Thursday 24 June 2010

Words and Legends / 字的故事

I'm going to tell a legend to Karolina for return of her two stories. Base on her interests of postcard theme, I choose calligraphy art of traditional Chinese culture. This postcard is from National Taiwan University Faculties, Staff and Students Union Exhibition of Traditional Chinese Art. This year is the fourth time of the exhibition.

Traditional Chinese characters are truly treasures of east Asia. There are many races using them to write their spoken languages. Some races even have derivation characters for their own languages.

Legend of character creation is like this:

Cangjie, (pronounced like Ts'ang-chieh) was the saint who created Chinese characters. In the legends, he had four eyes and there are two pupils in each. This is usually one special feature of saints. He was the history keep officer of the Yellow Emperor. After unifying China, the Emperor needed to remember more things. So he was not satisfied with 'rope knot tying' method, and asked Cangjie to solve this problem.

One day, Cangjie thought of this issue along the riverside. A phoenix flew by and dropped a stick with one animal footprint. While He was wonder what animal made the print, a hunter walked by and told him, 'I can recognise all animals by their footprints'. The idea came into Cangjie's mind. Yes, he could use lines to record everything's feature stroke by stroke.

According to a history book, after he created characters, it rained millet from the heaven and ghosts cried at late night. It is because the nature could not hide its secret and the ghosts could not transform freely. People can write to record and describe.

The Chinese characters transformed several times. The fonts we use nowadays are similar with the ones our ancestors used 2,000 years ago. However, mainland China simplified characters in 1950's and now uses different fonts from Taiwan. We Chinese Taiwanese now still use traditional Chinese while Chinese in China use non-traditional.

The couplet is read like this:
The scenery of the country is good everywhere.
The rain and dew wash everything to a new look.

為了回報卡羅琳娜兩個故事。我依據他交換明信片網站中的檔案,挑了中華傳統文化中的書法片給他,預計向他訴說「倉頡造字」的故事,以及中文各式字體與簡化的分合。這張片子是國立臺灣大學第四屆師生金石書畫聯展的作品,本年度展覽名稱為「墨筆輕描山水綠、銀鉤遠掛夕陽紅」。

漢字在東亞文化圈中,實實在在是個文化瑰寶,除了漢族使用外,還有許多不同的民族使用,也有民族自行衍生出類似的體系。然而文字的生成在中國是有故事的:

傳說漢字是由一位名叫作「倉頡」聖人發明的。根據記載,倉頡有四隻眼睛,每個眼睛裡有兩顆瞳孔,通常都是聖人才有此異像。他是上古時代黃帝的史官,黃帝在統一中國後,感到結繩記事的不足而命他想辦法解決。有一天倉頡在河邊苦思解決之道,遠處飛來一隻鳳凰,從牠嘴中落下一件物品,是個帶有獸爪印的東西。他正好奇這是什麼動物留下的,剛好有位路過得獵人就告訴他,他可以依據這個足跡來判斷各種動物的種類。這件事啟發了倉頡,他想到可用線條來表現萬物的樣貌,如此即可記事。

當倉頡造好字時,《淮南子·本經》中記載:「天雨粟,鬼夜哭。」原因在於造化不能藏其秘,故天雨粟;靈怪不能遁其形,故鬼夜哭。


本片同時於官方交換活動中寄出。This postcard was also sent for postcrossing official card.

From: Taipei, Taiwan
Date: 26 May to 4 June , 2010
Sender: Dodd
To: Beatriz in Viseu, Portugal

寄自:臺灣臺北
日期:2010年5月26日至6月4日
寄者:Dodd
收件人:葡萄牙維蘇的碧翠絲

Wednesday 23 June 2010

First Attempt at Maximum Cards / 初試自銷原圖卡


I prepared many postcards to send to friends who are interested in postcards from an outer isle of Taiwan. But after the trip, I think that I worried too much. Every shop selling scenery postcards only sells Mr. Hsu's work with no exception.

The destination was kept in secret until the postcards arrived. My trip started on Wednesday, 16, a public holiday of Dragon Boat Festival. So all postcards were sent after Thursday. But what a surprise, some friends in Kaohsiung received the cards on Friday. How efficient!!

The picture on the right is the Maximum Card I made. I also put on the scenic postmark on the back. The mark of Green Island is 'the pug and the sleeping beauty'. It does not match the stamp nor the postcard but It really one representative landscape of the island.

