In the age of instant messages, Chinese tourists are writing postcards to family and friends, choosing a slower way to send their greetings.
In the age of instant messages, some Chinese tourists are choosing a slower way to send their greetings: writing postcards.
During China’s National Day holiday, Chen Chen, a tourist from Tianjin, sat down at a themed post office on the Xi’an City Wall to write a postcard to his family.
“It’s been a long time since I last sent a postcard, so I wanted to write one for my family today,” Chen said. “Messages on our phones are much faster, but a handwritten greeting seems to have a different kind of warmth.”
Themed postcards featuring the Xi’an City Wall and its changing seasons filled the counters and display stands at the post office. Visitors could also buy matching stamps and send their cards on site.
One popular design comes in a blind-box format. Inside is a 1997 stamp featuring the Xi’an City Wall.
Zhou Lin, a staff member at the post office, told China News Service that more visitors wrote postcards during this year’s National Day holiday than on ordinary days.
For many visitors, writing a postcard has become part of the travel experience. Unlike a message sent with a tap, a postcard takes time. People need to choose a card, write a few words, add a stamp and drop it into a mailbox.
Zhou described the postcard as a small ritual that allows people to slow down.
The post office has also set up a separate writing area for visitors. It provides sample cards and guides showing where to write the postal code and where the postmark will go.
“Many children and young people have hardly written postcards before,” Zhou said. “After they finish, we also stamp the cards with the date and location.”
For one family from Baoji, a city in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, the postcard was a way to send a holiday greeting to grandparents back home.
Li Mingtao and his family dropped their completed postcards into a dark green mailbox at the post office.
“Now, we leave the rest to time,” Li said.
He said the experience gave his child the chance to hold a physical card and experience the ritual of writing and sending a postcard. The family hoped the grandparents would be happy to receive it.
Meanwhile, the post office staff sometimes come across personal messages while sorting the mail.
Zhou recalled one postcard with a message expressing affection and good wishes for the recipient. The card also featured a drawing of fireworks from the National Day holiday.
For the staff, such cards offer a glimpse into the emotions behind each piece of mail.
And for the visitors who write them, the appeal may be simple: a postcard cannot arrive instantly. Someone has to write it, send it and wait for it to travel.
Additional reporting by Tianye.
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