Memory Postage (50 Postcards Sent from China a Century Ago)

Author: Lin Yude
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: This book weaves a continuous visual narrative with fifty old postcards from a century ago, connecting each image as closely as possible to form a cohesive whole. Then, following the footsteps of foreign travelers from a century ago, we immerse ourselves in the context. The story unfolds around the year 1900, featuring multiple interwoven clues where time and space intertwine, creating an uncertain timeline throughout the book. This collection gathers fifty precious postcards, visually linked by these ancient images. Through the author's interpretation, readers are invited to piece together the unique landscape of early 20th-century China alongside foreign travelers. Over a century ago, these postcards, carrying images of China and Eastern scenes, were sent from various treaty ports in China by Western travelers, merchants, diplomats, missionaries, and soldiers, around 1900 or slightly later into the early Republic of China era. After long sea journeys, they safely reached the hands of the senders' beloved family and friends. The travelers transformed their longing for loved ones and their adventures in China into thin paper, sharing their extraordinary travel experiences and continuously presenting the true face of this ancient Eastern empire to distant family and friends since Marco Polo. Thus, the splendid dreams of the East were delicately passed on across distant lands.