Paying tribute yesterday to the 34th World Post Day, Jiang Yanhua sent three letters to friends. Instead of troubling the postman, however, the 26-year-old IT company clerk simply clicked "send" on the computer.

　　"My last visit to the post office for a mail delivery was in December. I mailed some New Year cards," said Jiang, who works for the Shanghai Software Company in Shanghai.

　　"I think mailing through post has been replaced by much easier, faster ways of communication, such as the Internet and mobile phone short message," she added. "Many of my friends and I don't know each others' home address."

　　Ma lianhong, a long-time trader of the Shanghai Lugong Stamp Market, one of China's biggest stamp trading markets, also agreed that postal mailing has fallen into recession.

　　"Stamps have two characteristics, a tool used for mailing letters and as a hobby for collectors," said Ma, "However, as less people mail private letters through post, stamps nowadays are more for collecting."

　　Postal authorities also realize the reduced role traditional post is playing in people's life, with challenges from advanced communications tools.

　　After the failed "mixed mailing service," which awkwardly prints out e-mails and delivers it to the destination in an envelope didn't increase business, they turned back to traditional business method by improving service and facilities.

　　The shanghai Postal Bureau yesterday unveiled 40 new pillar-boxes at major roads along Chengdu Road N. in downtown.

　　"To meet the demands, the boxes have bigger slots for larger-size letters," said Hu Shiyun, a Shanghai Post spokesman. "It also has electric-controlled locks, which can help us better manage the timing of mail delivery and has data left for customers to check."

　　Hu revealed that another 960 new pillar-boxes will be installed by the end of this year, and the bureau planned to spent three years to upgrade all 4,000 pillar-boxes in Shanghai.

　　"We hope the new box design can help citizens feel secure about our delivery," said Hu.

　　In the first half of this year, postal offices delivered 5.04 billion letters in China, a 10.5 percent rise year-on-year. However, officials from China Postal Bureau said that most of the letters are business related.