Travel through Philately - Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal 京杭大运河 (China National Philatelic Corporation)

Seems like I am on a grand tour of China with my collection of China themed First Day Covers. I just bought myself a set of 6 FDCs on one of China's ancient architectural marvel that is inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List - the Grand Canal. Although I have heard of the name, I am quite unfamiliar with its history and significance so I decided to explore further online.

Like the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canal was a feat of civil engineering marvel - longest wall in the case of Great Wall, longest artificial river in the Grand Canal's case. Both were built and connected in different eras, lasted throughout the ages into the modern world, and were first breathed life in the riotous Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时期). 

Lantern Lighting Pagoda 雷峰塔

Travel through Philately - Old Town of Li Jiang 丽江古城 (Hong Kong Post)

I shared the 3rd from a Hong Kong Post series on World Heritage in China here, and had the first here, so where is the 2nd? Here it is!

There is still no lack of beautiful scenery in China despite the pollution as a result of their industrialization, and one of them was the Old Town of Li Jiang. Even though there were redevelopments targeted at wooing tourists, enough of the original remnants remained to exude an atmosphere of a historical town.

Hong Kong Post's World Heritage in China series #2: Old Town of Li Jiang

Travel through Philately - China Dan Xia 中国丹霞 (Hong Kong Post)

The long hiatus from my last philately post left me with considerable time to arrange and catalogue my collection. From within the collection I found another of Hong Kong Post's Mainland Scenery Sites series - this is the third of the collection, focusing on the colorful landscape of China Danxia (丹霞). And it is by preparing this post that I learned a crucial misunderstanding which I had held for quite some time.