Photo: CFP

Scented and meticulously decorated China's first set of  "talking multimedia stamps"  celebrating the Tang Dynasty (618,907) collection of 300 poems was launched in select cities this month.

Six works by classical poetry giants including Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi are printed on six stamps centered on a 13.5 x 22.0 centimeter sheet, accented with traditional Chinese paintings in black and gold ink and perfumed with sandalwood.

The set is literally a "book" of stamps, as the surrounding page contains the remaining 307 Tang poems, printed so small a 10x magnifying glass is required to read them. Each of the 25,000 total mini-characters measures about half the area of the tip of a ballpoint pen.

In order to make the stamps "talk," an accompanying special issued digital pen is required.

When touched to the stamp' s surface, the pen plays recordings of the printed poem, each read by different famous Chinese actors.

The stamps were launched in 27 cities around the country and cost 9.3 yuan ($1.36) for the set. And, yes, in addition to their cultural use, they can also be used for postage. 

www.chinanews.com