Letter writers put pen to paper again

Cui said promoting traditional culture such as letter writing provides an effective communications option and encourages people to solve problems and remain calm when they are annoyed, and also to express love and build healthy relationships.

"These are the core reasons to revive letter writing, and there is no need to fixate on just one method of communication," she said.

But Cui said face-to-face communication is effective in most situations, because it can convey a person's tone, facial expression and eye contact, which instant messaging or letters cannot.

"So try to find the best way of communicating in different situations," she added.

The long history of keeping in touch

Letter writing in China can be traced back thousands of years.

A pair of wooden boards were discovered by archaeologists in Yunmeng county, Hubei province, in 1975, on which two soldiers who served during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) wrote to their parents in 223 BC, asking them to send money and clothes. They also inquired about the health of their family members.

Zhan Xiaobai, associate professor at the School of History at Beijing Normal University, said that before paper was invented, soldiers wrote on long, wide pieces of bamboo or wooden boards, sealed them and sent them by messengers on horseback.

Later, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), more people wrote letters to their families when paper-making technology improved.

The popularity of writing letters increased during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when more people were taught to read and write.

A key turning point also came during that dynasty, when letter writing, which had been done in private, became an open literary style, Zhan said. Letters by influential writers were published, and the public could read them and learn the writers' thoughts.