The Pug and the Sleeping Beauty. 睡美人與哈巴狗 ↓

前一陣子買了些明信片,準備在端午出遊寄給各位片友。不過到了目的地後,才發現這些事前準備真是白費工,當地所有販售「風景明信片」的店家,都是僅此一款—許釗滂先生的攝作品集。事先準備好的優點,只剩出發前就可先寫好部份信文,到目的地只需銷戳。

出發前一直沒有透漏目的地,就是想在明信片上給大家一個驚喜。見識稍廣的網友,應該可以從上面的大圖猜到我到底去哪玩了。端午節的四天行程,只有週四及週五可以銷票蓋戳寄片,因此本來預計是回來還要再繼續忍兩天到週一晚間才公佈答案,沒想到週五高雄就已經有人收到啦,不得不誇讚一下中華郵政的效率。(門口的郵筒截郵時間是早上十點鐘和中午十二點,因此其實下午投的郵件大概都延至第二天才收。但我是直接從窗口遞進去的,可能因此快了點。)

綠島郵局位在圖書館的左前方,中華電信的右側,離統一便利超商不遠,與鄉公所、消防隊等公部門群聚於南寮村的北端。三層樓的房子,看起來剛落成不久。推開大門走進營業大廳,還可以看到「新屋落成」的彩球。玻璃大門有著海濱郵局都難以避免的裝飾,已經被海風蒙上一層鹽霧。由於是新局落成,營業櫃台也很新穎,都是低矮的櫃台,風景戳就放在檯面上,顯然常有人來蓋。

我並不是第一次蓋風景戳,但是第一次嘗試製作原圖卡。燈塔票配燈塔片在加上原地戳,外加一個風景戳。不過片和票搭上了,就無法和風景戳搭配了。綠島的風景戳圖案是綠島東岸的哈巴狗與睡美人,頗能代表綠島的風光。

↑ 郵局出品郵政明信片Postal Card
許釗滂的明信片因為是光面的,我又沒快乾墨水用,因此總是會滑一下或是缺角漏字,寄給各位郵友的片子就這樣帶著些許缺陷出去,好在除了正面有燈塔票外,背面也用了綠島燈塔加東吉燈塔郵票,銷出來的甲戳就清楚多了。我另外買了兩張郵政明信片銷癸戳。郵局大哥看了一下上位來銷的日期,六月11日,可見這裡真是個熱門景點,癸戳的日期也「與時俱進」。

大部分有在玩國際交換明信片的片友,寄送了燈塔原圖卡,其他的朋友就從綠島套裝明信片中挑了幾張出來,另外出發前和在島上也各寄了一張和兩張給國際交換明信片的外國朋友。許先生的網頁沒有把套裝全數展示出來,下面就稍微以小圖展示給各位網友欣賞*。
  • *套裝明信片中,沒有左上兩張直的,最下左二,左四,右上兩直中的右二這五張,想要特別一點的需要另外向臺灣攝影圖片館郵購。另外還有寬幅的,島上也比較不容易找到(但還是有)。

  • 套裝明信片說明:綠島風情
    綠島舊名火燒島,位於台東東方約33公里的太平洋上,面積僅16.2平方公里,綠島是一座郵海底火山噴發後,所形成的島嶼,全島多山,火燒山為全島最高峰,海拔281公尺,島之地質以火山集塊岩為主,因長年受風化及海浪侵蝕的結果,四周海岸的地形頗為曲折多變,有海蝕洞、巨岩、海灣、海涯、凹灣等,構成綠島美麗的自然風光。睡美人、樓門岩、牛頭山、帆船鼻等是其中最獨特的地景。本明信片收集許多自然優美的景色,讓您飽覽海島幽然的風光,體驗大自然的神奇與奧秘。
  • The description of the postcard set: Green Island Scenery
    Green Island was originally called Burning Island. It is located 33 km east of Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean; its land area is 16.2 km2. A submarine volcano created Green Island. Therefore, it is very mountainous, and its highest peak (281 m) is called Burning Mountain. Since this island is volcanic and corroded by wind and water, there are many breath-taking scenes, such as rocks and caves and a mystifying bay. Some of the most famous ones are: the sleeping Beauty, Cow Head Mountain, Sailing Ship Nose, and the Gate Rock.

兩張原圖名信片分別
最上方原圖卡寄往
From: Taipei, Taiwan
Date: 19 June to 4 July, 2010
Sender: Dodd
To: Mao Yiqing in Shanghai, China

寄自來自:臺灣臺北
日期:2010年6月19日至7月4日
寄者:Dodd
收件人:中國上海的Mao Yiqing
郵局照片下方郵政明信片寄往
From: Taipei, Taiwan
Date: 2 to ? July, 2010
Sender: Dodd
To: Dominique Schneider in Neuilly-sur-Marne, France

寄自來自:臺灣臺北
日期:2010年7月2至?日
寄者:Dodd
收件人:法國訥伊敘爾馬恩的多明尼克.史奈德

Friday 11 June 2010

Buy Postcards / 明信片小團購

I have tried mail order, internet order, and some other non-shop sale. It was great fun to do those consuming activities. But I have never tried group order yet.

