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, forming a main thread. We strive to create subtle connections between images to make them an integral whole, then guide readers to immerse themselves in the context of travelers from a century ago. The story revolves around the year 1900, featuring multiple jumping clues where time and space intertwine, creating an uncertain sense of tense throughout the book. This book collects fifty precious postcards, visually threading these ancient images into a cohesive narrative. Through the author's interpretation, it invites readers to follow the footsteps of foreign travelers, collectively piecing together the unique landscape of China a century ago. Over a hundred years 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 years of the Republic of China. After a long sea journey, they safely reached the hands of the recipients, who longed for them day and night. The travelers transformed their longing for family and friends, along with their experiences of exploring China, into thin paper, sharing their extraordinary travel insights with loved ones far away and continuously presenting the true face of this ancient Eastern empire since Marco Polo. Thus, the splendid dreams of the East were delicately passed on to distant foreigners like threads in the wind.