A city-view from Zimbabwe!

My friend Virva sent me a postcard from Zimbabwe! He moved there four and a half years ago from Finland. He likes living there, the nature is beautiful, the people are friendly and the climate is better for him. Now the weather is dry and hot.

Location: Southern Africa

Capital: Harare

Population: 11,651,858

Official languages: English, Chewa, Ndao and 13 other languages

National anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UCNXIaVTiU

The name "Zimbabwe" can be translated into English as 'Big houses of stones' or 'honorable houses'. Zimbabwe is situated between two of the well known African rivers the Limpopo and the mighty Zambezi. This land is blessed with one of the most idyllic climates in the world. Besides, Zimbabwe is the legendary land of Ophir, the ancient country that enriched the kingdoms of Hiram, Solomon, and Sheba with gold and ivory thousands of years ago.

On the postcard you can see a view from Harare, the capital and the most populous city of Zimbabwe (1,606,000).

Thanks a lot for the wonderful view postcard, Virva! 

An ancient city from Iraq!

Talal sends me best wishes from Iraq! Iraq is a country in Asia. The capital is Baghdad. The population is about 29,671,605. Official languages are Arabic and Kurdish. Iraq is often called the cradle of civilization because it was one of the first places on Earth where people began living in one place together. The famous children’s story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was written in Iraq about 1,000 years ago. Because it is so old, the country has endured many conflicts and wars. Torn between its glorious past and its recent bloody history, Iraq is a country in turmoil. After the 2003 US-led invasion and the problems that followed, the country had little time to recover before a wave of violence swept through in June 2014, when jihadist group Isis took control of large territory of north Iraq. Many parts of Iraq are harsh places to live. Rocky deserts cover about 40 percent of the land. Another 30 percent is mountainous with bitterly cold winters. Much of the south is marshy and damp. Most Iraqis live along the fertile plains of the famous rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

Here is the anthem of Iraq:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaI26chcFw 

On the postcard you can see Namrod in Ninawa province, an ancient Assyrian city. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1250 BC and 610 BC.

The stamp depicts popular crafts in Iraq.

Thank you so much for the postcard, Talal!

Five postcards from China!

People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a country in East Asia. The capital is Beijing. The population is about 1,330,044,000. Official language is Standard Chinese. China's geography is highly diverse, with hills, plains and river deltas in the east and deserts, high plateaus and mountains in the west. The Chinese name is "Zhong Guo", which means the "Middle Kingdom". Since ancient times people believed that China was at the center of the universe. China is home to one of the world’s first human civilizations (alongside with the ancient Egypt, the Babylon and the ancient India). For more than 40 centuries Chinese people created a culture with strong philosophies, traditions and values. It is so old that its true age has yet to be determined. The oldest written records date back roughly 4,000 years, but it is likely that there were even earlier societies. What we now call China became a unified state in 221 B.C. under the so-called First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who started the system of dynastic rule that would last until the twentieth century. Nowadays the PRC is a single-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party.

National anthem is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UctriMuXYS0

All postcards show people in Anhui, a province in China, the part of the East China region.

Thanks  a lot for the postcards, Wang Gang!