A postman in his green uniform delivering letters from house to house: a regular scene in China 20 years ago.

Communications in those days were poor at best. It was considered luxurious to make a phone call, let alone surf the Internet. So a greeting needed to be awaited for days.

With the popularization of the Internet, e-mail, social network services, and instant messengers nowadays fewer people tend to write letters, and it's more difficult for postmen to survive.

However, for some delivering letters is a career and hard to say goodbye to.

This year marks 33 years since Jiang Zhigang took a job as a postman. "My persistence in delivering letters originates from a letter from Taiwan 30 years ago," he said.

Jiang Zhigang's persistence in his job originates from a unique letter 30 years ago. [Photo/WeChat account: Tcfbgw]

It was the first letter sent to Taicang from Taiwan after China's liberation in 1949. The sender was an old soldier who went to Taiwan before the liberation while his only son stayed in Taicang.

At that time, people did not dare to write true addresses on letters posted from Taiwan.

Once in possession of the letter, Jiang asked about the son and after 15 days was able to deliver the letter to him.

The successfully delivered family letter helped son and father meet again after 41 years' separation and fulfilled the old man's last wish in the world.

Jiang said that now letters are becoming rarer, but as long as there's one person writing letters, his job is still meaningful.

The postman cherishes a memory of his past slow-paced life.

To put things a little poetically, time was slower in the past. Carriages, horses, and the mail needed a bit of time. Even a single greeting took days to arrive. In the past, it even took time to fall in love.