Original Author: Bund Jun -Published 2022-05-08
(Translated By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD)
Translator’s Note: The most “remote” UK Post Office is in Port Lockroy – on Goudier Island (64º49’S, 63º30’W) off the Antarctic Peninsula – some 9,000 miles South of London. (The other British Post Office in Antarctica – Rothera – gets just two passenger vessels visiting it per season because it’s much more inaccessible – being around 8,934 miles South of London). As for the PRC Post Office in Inner Mongolia featired below, I have been reading the comments of ethnic Chinese people – and not everyone thinks it is a good idea – or even legitimate. There is no direct email address available (as if the Post Office does not want increased national or international trade) – but there is a WeChat page through that regularly shifts tonnes of related merchandise (which may or may not be based in the Post Office itself). This Desert Post Office seems to be trading on “sentiment” – with ordinary Chinese people being aware of this – with one person criticising its “twisted” mentality – by which he means the exchanging of “money” for “comfort” (as in “platitudes” from a stranger). State propaganda is one thing – but ordinary Chinese people generally know what’s what – whilst many in the West are unaware that this freedom of expression exists in China. The owners appear supported by the State – and are selling an “idea” which has turned-out to be very lucrative. The real money seems to involve Chinese people paying for expensive desert tours – which visit the Post Office at one point. I note that foreigners are not encouraged or catered for – as this would cost too much to accommodate at this stage. After-all, the main attraction is a corrugated shack in the middle of nowhere – with an emotional narrative weaved only around Chinese sensibilities (using stamped letters as momentos). Such an approach has very little attraction for foreigners – although I am sure one or two will nevertheless sneak their way in somewhere. As it is stands, this Post Office is an oddity due to its “remote” location. However, the distance between Beijing and Alashan Left Banner (in Inner Mongolia) is only 928 miles – compared to the 9,000 miles that separates London from Britain’s furthest (remote) Post Office! This just goes to show the commercial power of “ideas” – as the Desert Post Office “sells” its remoteness – rather than quietly performing the task of being a functioning “Post Office”! Still, it will appear on various lists of “odd” or “strange” places in the world! ACW (14.4.2025)
The desert post office is specifically located at: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region-Alashan League-Alashan Left Banner-38.413°N, 105.225°E. It is located deep in the desert. For visitors who are unable to visit the Desert Post Office in person, they can also experience the unique charm of the Desert Post Office through its online services, such as mailing postcards, letters, and wishing bottles. For specific service details, please pay attention to the official flagship store and WeChat public account of a treasure in the desert post office.
The loneliest themed post office in the world, only 15 m² in size, brings greetings from the depths of the desert!
Written by The Bund-kun
They say that they did these things in the first place, but they actually did it for the word “healing”. The forest heals the desert, and the letter heals the heart. Nowadays, the greener the forest, the more frequent the letters. Desert-themed post offices may soon be no longer lonely.
The forest heals the desert
Letters heal hearts
In the vast Tengger Desert, there is a themed post office covering an area of only 15 square meters, which is known as the loneliest post office in the world.
Because of the poor signal and confusing environment, few tourists can find it by crossing the desert on their own.
But interestingly, for the past two years, people have been able to receive letters from this desert. In December last year alone, more than 20,000 postcards were sold.
Why is there a themed post office in such a barren desert? Who’s sending these postcards?
Looking at the date stamp with the words “Desert-Themed Post Office”, I was very curious to explore its story.
After 35 years of abandonment, the Post Office reappeared in the world!
The desert-themed post office is located in the hinterland of the Tengger Desert in the Alxa Left Banner region of China’s Inner Mongolia.
It is said to be a themed-post office, but it is actually a small shack meauring 5 metres long and 3 metres wide. In a desert with a total area of 43,000 square kilometres, its presence is significantly less than a grain of sand…
If you ask how long it has been independent in the desert, even the herders around it cannot remember.
I only know that the people who lived here in the past had no substantive transportation, and they had to rely on this small post office to establish contact with the outside world.
Later, perhaps due to the popularity of desert buggies and more ways for people to communicate with the outside world, the Post Office was abandoned 35 years ago (during 1987).
Lemon (柠檬 – Ning Men) was the first to propose to reopen this Post Office.
She likes to write letters, and her original dream was to open a Grocery Store. Because of her work, she often travels back and forth to the desert. When the herders told her about a small, dilapidated Post Office in the desert, she knew her dream had come true.
If you could reopen this Post Office and connect with the outside world in the depths of the desert, why not be a special Grocery Store?
Lemon’s colleague Lao Meng (老孟) found out about this idea – and enthusiastically agreed to contribute to its development!
Lao Meng is a native of Shaanxi Province and has lived in the desert for more than ten years.
Seeing that the Post Office hut was in disrepair and dilapidated by the wind and sun, Lao Meng and Lemon decided to rebuild a new desert-themed Post Office on the same site. With them were seven or eight young people.
Building a Post Office here is not an easy task.
The first challenge they encountered was transportation. Driving in the desert is called “sand washing”, because it is difficult to drive and expensive to transport goods, people, and products, etc.
Initially, they wanted to build a house in the interior and transport it into the desert in its entirety.
However, the size of the house was too large for a truck to pull into the desert and even if it was tried, it was very likely that it would fall apart during the sand washing.
They had to transport the building materials into the desert in batches and hire seven or eight workers to construct the building – on site.
The desert environment was harsh, and it took them 20 days to erect the hut.
When painting the roof LOGO, they were afraid the paint would not dry, so they had to operate according to the weather conditions, and it took 3 days to paint.
In the desert, it’s not enough to just build a house. If you want it not to be buried by wind and sand, you must refer to the traditional Chinese sand control method – using wheat straw squares.
