Is the era of handwritten letters ending in China?

Handwritten pictograph. Photo provided to China Daily

Zhao had joined China Post as a mail carrier in 1991, at the behest of her parents, who run a grocery store in Gao Kan village where she lives with her husband and their two children when she isn't staying at the company accommodation in the county. Zhao went to middle school, but not beyond.

Her initial years on the job were harrowing, faced with the challenges of rough weather and the area's underdevelopment back then, but gradually she grew fond of it.

"For me, salary isn't the point, joy is. I bring cash remittances to retirees in the village," Zhao says of the aspect of her role that she most enjoys.

As she rides along the narrow roads of the rocky countryside, several people greet her. She is the star "post woman", who crosses meandering streams and scales rain-washed slopes to reach corners of the county, where a few villages are possibly inhabited by just a handful of families.

As afternoon approaches, Zhao makes a quick trip back to Da Gou where at the village clinic she gives Zheng Shibo, a 38-year-old doctor, a bunch of comic books that arrived in the mail. Zhao's post also contains books for the villagers every month.

"He sometimes watches cartoons online but I'd like him to read some real books," Zheng says of her 12-year-old son for whom she ordered the comics.

It has been more than a decade since Zheng has stopped using pen and paper to write letters. "It was a great feeling to receive letters. People's emotions came out very differently," she says with nostalgia. "Emails and phone calls are very direct. They've killed the charm of communication."

As afternoon fades into evening, Zhao rides on a boat along the Han River to visit a few other villages.

"It's unrealistic to think that handwritten letters will continue to survive," says Zhao Minbin (not identified as someone with any relation to Zhao Mingcui). The 46-year-old guard at a primary school in one of the villages in Shiquan, isn't mourning the loss of letters. He is a fan of modern technology. It has made his life smoother.