Yellow Emperor

This is a series of three Chinese maximum cards issued in April 1983. The first is the tomb or mausoleum of Xuan Yuan, the Yellow Emperor in Huangling county although it was probably built long after the emperor died, so does anyone reside there, who can tell.

  The palace of the Yellow Emperor, who probably lived from about 2697 BC to 2597 BC.  He unified and brought stability to the Han Chinese nation and is considered to be a symbol of Chinese civilization.  The stamp is called 'the hall of the legendary father'.  The area he ruled in the north China plain is by the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, hence his name, although some sources say it is because he wore yellow clothing. His story over all these thousands of years has become a mix of history and myth.  What is know is that he produced treatises on medicine, astrology and the martial arts which were probably written by scholars resident in his court. One famous tome is The Book of the Yellow Emperor on Acupuncture, covering all the aspects of this traditional medicine.  He also produced one of the first calendars so according to his calculations we are now in the year 5009.

He was considered a benevolent and wise ruler and is one of the founders of Taoism . Here is where the myths come in, he was supposed to have lived 100 years and after his physical death became immortal.  One story has a yellow dragon appearing in the sky summoning the emperor to heaven.     

The area around these building is surrounded by cypress woods and this is one of trees supposedly planted by the Emperor, which has a huge girth and is 19 metres (62 feet) high.  One of Taoisms aims is for peaceful and harmonious living and daily meditations can be based on the passing seasons.

A modern day Taoist, Deng Ming-Dao uses 365 different meditations over the year and today's in the northern hemisphere is "Relaxation / is total peace" aiming for a sense of tranquillity with no thoughts or problems entering the mind.   Posting about postcards may do the same thing.

Here is the reverse of the cards whose pale printing my scanner seemed to have a problem.  It gives the name of the designer of the stamps and postcards, Zhang Kerang and the photographer who took the photographs on that beautiful blue sky day, Wang Zhunghu.

Our hostess of Postal Friendship Friday can be found on The Best Hearts Are Crunchy