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In 1929 Chiang Kai-shek tried to abolish Chinese New Year. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, because who other than the most terrible monstrous villain would ever think about cancelling the most important family gathering of the year.

Even after the last emperor abdicated, the young republic could not ignore the importance the Temple of Heaven

Father Hyacinth Bichurin led the Russian Orthodox Mission to Beijing from 1807 to 1821. During his time in China he learned fluent Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese and made some of the most accurate Qing dynasty maps of Beijing.

From Imperial elephants to political animals

In and around the end of the last dynasty in 1912, Beijing became a breeding ground for liars and cheats. Decadent and corrupt government structures combined with poverty and desperation created the perfect atmosphere for such people to emerge. We have chosen three thrifty liars that all have the one thing in common, that it is still discussed to this day to what extent the accounts they have left us with can be trusted.

When Kublai Khan decided to place his capital in Beijing 800 years ago, the first thing he did was to determine the city’s central axis

Beijing is built around a 7.8 km long central axis. The famous city planner Liang Sicheng called it the spine of the city. All of the most important pieces of architecture were placed either directly upon the axis or along it in a perfectly balanced symmetry.

The Photo Culture of Republican Beiing through the Eyes of Laoshe

How did the old Beijing cope with summer heat?

People biding their time in the hutong alleyways playing chess on the ground or attending to their birds and other hobbies is almost a caricature of life in old Beijing.

In 1950, the great socialist leader Mao Zedong put all his political weight behind a new marriage law. Women’s rights were for the first time recognized as being equal to the rights of men.

Strict Ming and Qing dynasty societal norms confined Han Chinese women to the innermost of courtyard dwellings for most of the year, but at the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations - on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month - it was different.

We have dug into the history behind Beijing’s revolutionary road and created a unique scarf out of an originally confidential map we have recently collected.

A city with no windows - a new display about the sounds and symbols of old Beijing

We recently stumble upon the fascinating forest of Qing dynasty shop signs, that originally dangled outside shop fronts in the dusty streets of Beijing.

After the Qing dynasty collapsed, the republican Peiyang Government felt the need to unify the major ethnic groups as one nation, the Five Colour Flag was thus created as the national flag, representing the concept of Five Races Under One Union.

During the Great Qing, highly placed Imperial officials travelled with an impressive entourage.

Sometimes you forget to explore what is right in front of you…

From Poul Hartling to panda diplomacy — Beijing Postcards team were so honored to be asked to create a display showcasing the history of Danish-Chinese relations to celebrate their 70th Anniversary of diplomatic relations!

Not long ago Beijing Opera was the most popular kind of entertainment in China. Even the communists could not ignore its immense popularity, but how is it that a tradition with such widespread appeal has almost disappeared today?

In 1950, a documentary was made about the closing down of the notorious brothels district Bada Hutong in Beijing. Calling the film a “documentary” is maybe a bit of a stretch, because everything in the fifty-two minute-long film is scripted and pre-arranged. Nobody is acting naturally. The main actresses, however, are actually all former prostitutes of Bada Hutong.