Geography Postcards.

I am a native of Dalian. After university and 22-year life in Dalian, I studied in Beijing and now I am working in Shanghai as a Certified Public Accountant in Big Four.

It's fair to say that Dalian is nationally famous. The clothing festival (and the city's carnival) often brought together with international dignitaries, leaders and famous celebrities at home and abroad. You can often see Dalian's propaganda films on CCTV. Needless to say, the Dalian Wanda of sports is also very famous. It was once named "Northern Pearl" or "Beifang Mingzhu" by the state, directly comparable to HK.

As a child, there were only about 40 cities in China, because the CCTV weather forecast only covers these cities. The weather of Dalian is reported in the last rolling subtitle of the weather forecast. Because I watch it so often, I can clearly remember that it is ranked after Shenzhen, Xiamen, Ningbo and Qingdao, and I can locate it at a glance. Popular songs, such as "Dalian is Good" and "Dalian, Dalian, The Sea in My Heart", as well as "Love in Dalian" written and performed by singer Liu Huan, created a fashion trend of "romantic city" in China.

In 1999, it was the 100th anniversary of the founding of Dalian. By the way, I was born on the day of 100th anniversary. Compared with the millennia-old capital, it was nothing. However, I felt more proud of it, as if the development of the city was due to our generation. On the other hand, it also exposes the blind arrogance. Because many people in Dalian had never been to a big city, there was a conservative thinking that staying in Dalian was the best option.

Although the address is in Shanghai, I'm still proud of to be a Dalianer and I won't move my hukou to Shanghai, because Shanghai is only for me to work but not to live permanently, and my relatives are still in Dalian and they wouldn't like to leave the Liaoning Province except for travelling.

For as long as I can remember, I have often heard a city slogan of "not the biggest, but the best". Yes, because Dalian is such a small city, even including Ganjingzi District and high-tech park, the total area is only less than half that of Pudong New Area, Shanghai. Therefore, the construction of the city is to build fine products, rather than exulting. In addition, Dalian's unique hilly terrain and its historically piazza radial block structure, modeled on the urban design of Paris, result in narrow streets that do not quite match the spacious image of northern cities such as Beijing.

I have no special needs for the postcards you sent to me and just feel free to send what you like to me. Any themes of the postcards are welcomed because Dalianers are very open. If you wish to swap with me directly, just email me at pearlyu370@outlook.com and I'm always welcome you! If you would like a Dalian postcard, just send a message for me and I can send it to you as possible.

Sincerely,
Mingzhu
Shanghai, February 12, 2023

P.S. 大中华区的朋友们，内容写简体或繁体都可以，我都看得懂。如果需要大连风景明信片可以提前私信我哦。

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