China Post started selling the world's first multimedia stamps yesterday, Xinhua news agency reported today.

The six stamps sold in each sheet feature six poems from the greatest poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), including Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi. With a pen-shaped device, a chip in the stamps recites the poems to background music, while the stamp smells like sandalwood. The background also varies from different angles.

The Tang Dynasty's famous Three Hundred Poems are also printed around the six stamps, forming a complete collection of poems – more than 25,000 words – on each stamp sheet.

The six stamps are sold with a face value of 9.3 yuan (US$1.36).

(Shanghai Daily September 15, 2009)