Chunghwa Post on Thursday launched a limited-edition stamp folder for the Taiwanese film Lovesick (有病才會喜歡你), with the product featuring an undersea mailbox off Green Island (綠島).
A ceremony was held at the Taipei Beimen Post Office to celebrate the first collaboration between the state-run postal firm and a Taiwanese film production firm.
The pygmy seahorse-shaped mailbox in Green Island, which is installed about 11.5m underwater, was launched on May 4, 2018, Chunghwa Post chairman Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told the ceremony.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
It is the world’s deepest submarine mailbox and is widely loved by scuba divers, Wang said.
“The undersea mailbox was an important scene in this touching story. Characters in the movie sent postcards through the mailbox, which symbolizes an emotional pledge. Recipients of the postcards would treasure postcards when they were delivered to them,” he said.
Wang said that the movie reminded him of the story of the 2008 film Cape No. 7 (海角七號), in which seven love letters arrived in Taiwan 60 years after the end of the Japanese colonial era.
Photo courtesy of Yu Ming-hung
“We hope the collaboration would attract a lot of international tourists to visit Green Island. We also hope to work closely with the Lyudao Township (綠島) Office to promote Lovesick, the undersea mailbox and Chunghwa Post’s services to the world,” he said.
Lovesick executive director Sunny Chang (張佩郁) said that the movie is not only a blockbuster in Taiwan, but has also achieved success in Malaysia and Singapore, adding that it would soon be in theaters in South Korea.
Lyudao Mayor Hsieh Hsien-yu (謝賢裕) said the undersea mailbox has become an important tourist attraction in Green Island, adding that 38 percent of postcards in the mailbox are addressed overseas.
The movie would motivate more international tourists to visit Green Island and experience the charm of the world’s top waters for scuba divers, he said.
Pygmy seahorse-shaped postcards would be available for purchase at post offices nationwide until May 20, the postal company said, adding that people could drop them into pygmy seahorse-shaped mailboxes at 24 designated post offices.
People are encouraged to post photos of themselves posting the postcards at mailboxes on the Yulaiuchu (郵來郵去) Facebook page.
They would qualify for a chance to win movie tickets and a two-day scuba-diving trip in Green Island.
Last week, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported that the postal company and the Taitung County Government have been working hard to find a contractor to maintain the Green Island mailbox before the summer travel season begins.
The high maintenance costs, including removing sea creatures on the mailbox, collecting mail and moving the mailbox to land when there is a typhoon, have made it difficult to locate contractors, the report said.
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