Postcard late Qing Dynasty China

Author: Chen Ling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Imagine, back then, some Westerners selected what they called "Oriental scenes" to print on postcards, while others traveled to China, bought them, and mailed them back to distant Western countries with Chinese stamps. Many years later, these postcards that had survived the journey were deemed valuable by their Western recipients and preserved. They were then bought and collected by other Westerners, who also found them valuable. After many more years, they were valued enough to be auctioned off. Eventually, they were acquired by a pair of Chinese painters who traveled the world, spending as little as a hundred pounds and as much as several hundred pounds per postcard, carefully selecting them one by one.
Through the extensive collection of postcards purchased abroad by the two renowned Chinese painters, Wang Jianan and Cai Xiaoli, who have long been traveling in the UK, we can gain insight into how foreigners viewed the decline and corruption of the Qing Dynasty, the apathy and ignorance of its people, and the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance. These postcards strongly evoke our patriotic sentiments. This book presents a vivid historical panorama, holding significant historical and collectible value.
These postcards were originally bought for personal enjoyment, but as their collection grew, they were arranged by different scenes and in chronological historical order. Upon closer examination, they reveal a majestic but tragic sunset of the Great Qing Government, a vast empire gradually declining and being bullied by outsiders, and countless magnificent landscapes and buildings from that era, now tragically lost to history. All this inevitably evokes profound regret and endless contemplation.
Chen Ling, a freelance writer, has published numerous essays, novels, and translated works.