Having worked as a mailman for 18 straight years, Lao Chen is delivering less private letters, but more commercial ones.

"Only about one of the 10 letters I'm delivering is private mail," said Lao Chen with the Panlong Post Office in Kunming city, the capital city of southwest China's Yunnan province. "Who still bothers to write with a pen since there are so many new communication ways these days?"

Figures from the Kunming Municipal Post Office show that private mail makes up only 15 to 20 percent of the total mail processed, while the city's commercial letters are increasing by over 30 percent each year.

In an era marked by efficiency, speed has become the dominating factor deciding what kind of communication people will choose.

"I write long e-mails through the internet, send short messages through mobile phones and listen to my friends' voices through telephones. Isn't that enough? Writing snail mail? That's too slow," said a 24-year-old civil servant surnamed Wang.

Sociologists estimate that more than 90 percent of people under the age of 30 have given up writing letters and only some of those aged above 45 still maintain the habit.

"More young men are connecting with each other through phones, e-mails or mobile phone short messages. If things go on like this, hand-written letters will die out very soon," said Prof. Qian Ning, a noted sociologist with prestigious Yunnan University.

Prof. Qian advised young people to spend more time to write letters to their parents, families or bosom friends, which might provide a pleasant surprise.

Hand-written letters contain many properties which could not be substituted by other means of communication. Speedy communication methods flatten and simplify communication, but also feelings, Prof. Qian said.

(People's Daily   December 2, 2003)