Without wheatgrass, they opted for calcareous root tubes, which are a material that can be found directly in the desert.
They hiked for a long time, picked up calcareous root tubes, and then neatly spread them around the whole house, achieving the effects of windbreak and sand fixation.
The process of rebuilding the desert-themed Post Pffice took two or three months.
Many of the things in it were completed by Lao Meng himself, including the three green mailboxes outside the door, which he also painted and sign-posted by himself.
The desert-themed Post Office we see now is surrounded by a wooden structure, with three small windows open to the front of the house, whilst the General Staff sit in the small windows to talk to visitors.
The roof is covered with a green sheet of corrugated iron, and the four corners are fastened to the ground with anchoring-ropes to protect the structure from being blown away by strong winds.
After application and review, the desert-themed Post Office became one of more than 700 themed Post Offices in the National Postal System.
Every letter sent from here is stamped with a subject postmark with the date of the day and the words “Desert Themed Post Office”.
There is nothing that cannot be solved by a letter!
In a recent CCTV news report on the epidemic in Shanghai, Lemon saw a door-to-door food delivery volunteer who happened to be holding a postcard in his hand, and recognized it at a glance: “It was sent from us!”
Most of the letters at the desert-themed Post Office ware handled by Lemon, and she is quite familiar with each one.
Others say that there is nothing that cannot be solved by a hot pot, but in Lemon’s opinion, there is nothing that cannot be solved by a letter.
The desert-themed Post Office is located in a remote area, and when it was first reopened, it received almost no customers.
The wind rises and falls day by day – and the loneliness spreads in this huge desert.
Soon, Lemon realized that if the desert-themed Post Office wanted to play a greater role, it had to start an online writing and mailing business.
In this way, those who wish to send letters from the depths of the desert can do so without having to come to the Post Office in person.
This romance from afar attracts many people, especially during the epidemic when travel is inconvenient, and they think it is a very special expression of their hearts.
Some people want to send it to their lovers, some people want to send it to themselves, and some people want to send it to their children in 10 years time.
In the beginning, the volume of letters was not much. Lemon communicated with the sender about the current mood, state and style they want to embody, carefully help them conceive the content of the letter, and then ask a colleague with beautiful handwriting to help write it on her behalf.
During last year’s postgraduate examination season, many people poured out their hearts to the desert-themed Post Office, hoping to receive encouragement from the desert.
Lemon herself had been unsuccessful in the graduate school entrance examination for two years, and can still remember the breakdown at that stage, so she can especially understand the difficulties that these students are experiencing.
In the letters sent to them, in addition to comfort and encouragement, she always reminded: “Keep your love of life.”
“There are some things that a person must experience in the process of growing up, and as people we may have to suffer individual losses, suffer a little here and there, and take a detour – perhaps to better places. When in a state of crying and breaking down, if students could receive a handwritten postcard from the depths of the desert, it would be an expression of warmth and companionship that we can give.”
Since then, Lemon has become more and more aware that the desert-themed Post Office has the power to bring inner support to others. She decided to do a desert wishing bottle event to make the most of this power.
After the event was announced, Lemon received hundreds of wishes from all over the country, which far exceeded her expectations.
“Born free, loving and fearless.”
“Good health, peace and joy, graduate school ashore!”
“Lose weight! Make money! Find a partner! Be a super writer! ” ……
These wishes are written on strips of paper and placed into wishing bottles – then the bottles are hung around the outside of the desert-themed Post Office, swaying in the wind.
It’s not just a sense of ritual, she says, it’s a hope that people give themselves.
Recently, Lemon has received a lot of requests for letters from Shanghai on the Internet.
Someone wrote to in the form of a wish: “I hope that the epidemic will end as soon as possible and our lives can return to normal”.
Some people also wrote to their partners in long-distance relationships: “I miss you very much, we will be able to meet after the epidemic.”
Are these letters and vials really of any use? The person who receives and sends the letter has his own answer in his heart.
Plant 40,000 trees in a desert oasis!
Lao Meng spent the longest time at the desert-themed Post Office.
Since the reopening, he has stayed there from late Spring and has not evacuated until November.
In the harsh desert, the climate of about minus 10 degrees in November is already difficult to live, and Lao Meng can only wait for the weather to warm up next year before returning.
Lao Meng’s main job is to maintain the desert-themed Post Office. But in addition, he has been planting trees in a planned way for the past two years.
Five kilometres from the desert-themed Post Office is an oasis with many rare birds, as well as wild animals such as sand foxes and hedgehogs.
As the area of the oasis continues to shrink, the desert-themed Post Office has launched a tree-planting campaign. As long as you pay to adopt online, you can own a tree named after yourself.
They plan to plant 40,000 date trees in this oasis. Compared to the more common trees in the desert, the jujube tree grows taller and creates a better forest environment.
But at the same time, it is also more difficult to plant jujube trees. They had to bring back the saplings from the town of Gelantai, 180 kilometres away, to the edge of the desert and then use a six-wheel-drive truck to transport these saplings to the oasis.
It is difficult to plant trees in the desert, and it is even more difficult to maintain them, and the biggest difficulty is watering. To do this, they need to transport water to irrigate – needed 2~3 times a month, and the maintenance cost is very high.
By May 10 this year (2022), the desert-themed Post Office plans to plant more than 10,000 trees that have already been adopted.
In the future, they will continue to plant regardless of whether they are adopted or not.
They say that they did these things in the first place for “healing”. The forest heals the desert, and the letter heals the heart.
Nowadays, the greener the forest, the more frequent the letters.
The desert-themed Post Office may soon no longer be so lonely.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 