Peng Shutian displays his carefully made historical review album "365 Days of China's Modern History" at the "Red" Collection Exhibition to commemorate the September 18 Incident. This set of pictures was taken by reporter Sun Jinglei.
What would you usually do with a ticket stub from a tourist attraction? Throw it away casually? Keep it as a souvenir? Let me tell you an incredible idea: collect it and use it to tell a piece of Chinese history.
Can such small tickets really narrate history? Don't disbelieve! Changchun resident Peng Shutian used the tickets he collected over decades to hold a personal exhibition in Yinfong Community, Youth Street, Lvyuan District, Changchun City. Through this exhibition, he presented a segment of Chinese history since the Opium War.
He has been passionate about philately and collecting since he was young.
At the age of 68, Peng Shutian retired from the Songliao Commission Scientific Research Institute under the Ministry of Water Resources. More than 30 years ago, Peng Shutian liked collecting stamps and anything related to philately. Whenever the post office issued new stamps, he would certainly buy some that he liked and keep them for collection. Later, he also collected postcards, maximum cards issued by the post office, and playing cards.
In 1990, he developed a fondness for collecting entrance tickets from tourist attractions. His collection of these scenic spot tickets was particular - specifically focusing on red tourism sites such as historical museums across the country, memorial halls of major campaign sites, memorials of historical great men, martyrs' cemeteries... all related to red history.
Additionally, events like the 1998 flood, the fight against SARS, and the Wenchuan earthquake...tickets from photography exhibitions based on these events, he went out of his way to obtain and collect them.
From the Opium War to the founding of the People's Republic of China, important historical events during this period can be found in the tickets collected by Peng Shutian.
To get these tickets, he sent letters across the country.
However, only a very small portion of these tickets were kept by Peng Shutian during his own travels; the rest were either bought or requested.
Speaking of buying, it is easy; just go to a collectors' market where some are easily available for purchase. But when it comes to requesting, it is not so simple.
Since 1990, Peng Shutian has been writing letters to red tourism sites nationwide. The purpose of his letters was twofold: one was to request a red site ticket, and the other was to hope for receiving the envelope used in their reply. This envelope was meaningful to him because he would include his cherished stamps inside the letter, which were absolutely relevant to that red site. For example, when he wrote to the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, he would send a stamp related to Yuanmingyuan. He would also include 1 to 5 yuan in cash in the envelope to buy a scenic area ticket. Using this method, he wrote countless letters, sending them all over the country.
After every letter was sent, he had to endure a long wait. Fortunately, 70% of the letters he sent received replies, and the money was returned in full along with an attached ticket. This made him extremely grateful and happy. He kept these returned envelopes together with the tickets.
Compiling thousands of tickets into a piece of history
Over time, Peng Shutian accumulated thousands of red scenic spot tickets.
Just collecting them wasn't enough; "telling history through tickets" was Peng Shutian's idea. He purchased thick Chinese history books and started from the Opium War, summarizing each year's major events. Then he found the corresponding scenic spot tickets and printed simple texts with historical knowledge gleaned from newspapers, books, and online research, attaching them below each ticket. Through this small ticket, one could basically understand what significant historical event occurred during that time.
This way, he gradually organized a long stretch of Chinese history. To make the historical knowledge more comprehensive, he meticulously edited a historical reference booklet during the "90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Party." This set consisted of 12 volumes, each representing a month. Starting from the first day of each month, historical events that occurred on that day were accompanied by tickets and corresponding historical knowledge. The entire set covered 365 days, with a piece of history for each day. If you wanted to know what happened on a certain day in history, Peng Shutian would tell you using his tickets.
Peng Shutian said that these tickets might seem worthless to others, but they were treasures to him. Now, Peng Shutian's ticket exhibition is freely open to the public at Yinfong Community, Youth Street, Luyuan District, Changchun City. This place is also the "Changchun Luyuan District Practice Socialist Honor and Shame View Education Base." If you're interested, you can visit Yinfong Community to take a look. Reported by Feng Yan of our newspaper.