Mainland Scenery

Macau is a city on the southern coast of China. It is located at the south of Guangdong Province, on the tip of the peninsula formed by the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary on the east and the Xijiang (West River) on the west. Macau is situated 60 km west of Hong Kong and 145 km southwest of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. It is immediately adjacent to the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone.

This Souvenir Sheet on the FDC is from the series Scenery of the Mainland. The stamp and the souvenir sheet itself are both inscribed by words in Portugese meaning Ancient City of Fenghuang. The souvenir sheet and also the cover show the vista created by the Ancient City of Fenghuang. Fenghuang City is located in the southwest of Hunan Province. It borders Luxi County in the east, Mayang County in the South, Songtao County of Tongren city in Guizhou province in the west and Jishou City and Huayuan County in the north, serving as the strategic gateway connecting Hunan and Guizhou provinces. 

Feng Huang is Chinese for 'phoenix', the mythical bird which is a good omen and symbolizes longevity. When consumed by fire, Feng Huang will be reborn from the flames. Feng Huang Cheng gets its name from a legend that two of these fantastic birds flew over the town and found the town so beautiful that they hovered it, reluctant to leave. Fenghuang Town is located on the western edge of Hunan Province and next to Guizhou. Claimed to be one of the two most beautiful towns in China, Feng Huang Cheng sets an example of what villages were like before the start of modernization. In the town dozens of lanes are paved with stones that run between the wooden houses built on stilts. Generations of local people have stepped on the lanes and worn them down bit by bit. Mist envelopes the town in the early morning or after a rain, creating a charming picturesque scene of Southwest China. But Feng Huang Cheng's charm goes beyond the natural beauty. This ancient town has a history of 1,300 years and it has a number of old gardens as well as distinctive residential buildings, elegant bridges and mysterious towers and pagodas. In Feng Huang Cheng, tourists can also have a glimpse of the Great Wall. This section of the Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620) to defend against the local Miao minority ethnic group, which defied the central government at that time.