Post office for carrier opens

People wait to buy postal products at the post office serving China's first aircraft carrier in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sept 29. Yu Fangping / for China Daily

Qingdao facility handles about 100 letters, packages from crew daily.

The first post office to serve China's aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, has been opened in Qingdao.

Located in Huangdao district, the facility already has three workers and handles letters and packages sent by crewmembers.

Qingdao, a coastal city in eastern Shandong province, has many important naval bases, including China's first and only aircraft carrier bay.

"Since Sept 29, when we began operation, we've handled about 100 letters and packages daily from the carrier," said manager Meng Qingbing.

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He said the post office is also responsible for developing stamps, postmarks and other philatelic products about the carrier.

The Liaoning has served for a year in the People's Liberation Army navy, after being commissioned on Sept 25 last year. It marked China as the 10th country to have an aircraft carrier in active service.

During the past year, the carrier has taken part in a number of military training and test operations.

In November, China's first carrier-borne fighter jet, the J-15, successfully conducted its first takeoff and landing. Three months later, the Liaoning launched its first weapons test and then docked at its new home, the naval port in Qingdao.

The carrier finished its third test operation last month.

This is not the first time China has opened a post office dedicated to a specific theme.

A deep-sea post office was established in Qingdao in June last year to honor the commencement of the 7,000-meter dive tests for the Jiaolong, a manned deep-sea submersible.

China Post also opened a space post office, and appointed as its head Yang Liwei, the nation's first astronaut, who went into space in 2003.