China - Fragrant Hills in Beijing

This card is one more proof that participating in the postcrosing forum activities is a good way to receive wonderful card :) Actually, I really love the idea of official postcrossing, the surprise factor, the thrill each time I request a new address... But I've noticed that the cards tht I receive in unofficial exchange (froum & private swaps) are often of much better quality and that people put more effort to choose a card fitting my wishlist and to write a nice message. Of course, I've received many wonderful officials too and I like the huge majority of them, but some are a bit disappointing. I wonder, what's the reason... Maybe it's beacause unofficial exchange isn't so anonymous and people would be ashamed to send some trash to someone that they've agreed on swap with? Or maybe because people participating in the unofficial exchange are more serious about collecting cards? Anyway, I'm not going to give up sending officials, because that's what's actually postcrossing about, the forum is just a nice addition. And just because I love being surprised :)

I love this card, because I generally find mountains and hills in autumn time very beautiful. And the elements of traditional Chinese architecture hidden between the trees give some Asian feeling to this view :)


The stamps are also very interesting :) I still don't know, if it's just normal in China that you always get many huge stamps with a whole variety of pictures or if Chinese postcrossers are so kind to look for nice stamps, when they send cards abroad :) But I've already received quite a lot of Chinese cards sent by different people, so I think that getting nice stamps on China Post must be much easier than here :)

Fragrant Hills Park (Xiangshan Park; simplified Chinese: 香山公园; pinyin: Xiāngshān Gōngyuán) is a public park at the foot of the Western Mountains in the Haidian District, in the northwestern part of Beijing, China. It covers 1.6 km² (395 acres) and consists of a natural pine-cypress forest, hills with maple trees, smoke trees and persimmon trees, as well as landscaped areas with traditional architecture and cultural relics.

Fragrant Hills Park is recognized as one of the major tourist attractions in Beijing. When autumn arrives, the natural scenery in the park turns spectacular, with fiery red smoke tree leaves covering the mountain side. Every year, thousands of tourists ride the cable cars through the park in order see the hills in autumn colors. The grand opening of the annual Red Leaf Festival of Beijing takes place there.