connected by a perforated edge inside. Each card has bilingual Chinese and English captions. Grades: 1
-
Foshan Ancestral Temple (folio)
This photo shows only the back cover of this unwrapped, unused, and somewhat handled folio. Ten different cards (you see them here) are connected by a perforated edge inside. Each card has bilingual Chinese and English captions. Grades: 1
-
New Guangzhou (folio)
This photo shows only the back cover of this unwrapped and unused folio. Ten different cards (you see them here) are connected by a perforated edge inside. Each card has bilingual Chinese and English captions. Grades: 1
-
Torch relay of Beijing 2008 Olympics
An extraordinary card on several levels: the message, the condition, the three large stamps (one of them being an Olympics stamp), the three fully legible postmarks, and the unique subject. Grade: 1