Wooden cards first appeared in the Han Dynasty

During the Spring Festival, many students will carefully prepare greeting cards, write their most sincere words, and send them to teachers and classmates to express their blessings. A small card contains a lot of affection. But do you know when the greeting card first appeared? Before the appearance of thicker paper, what form did the greeting card appear in? In an era when there is no postman and no express delivery, how can we send blessings to relatives and friends far away?

New Year's greeting cards condense the deep friendship between friends. In fact, there have been New Year cards in ancient times.

The greeting card began in the Han Dynasty when it was made of wood and was called "Ming Thorn". Many officials have thrown too many stabbings. In order to avoid interference, they simply hang a box outside the door, which is equivalent to the current mailbox, which is used to receive stabbings from all parties, which is called "receiving blessing."

In the Song Dynasty, some people began to write New Year's words on famous thorns, and from then on, the famous thorns began to have the character of New Year. The Southern Song Dynasty's "You Huan Ji Wen" by Zhang Shinan records that his family has a collection of ink traces of "Respect He Zhengdan" during the Yuanyou period of the Northern Song Dynasty. "Zhengdan" means the first day of the first lunar month, and "Konghe Zhengdan" means "Congratulations on the New Year" printed on the new year card.

In ancient times, the custom of congratulating each other with famous posts by upper-class scholar-officials was mostly used for New Year greetings between officialdom and literati, and official entertainment was the most common. In feudal society, there are many relationships among officials. At the beginning of the new year, those with a low position or seniority will pay a visit to the elder or high-ranking. If the host is not there, or if there are VIPs at home, it is inconvenient to meet guests. Those who pay a New Year's greetings will leave a red business card (or those with red letters) with the words "Dengfu New Year's Greetings and Congratulations to the New Year" to express the intention of visiting the house in person.

At that time, scholar-bureaucrats had a wide range of friendships. It would be a waste of time and energy if they went to visit each other for the New Year. Therefore, some friends who were not closely related did not have to go in person. Instead, they sent servants to take two pieces cut out of plum blossom paper. It is one inch wide and three inches long, and a card with the name, address and congratulatory words of the recipient is written on it as a New Year greeting.

Song Zhou Hui said in the "Qingbo Magazine": "During the Song Yuanyou period, during the New Year celebrations, servants and servants were often used to replace them with famous assassins."

People in the Ming Dynasty replaced New Year's greetings with greetings. Wen Zhengming, an outstanding painter and poet of the Ming Dynasty, described in the poem "Lunar New Year": "I don't want to see each other but greet, the famous paper will come to cover the house; I also throw a number of papers with others, the world hates it for simplicity."

With the development and progress of the times, in 1981, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a New Year Postcard (HP) specially to bless the New Year. On December 1, 1991, according to market demand, China Post began to issue prized postcards for Chinese New Year.