There is a growing trend in China to commercialize cultural intellectual property. The latest example is the costume TV series “The Story of Minglan”, which has been a hit recently among TV audiences. This series, set during the Northern Song dynasty, has been adapted from the novel “Don’t you know? The green should be plump and the red lean” by Guanxin Zeluan and premiered on December 25, 2018. 

The postal office has been staged like the Sheng Family’s house (where the story unfolds in this drama)

On January 15, the first postal offices themed on this drama were unveiled in Shanghai at the Xuhui Post Branch Bureau (105 Tianyaoqiao Road) and the Longmen Road Post Branch Bureau (156 Liulin Road). The props, scenes and costumes designed for the drama can be seen everywhere inside the two postal offices, which have already wooed many customers and TV drama lovers.

The ritual game of pitch-pot, which was popular in the Song Dynasty and appears quite often in this drama

A demonstration of tea whisking in a Song-style tea ceremony

Costumes used in this drama

The postal offices also offer a lot of postal souvenirs related to the drama for customers to buy. The souvenirs include limited editions of postal cards, stamp presentation packs and postmark collection gift sets.

The themed postal cards

The stamp presentation pack contains a set of 8 drama-themed stamps, a set of Song Lyrics stamps, Wild Goose stamps and Chinese Flowering Apple stamps

The themed postmark collection gift set

There are more themed souvenirs to choose from apart from the postal products, including throw pillows and beautiful teacups.