Letters to the future: slow mail service

Xi'an (CNS) -- Above a bookstore that stands on East Xiaozhai Road in Xi'an is a service called "Muguang slow mail."

Senders pick a delivery date in the future, which can be as early as that exact day one month later, or any date one year or even ten years on. The recipient can be your lover, your parents, the girl you have a crush on, or the future version of yourself.

Contrary to the fee schedule for express services, the further away the delivery date, the more expensive the slow mail service.

In an information age dominated by virtually instant communication media like Weibo and emails, slow mail holds its own unique romance for clients, who, a Muguang clerk told CNS, are mostly high school and college students.

One slow mailer called Han Feng wrote down all his expectations and prospects for himself, to be sealed for 10 years.

Slow mail service can function as a kind of psychological therapy in this fast-paced modern society, by extending our current hopes to the future, commented Dr. Li, member of a local psychological club. It serves as both a channel for self- expression and a means to forge romantic ties.