Pictured is the Leal Senado Building  民政总署大楼  in Macau. Just like Hong Kong was a British territory until 1999, the same was with Macau, except it was the Portuguese that controlled it. Both are now special administrative regions of China. The Leal Senado (Loyal Senate) Building was the seat of Portuguese Macau's government. Today it houses Macua's Municipal Affairs Bureau. It was built in 1784. 

Foshan  佛山 is a part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis which has 86.1 million people living there, making it the biggest urban area in the world! Located south west of Foshan, is Mount Xiqiao, an extinct volcano. At the summit of Mount Xiqiao is the Guanyin  西樵山南海观音  statue. It is 62 metres tall and sits on a 15 metre pedestal. 

Merry Christmas from China. The sender is from Qingyuan, which is home to the Feilai Temple  飞来寺. It is a Buddhist temple located on the bank of the Bei River, It was originally built in CE 520, but because of natural disasters has been rebuilt several times. The current version was completed in June 2004.  Chan master Zhenjun  贞俊禅师  and Ling'ai  灵霭禅师  first built the temple in the first year of Period Putong in the Liang Dynasty. Bodhidharma preached dharma at the temple when he visited.  On 8 May 1997, Feilai Temple was destroyed along with eleven monks and nuns, and two workers, by floods and mudslides. The current temple began rebuilding in December of the same year. 

The sender is from Shenzhen, which is just north of Hong Kong. So it makes sense that they have been to Hong Kong and was able to buy this card of Stanley Market  赤柱市集.   Stanley Market is a street market in Hong Kong and is a traditional old open-air market. It has become a major tourist attraction and well known locally for having great bargains. There are souvenir stores, clothing stores, and Chinese arts and crafts stores. There are also small restaurants and small dai pai dong  大牌檔 ( open food stalls).

A Christmas card from China. The sender recommends that I try morning tea, or yum cha  饮茶  that is a Cantonese tradition. It involves sharing tea and dim sum with family or friends at a table. 

This is a beautiful postcard. The sender says the inscription is an ancient Chinese poem about love. She has only sent/received 10 postcards and hasn't been seen in four months. She is a student so maybe she is too busy with her studies.  Jiangmen 江门 is a city of almost 5 000 000 people.  It is the second busiest river port in Guangdong Province. 

Qingyuan  清远市  is located in the north of Guangdong Province in China. There are four million people that call Qingyuan home. The Bei River  北江  flows through the city.  The city is a major economic and transportation hub. The Bei River is big enough for large ships to transport good in and out of Qingyuan. 

The sender says she has recently fallen in love with sport and loves to go hiking.  Guangzhou is home to Guangzhou FC. They were formed in 1954. They are the most powerful football club in China today. Between 2011 and 2017 they won seven consecutive Chinese Super League titles, and 2 Asian Football Confederation titles (2013 & 2015). They were relegated in 2022 and currently play in China League One. 

This is a photo of the Twin Pagoda Temple  双塔寺  found in Taiyuan. The two pagodas date back to the Ming Dynasty. The east pagoda was build in 1597, while the west one was built until 1612. A high ranking monk named Fodeng  佛灯  was in charge of the construction.  Deterioration of the pagodas has resulted in a slant of the east pagoda of almost 3 meters from its centre of gravity. By removing earth underneath the pagoda successfully corrected this slant.  The pagodas are eight cornered. The west pagoda is 54.78 meters tall, and the east one is 53.3 meters. 

Yuyun is a new Postcrosser. My card is the 10th one she has sent. She chose a photo of dragon boat racing, an event that only takes place once a year in Tainan. Dragon boat racing originated from the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province of China. Contending villages have been competing against one another for 2000 years in China.  Today, the International Dragon Boat Federation governs the sport. Boats are allowed 22 people, not including the steersperson and the drummer.  In China, the government added the Dragon Boat Festival to the schedule of national holidays in December 2007.

Humen  虎门镇  is found on the east side of the Humen Strait on the Pearl River Delta. It is a city of 575 000 people.  @heartee is a university student studying Japanese. Her card features a science museum near where she lives. At first I thought it might be The Sea Battle Museum, or the Opium War Museum, but she states its not in her town.  Humen was a big part of the First Opium War (1839-1842). Major battles were fought here and on the water of the Bocca Tigris. Lin Zexu was the Viceroy of Liangguang and he opposed the opium trade. He is considered a catalyst for the start of the war. He is praised for his constant position on the moral high ground in his fight against opium, but criticized for his rigid approach which failed to account for domestic and international complexities of the opium problem. The Daoguang Emperor endorsed Lin's hardline policies and anti-drug movement, but then blamed Lin for the resulting war, which was disastrous for China. 

The next time you find yourself in a crowded mall, think about Shenzhen. Shenzhen has 12.6 million people! It is also a part of the Pearl River Delta Megalopolis that includes Macau and Hong Kong and there are 57.15 million people here. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Shenzhen is also the richest area in China and has the fourth highest number of billionaires in the world.  It is considered an Alpha city and the leading financial centre in Asia-Pacific region.  Jinkun lives here and is attending university. He would like to visit Calgary one day and go skiing. He'll find a lot of room in Calgary with only 1.4 million people.