In the middle of June, I'm going to travel to an outer isle of Taiwan. Although Taiwan is not a big country, traveling all over around is not easy, especially to outer isle. I have some stamps of the lighthouse on the destination and there is a post office on the isle providing a scenic postmark. I shall seize the chance and prepare some nice postcards for friends. So, I ask A-j Deng and his friend to buy some postcards with me to share the shipment cost.

One famous provider of Taiwan Image postcards is Chao-pang Hsu. He has a website: TaiwanImage. Here, you can check out his works and catalogue. Email the item numbers and payment transfer receipt, you will get what you like. They only charge NT$30 for shipment. Order over NT$2,000 is free for shipment.

After I emailed my order and transfered the payment by ATM on 8 June, I got a little parcel on 10 June. Look at those beautiful postcards and sets.

郵購,或說網購,還有面交、贈送,我都嘗試過了,而且每次都算有正面的經驗,也很有趣。

但我沒跟過團購,略略還是有點缺憾。端午假期,我預計去某個離島旅遊,剛好手中有些該島的燈塔郵票,所以想說來搭配風景戳作幾張原圖卡吧。不過我並不是專業郵迷,還是以明信片的圖樣美觀為主,所以找了許釗滂先生的明信片網站訂購所需的明信片。原本誤以為可以湊滿免運費的額度(NT$1,000),所以另外揪了交換明信片新手鄧老師與他的同學張老師一起來攤運費。這樣的三人小團,林林總總也湊了一千零二十五元的片子(七套與15張單片),結果下訂時,才發現免運費的額度是兩千元。不過團也揪了,就還是訂啦!

星期二匯款和寫電子郵件去訂購(把需求清單跟轉帳憑證一併寄去),一直不見任何回覆或確認,隔兩天信箱裡就躺了一塊掛號招領牌了。牛皮紙小包握起來頗有扎實感。印刷品小包掛號郵資55元,因此賣方酌收三十元實在非常慷慨,而且拆包清點後還多一張卡片(下右圖右上方墾丁船帆石景色),定價恰好就是三十元。

明信片也有開箱文!(用泡泡紙妥善包裝)
達答!!瞧瞧一千元的明信片們!

接下來就是貼票和分配寄送對象,等出發帶上路去蓋風景戳與實寄給各位片友啦!敬請各位片友期待。

Thursday 3 June 2010

Legends from the sea / 飄洋過海的傳奇故事


PL-90010-1
Originally uploaded by Dodd Lu

From: Kraków, Poland
Date: 8 to 21 May, and
           25 May to 2 June, 2010
Sender: Karolina

來自:波蘭克拉科夫
日期:2010年5月8至21日及
            5月25日至6月2日
寄者:卡羅琳娜


Last month, I received a postcard of sailing from a Polish inland city. After I checked the Wikipedia, I found that it was the former capital of Poland and the European Capital of Culture for the year 2000.

I appreciated the postcard so much not only because the theme I like but also the great job the sender had done. The sender, Karolina, tried to find the postcard to match my interests and showed me the culture by telling me a local legend. She was new to postcrossing, so she was keen to write me another postcard to tell me another story . Therefore, I got the second postcard and another story.

Here are the two legends in brief by Karolina:
  • The first story: The Pigeons and the "Encouragement" Message, 
Long time ago, Cracow was often target of enemies' attacks. During one of siege townspeople last their will to fight and hope to win. They were hungry and tired so they started to catch even pigeons but soon number of those birds started to lower, so hunting them became prohibited. Townspeople thought of giving up. Then one brave men sneaked out of the city and took six pigeons with him. Every bird had different colour. Couple of days later first bird returned to town with a message, 'Reinforcements will come in six days. From now on every day people saw a new pigeon with a message, '... five days... four days... ' In final day to  town arrived white bird but no one read the message. People believed strong that rescue will come on time so they started to fight and they struggle so hard that they won. After that, they finally read the message and they were dumbfounded because it said, 'Reinforcements were stopped, surrender the city!'
  • The second story: Wawel Dragon,
Long time ago, there was a dragon living near King's castle. The dragon except for animals ate also young girls. King was afraid of his beloved daughter. He told to knights that the one who'll kill the dragon will receive beautiful princess as wife and half of the kingdom as reward. Many tried but dragon killed all of them. The poor shoemaker called 'Dratewka' made a sheep filled with sulphur. The dragon ate it and burned his throat. He tried to lessen pain and drank so much water from Vistula, Wisła in Polsih, River, that he splitted. Dratewka of course received his reward.
As what you may think, these are very very brief versions because the place of a postcard is so limited. Please use your imagination to expand the stories. Anyone who is interested in the second one, please look up the Wikipedia for more detail. Those who want to check out the King's castle and the river, please check out another postcard at the bottom which I received from Poland before.



