A Collector of Thousands of Postcards for 20 Years

Cheng Keqiao in Culturenews

Part of Liu's postcard collection.

By Keqiao Cheng, EDITOR

Chongqing - “To finish the animal chronicles, we have to deal with the specimens of longhorn beetles all day long. Once completing this boring job, we will then relax ourselves to get a second wind.”

This is a letter from an entomologist at Southwest University (SWU) to a friend in 1994. It is now in the collection of the philatelist Liu Bo, along with the SWU-related postcards in the past century. The 35-year-old Liu Bo has collected thousands of postcards and stamps since 2000. That is to say, he boasts the collection experience of nearly two decades.

Get hooked on stamp collecting

Liu Bo entered SWU in 2000. Like many students, he enjoyed spending the whole afternoon browsing in second-hand bookstores for senior schoolmates’ learning notes.

The first surprise he has hunted is from a notebook. When reading it, he found a letter and a postcard fall from the pages. This postcard shows a scene at Southwest Teachers College (the original name of SWU). Couples of students are walking in front of the plants-surrounded white teaching building under the blue sky. It is also the first postcard he has collected, and Chongqing Publishing House published it in 1957.

“My friends have been in different cities since middle school. Therefore, the letters became the easiest and quickest way of our communication at that time. I would read and answer the letters after receiving every Monday. We talked about everything from trivial affairs to school life via these letters. Such kind of days lasted until my college.”

This postcard opened his journey of stamp collecting. In the meantime, the warm words in the letters also impressed Liu Bo, who was then obsessed with the collection.

During the decades of letters, this undergraduate had only RMB 300 for monthly living expenses. He used a half for meal, and the other for part of his collection in the second-hand bookstores.

Discover historical changes

Besides the postcards about various colleges and universities, Liu Bo has also collected those about the old Chongqing since 1890. Many of them were published in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).

Wharves of Chongqing in the Qing Dynasty

“A majority of them are about the old Chongqing and were published after the 1950s. And the postcards from the Qing Dynasty are relatively rare.” Liu Bo bought the Qing-related postcards mostly from foreign collectors, most of which have displayed the landscapes of the old Chongqing. There are also quite a few postcards showing Chongqing’s folk cultures such as fluffing cotton, fishing and spinning.

In his eyes, philately is more than a collection. He also enjoys conducting the researches and on-the-spot investigations according to the pictures on the postcards. In this way, he can discover the stories behind the changes in decades and centuries.
Two collections of him are about the Mafang Bridge in Chongqing’s Bishan District at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Both of them have French writings, sending from Chongqing to Paris in 1913. During the exploration, he found that its construction year is 1730 from a large number of literature datum. It was named after the Ma’s Memorial Archway in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

He learned the story behind from an old man when visiting the ancient bridge. To ease the traffic congestion, 1958 saw the removal of some shops on both sides of the bridge. And the wooden arbors on the roof also suffered the same fate. So nowadays, automobiles can still move on the stone arch bridge in the Qing Dynasty.

“A flood washed away the slab bridge near the main structure in the 1960s. And there are only piers and slates scattering along the banks. Seen through the stone arch, the White Figs still stands along the Meijiang River.” According to Liu Bo, the river was under clearance. And the recreational trails along the shore were also under construction.

Recall the history via philately

Due to the collection of these postcards, more people can review history. Furthermore, the postcards also provide pictures as references for the restoration of related buildings. Although this is not the original intention of Liu Bo, it is one of his purposes of stamp collecting.

In 2013, Liu Bo posted several articles on Weibo. More than 100 postcards of Wuhan University (WHU) appeared on these articles, and many netizens reposted it. WHU, therefore, contacted him, hoping to put these postcards on display.

Without too much consideration, he emailed WHU all the electronic copies and even offered some original ones.

“It inspired me that owning the collections was not the only way to play its full part. And I am also willing to share them with the public.” Liu Bo has donated his collections about over 20 universities since six years ago.

Some of his postcards of the old Chongqing and his research materials have also facilitated the renovation of old buildings.

Source: CQCB