This Day, That Year

Item from March 18, 1986, in China Daily: Lack of funds hinders the progress of the postal service and the difficulty to reach far-flung villages has to be overcome by postmen riding bicycles. The photo shows postman Zhang Guangwu in Su county, Anhui province, delivering newspapers to a subscriber.

Express mail services now connect the Chinese mainland with 31 countries and regions on five continents ... From the interior of the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia or Japan, it takes one or two days; to the United States and the United Kingdom, two or three days ... The postal service has been regarded as a top priority in the country's development plan and many problems remain to be solved before it can meet the need ... The main task in the next five years is to improve postal transport and increase the number of sorting and distributing centers.

China's express delivery services sector continues to record rapid growth. Last year, overall business volume surpassed the US to become the world's largest.