QINGDAO Postal and Telecommunications Museum will be established in a German-style building this week, and will open to the public in October.

    The building was constructed in 1901 by a trading company. In 1905, it was turned into a German post office. Many years later, it became Qingdao Post Office. The house itself is said to have witnessed Qingdao’s postal history.

    The 1,500-square-meter three-story museum will exhibit more than 100 telephone sets from different ages and countries.

    Visitors will be able to try out the crank telephones used in the 1920s and 1930s, the process of sending a telegram, and see the office of the head of the telephone bureau in 1923 and brush-written official documents.

    Qingdao Postal and Telecommunications Museum will be the first of its kind in the country to combine post and telecommunications. It will also be the first of its kind to record postal heritage combined with the city’s development and people’s lives.

    China’s postal history can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The postal industry established by Germany in Qingdao can be considered part of China’s postal origin.

    It is said that the original design of the building was drawn up by a German architect with reference to the Gothic-style buildings in northern Germany. The Qingdao government tried to locate the original designs in an attempt to reproduce them, to no avail. The government reproduced the building’s look using photographs and other records.

    (Jane Lai, Li Wei)