Last weekend I went to meet Taiwan’s newest celebrities, Xiao Hong (Little Red) and Xiao Lu (Little Green).
A quaint fallout from Typhoon Soudelor, Little Red and Little Green are two mailboxes that were hit with a falling sign, leaving them at a parallel, whimsical angle. Thanks to social media, their fame has quickly spread, and because an aspect of the postal service is now of interest to people outside of its purely practical function, Chunghwa Post has decided to leave them as they are. There are plans for a commemorative plaque, as well as possible merchandise, if the fascination continues.
Wanting to squeeze as much Taiwanese culture as I can into my last few weeks here, I decided to go visit them. Sure enough, at about 11am on a Sunday, there was a line of people waiting to take pictures with the now quizzical letter receptors. When it was my turn, I casually leaned against the red box, only to have a uniformed attendant rush up to me, proclaiming, “No touching, no touching!” (It was a pretty Arrested Development moment). I hastily adopted a free-standing stance and a nice couple snapped a picture for me.
While I clearly fed into the obsession myself by visiting them and taking pictures, I can’t help but be amused by the whole situation, especially the Taiwanese desire to anthropomorphize objects. A quick Google search will already show you dozens of photos of fans posing cutely and creatively with the new celebrities.
Although they are now officially a tourist (and local) attraction, they are still functioning postal boxes, and are apparently always stuffed with mail now. Letters that are mailed through them will even receive a unique stamp from the post office.
I will definitely miss you, Taiwan.
Going Out Your Door 