Most young urban people will consider it eccentric if one of them talks about writing letters to friends, relatives or lovers with a pen and sheets of paper.

For them, electronic mail - e-mail and messages via mobile phones - are perhaps the easiest and fastest ways to communicate.

The rapid development in telecommunications, registering double-digit growth over the past 10 years, has greatly affected China's traditional mail services.

According to post analysts, once a telephone is installed, at least three people stop sending letters by traditional mail services.

The Chinese only sent an average of 6.6 letters or other post items per person in 1998, down from 12 per cent in 1995.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's philatelic portfolio has plummeted from 4.51 billion yuan (US$ 545.3 million) in 1997, to a historic low of 2.44 billion (US$ 295 million) in 2002.

The volume of China's newly issued stamps has been cut by 15 per cent from 12 million sets last year to around 10 million this year. But insiders from postal services claim the country still suffers from an oversupply of stamps.

The beautiful stamps, which in 1999 attracted some 20 million collectors nationwide, now hold the interest of only 8 million philatelists, according to a market analyst.

The fervor for stamp collecting among the ardent philatelists has remained strong as shown during the 16th Asian International Stamp Exhibition.

Die-hard fans

Wang Taibo, 70, a retired architect, travelled all the way from Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to Mianyang, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to attend the exhibition.

He was an honoured guest as he brought with him a valuable set of stamps featuring different architectural works.

Wang said he has experienced the ups and downs of the stamp market but his devotion to philately has remained unchanged.

"I'm interested in collecting all Chinese stamps featuring architecture, and I've had tremendous fun in collecting them," Wang said, "probably because of my profession."

Veteran stamp collector Wang said he "fell in love with stamps" at first sight when he joined the army in the 1950s.

"I started the hobby in the army where entertainment activities are relatively limited," Wang recalled. "I have been gathering these tiny things all these years though the prices fluctuate from time to time."

According to Wang, even personal financial crisis has not undermined his bold interests in stamps.

"I have continued because I just like it. It's something like liquor or cigarettes, which you cannot discard easily," said Wang, adding that he would spare spending on good food rather than cutting expenditure on stamps.

He said he was planning to restudy and rearrange the stamps he had collected through the years and would debut a modest show if possible.

"I'm still energetic and it's time for me to sum up," Wang said. "It's just these stamps that have kept me busy."

While Wang's architecture-related stamp collection may excel, many others have ventured into gathering stamps from around the world on other themes like cars, trains and airplanes, for example.

One thematic show during the exhibition in Mianyang featured the spring battles against SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The showpieces included not only commemorative stamps and special envelope covers but also pictures, gloves and facial masks.

"It's a special way to reflect on the unforgettable days, and I think all the items I've collected will serve as a living history of the period," said Shanxi philatelist Wang Junqing, owner of the special SARS collection.

According to Beijing-based philatelic observer Lin Xuan, the elderly and teenagers are obviously two major groups participating in China's philatelic activities. The middle-aged usually are too busy with jobs and homes to spare the time for stamp collecting.

Wang Huamao, 32, father of a 3-year-old boy, worked in a local import and export corporation in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province and said he was once addicted to Hong Kong and Macao stamps.

But he stopped collecting them after he graduated from university 10 years ago.

"There has been huge pressure coming from the office and everybody is working hard to make money," Wang said. "I do not have much spare time to think about other stuff."

But Wang Huamao said he hoped to resume his hobby soon as "my son is growing up and buying stamps is also a way of investment, for him of course," he said.

"All my postal legacy will be passed down to the little guy," Wang laughed. "Actually, the real value of these stamps is to provide a window for him to get to know the outside world. It's just like buying him an encyclopedia!

"This 'healthy hobby' will drag the 'generation in front of the screens' back to desks, it'll be good for their eyes at least," Wang Huamao said.

Members of the All China Philatelic Federation (ACPF) and its local affiliates have also worked out programmes to help collectors keep up their hobby and nurture more collectors from among the teens and even younger children, according to Sheng Minghuan, the federation's secretary general.

"We have prosperous activities centred on stamps at different levels. Youngsters have shown great interests in stamps," he said.

Sheng points out that schools and universities in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and cities in East China's Fujian Province are places where stamp collecting is booming.

The federation has developed 31 sub-federations at the provincial level so far.

These organizations hold regular get-togethers and seminars to promote the popularity of traditional philately.

Personalized stamps

The country's postal service has also come up with different schemes for stamp collectors.

Fans have been invited to comment on the draft of commemorative stamps and covers, and series of best stamp competition and philatelic events have been held.

Auctions of rare stamps have become a regular event.

With the demand for personal characteristics surging in China, the country's postal authorities began to issue "immediate" personalized stamps across the country for the first time, which means a local customer could get his own stamps on the spot as soon as his image was taken digitally in a postage stamp studio in some post offices specializing personalized stamps.

Yang Xianbang never thought his image would appear on a stamp, nor that he could mail them to astonish any of his friends.

But he made it.

Yang, 60, a postman in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, took a long journey by train to Mianyang just for sets of personalized stamps - which are just sheets of paper to an outsider.

Personalized stamps, issued with the approval from the China State Post Bureau, consist of a gummed stamp sheet containing 16 stamps pin-perforated with blank tabs next to each stamp. The blank tab is used to capture and print a photo image next to the stamp, therefore allowing users to post letters with their own personal shots.

"The only purpose I came here is to get my personal image printed on the stamps," Yang said.

Yang said cheerfully that he had ordered five sheets of personalized stamps with four in each set.

"I'll send the extra one sheet of stamps to all of my friends and relatives, by mailing them from the post office of course," he said. "They will be very surprised to see me on the envelopes. And maybe they will be attracted and start collecting stamps."

Yang said he has been collecting stamps for over 40 years and stamps have brought him broad knowledge and endless happiness.

As Koh Seow Chuan, president of International Federation of Philately (FIP) said, stamps will never vanish as long as postal activities still exist.

Traditional mail outdoes electronic mail for its preservability and substantial protection of privacy, said Zhu Gaofeng, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

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