PL-90010-2
Originally uploaded by Dodd Lu
上個月從波蘭的一個內陸都市寄來了一張揚帆的明信片,當時還想說怎麼來了個與當地不相關的片子。不過背面美麗的文字,卻讓我極為驚豔。一張寬幅的明信片,擠進了320多個字,敘敘道來關於波蘭的故事。(當天雖然收到兩張片子,但是99%的字都在這張上了。)

圖片的主題是配合我的興趣特地挑的,然後寄件人卡羅琳娜和我分享了一個當地的傳說。然後又說他是「交換明信片的新手」,所以可以寄片的額度很少,想要再寫一片給我,順便再跟我分享另一個故事。於是乎,我又收到第二張片子,一樣也是以配合我的興趣所選的海岸圖樣。我查了一下維基百科關於這個波蘭的內陸都市,沒想到他是波蘭故都,還是千禧年歐洲文化之都。我想和我分享故都傳奇,正是一種文化展現的方式吧。下面把小小的片子捎來的故事略為改寫翻譯。

故事都是這樣開始的,很久很久以前...
  • 故事一:鴿子帶來的訊息
    克拉科夫一直都是敵人想要取下的要塞。在某一次圍攻中,市民們靠著想要贏得最後勝利的意志撐下來。然而在頑強的抵抗中,能吃能喝的都被消耗一空,於是人們開始抓飛進城裡的鴿子。很快的,鴿子的數量也減少到難以捕捉了。大家只好先立個禁止補鳥的公約,然後開始考慮投降的事。
    就在大家討論到底該如何與包圍在外的敵軍交涉時,有位勇士偷偷帶著六隻不同顏色的鴿子溜出了克拉科夫城。沒幾天第一隻鴿子飛回城裡了,還帶了個消息:「援軍再六天就會到了。」接下來的每一天,都有一隻不同顏色的鴿子飛回城裡,也帶著一樣的消息「...五天...」、「...四天...」、「...三天...」。城裡的人們士氣愈來愈高昂了,紛紛摩拳擦掌開始期待著再過兩天的大反攻,和援軍來個裡應外合。第六天,飛來了一隻白鴿子,想必這就是攻擊的信號了,城門一開,轟的一聲大軍就殺了出去。由於大家都在等著援軍到來,所以死撐活撐也要把敵人打個落花流水,絕對不能讓援軍白跑一場,更不能讓援軍看到自己疲弱的樣子。經過了數場鏖戰,沒想到援軍還沒到,克拉科夫城的將士們就得勝了。這時候,大家才想到回城裡看看那隻白鴿子帶來的消息。
    上面這麼寫著「救援行動終止了,請投降避免傷亡!


  • 故事二:瓦維爾的龍
    瓦維爾有一隻邪惡的龍,住在國王的城堡附近。這隻惡龍會破壞整個農村、吞噬牲畜,殺害村民、掠奪他們的家園,更甚者是喜歡吃年輕的女孩。國王不但懼怕惡龍欺凌他的子民,更怕自己摯愛的公主也會淪落龍口。因此只好求助於英勇的騎士們,他發出公告說:「不論是誰,只要可以打敗惡龍,將可以娶公主為妻,並且馬上獲得一半的王國。」那知惡龍實在太過強大了,眾多的騎士前仆後繼都鎩羽而歸,王國中的女孩還是一個接著一個犧牲。
    有一天,有個窮鞋匠德拉特瓦 (Dratewka) 看到這個公告,馬上決定要接受這個挑戰。他做了一隻填滿硫磺的羔羊娃娃,並放在惡龍躲藏的洞穴口。惡龍出洞後,果然馬上吃了這隻假羔羊,因為生吞活剝的關係,連硫磺也吞下肚子裡。這讓牠非常地口渴,轉頭向維斯瓦河找水喝。但是,儘管喝了一半的河水還是沒法平息胃痛,因此惡龍又繼續喝個不停。最後,牠終於被滿肚子的水撐破肚皮炸開了。國王於是兌現承諾,讓小鞋匠德拉特瓦娶了美麗的公主和掌管一半的王國。王國裡沒了惡龍,小鞋匠和公主從此也就能過著幸福快樂的日子。


想必你一定可以猜到,這邊都是非常非常精簡的版本。不過篇幅有限,就請發會想像力自己編撰故事的其他細節。對瓦維爾的龍有興趣的朋友,可以看看維基百科裡的介紹。想要看國王的城堡和維斯瓦河的,可以看下面我收到的另一張明信片圖案。

  © Blogger template 'Minimalist G' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP