The Xiaoshang Bridge

As I've declared in this blog, over and over again, I love bridges.  So for this week's Postcard Perfect round, I'm sharing the very first bridge postcard I got from Postcrossing.  It was sent by Shiliang of China. 

Bridges have always figured in the history of nations as sites for historic battles.  I am pretty sure you have heard and learned of quite a lot of stories of great battles fought on a bridge.  In military strategy, bridges serve as choke points that allow numerically inferior  armed forces to impede the movement of larger enemy armed contingents.       


The Xiaoshang Bridge, built over 1,400 years ago, certainly has its share of war stories.  Accounts say that it was were Yang Zaixing, a lieutenant of the Song Dynasty general Yue Fei, met his death during the war against the Jin Dynasty invaders.


If the Xiaoshang Bridge served a military strategic function in the wars and battles of the distant past, today the very same bridge serves a cultural strategic purpose.   In fact, it was declared as an important heritage structure by the local government.   


Recognizing the bridge's cultural importance, China's State Postal Bureau included the Xiaoshang Bridge as one of the four featured special historic bridge stamps which were issued in March 2003.


Bridges serve a plethora of purpose.  These structures were used as strategic ambush points and choke points to weaken enemy forces.  They also serve as historical, cultural and architectural timepieces.  Most of all, bridges serve as important structures that connect communities and ensure the continuous flow of progress.



Wishing you happy journeys...

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The Tyne Bridge

Bridges provide connectivity and passage over physical obstacles, be it a body of water, a valley, a canal, or other barriers. In our journey through life, we must seek out these passages that will allow us to overcome difficulties and limitations. Should we end up in a place where a bridge should have been built but wasn't, we can always build one. We can construct it ourselves or better yet, enlist the help of others. It is important not to allow obstacles to hinder us from continuing our meaningful voyage. What's even more important is that we build bridges of friendship, love, and understanding along the way.

I certainly love bridges! I enjoy looking at them, taking snapshots of them, and crossing them (especially the rickety hanging ones).

So happy am I to have received this Tyne Bridge postcard which was stamped in the Netherlands. Arnolda told me that she picked up this stunning postcard of the steel arch bridge during her trip to the United Kingdom.

"The Tyne Bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson who based their design on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The bridge was completed on 25 February 1928 and opened on 10 October by King George V and Queen Mary, who were the first to use the roadway travelling in their Ascot landau. The bridge is a landmark within Newcastle and currently stands as the tenth tallest structure in the city. The bridge spans 531 feet (162 m) from pier to pier and the total height measures 59 meters above the river level.

Tram lines were initially built into the bridge structure, but were subsequently removed. Some vestiges of these remain, such as redundant fixings for overhead power lines. Tram car No. 289 was the last Newcastle tram to run into Gateshead over the Tyne Bridge on Sunday, 5 March 1950." (Source: Wikipedia.org)

These three awesome stamps were pasted on the back of the card.

The stamp on the left was issued in 1989 to commemorate the 40 years of the founding of the North American Treaty Organization (NAT0). It features the flags of the NATO-member countries. Can you help me with the other two?

Wishing you happy journeys...

This is my share for the Postcard Friendship Friday Meme

hosted at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy

The Death Railway

Who would ever think that beneath this lovely scene lie the harrowing stories of the brutalities of war, of shattered dreams, and of thousands of lives lost?

This postcard features the Kanchanaburi portion of the infamous Death Railway which was constructed during the Second World War. Thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) were forced to work on a railway that was used to transport the supplies of the Japanese Imperial Army.

"The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre." - Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

About 130 kilometers of the original 415-km line, which used to connect Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat, Burma, are still operational today. Parts of abandoned route have been converted into walking trails. Proposals to rebuild the complete railway have been made, but not one of the plans has been realized due to the immense work and large amount of money the reconstruction project entails.


To honor the suffering and death of thousands of prisoners and laborers in the construction of the Death Railway, several memorials have been built along the route from Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

I thank Kulnita for sending me this postcard. It urged me to revisit history and draw parallelism to the experiences of the Philippines and Thailand during the World War II. We both have sad stories to tell, but they are the tales worth telling over and over again. LEST WE FORGET.