History of Chinese Stamps · Volume 3

Author: Editorial Committee of History of Chinese Stamps of the Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The outbreak of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution overthrew the corrupt Qing Dynasty, ending thousands of years of feudal monarchy. On January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-sen took the oath of office as the provisional president in Nanjing, proclaiming the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China. The Provisional Government established the Ministry of Communications to manage postal affairs. In April, according to the agreement between the northern and southern governments, the Nanjing Provisional Government moved to Beijing, and the Ministry of Communications merged with the Beijing Postal and Transportation Department, reorganizing the Ministry of Communications and its affiliated Postal General Administration of the Republic of China. From then until the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Postal General Administration, under the leadership of the Ministry of Communications, was responsible for managing national postal affairs and stamp issuance. During this period, Chinese postal services were marked as "Provisional Postal Administration of the Republic of China," abbreviated as "Provisional Postal Administration." History of Chinese Stamps, Volume 3 records the issuance of postal materials by the Provisional Postal Administration during the early years of the Republic of China (1912.1—1937.7). This volume objectively introduces the historical background, types, characteristics, quantities, and printing processes of Provisional Postal Administration stamps during this period. It also reveals, from a certain perspective, the changes in the country's economy, politics, science, culture, social spirit, and its important position in the history of Chinese stamps. The early years of the Republic of China, though only 26 years long, underwent three phases: the Nanjing Provisional Government, the Beijing Government, and the Nanjing Government. This period was marked by political instability in modern Chinese history, intense national and class conflicts, and relentless warfare among various military and political factions, leading to widespread suffering among the people. Against this complex political backdrop, the Provisional Postal Administration, drawing on the experiences and lessons of the Imperial Chinese Postal Service, took positive measures, leading to relatively healthy and rapid development.
On January 1, 1913, the Republic of China government officially announced the "Abolition of Relay Stations and Integration into Postal Services," bringing all government document delivery under the postal system. On March 1, 1914, China officially joined the Universal Postal Union, achieving equal exchanges between modern Chinese postal services and the global postal system, allowing newly issued Provisional Postal Administration stamps to be valid worldwide. On February 1, 1922, the Pacific Conference passed a resolution to abolish the "Foreign Postal Agencies" in China. By December 1922, postal offices of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries in China were all closed (excluding Japan in Manchuria and Britain in Tibet). On June 6, 1928, the Beiyang Government collapsed, the Beijing Postal General Administration was abolished, and national postal authority was unified. In 1934, the Nationalist Government, citing the rationale that letter delivery was a state monopoly, ordered the closure of all local letter delivery services. By then, Chinese postal services were unified, the postal communication market was exclusively owned by the state postal service, and the exclusive right to deliver postal letters was confirmed.
With the development of the Provisional Postal Administration and changes in its management system, the stamps issued by it exhibited a clear degree of autonomy compared to the imperialist-controlled stamps of the Qing Dynasty. The topics, designs, printing, and issuance of stamps gradually became standardized, with strict review and management systems established. The variety of stamps met the needs of social communication and collectors, while also increasing postal revenue and state treasury income.
During the 26 years of the early Republic of China, the Provisional Postal Administration issued over 70 sets of various stamps, including regular, commemorative, airmail, famine relief surcharge, underpaid, express, and provincial-use stamps. In addition to stamps, the Provisional Postal Administration also issued regular postal postcards, commemorative postal postcards, postal envelopes, and stamp albums (later called miniature sheets).
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this volume are arranged chronologically. Chapter 1 covers the "Year 1 of the Republic of China," focusing on the dispute over the right of use of dragon-cancel stamps and the simultaneous issuance of two sets of stamps on December 15, 1912, to commemorate the founding of the Republic of China: the "Provisional Republic of China Restoration Commemorative Stamp" featuring Sun Yat-sen and the "Provisional Republic of China Republican Commemorative Stamp" featuring Yuan Shikai. Chapter 2 covers the "Beiyang Government" period, highlighting the regular stamp (sailboat design) issued in 1913 with the inscription of the Republic of China, as well as commemorative stamps such as "Provisional Republic of China Republican," "25th Anniversary of the Opening of the Provisional Postal Administration," "Constitution," and "Appointment of the Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy." These commemorative stamps, along with other unissued or proposed "National Foundation Commemorative" stamps, and stamps commemorating the appointments of Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, and others, genuinely reflected the historical traces of major political changes at the time. Chapter 3 covers the "Nanjing Government" period, focusing on regular stamps featuring Sun Yat-sen and martyrs, as well as major commemorative stamps issued around the same time, including the Sun Yat-sen National Funeral Commemorative Stamp, Tan Yankai Commemorative Stamp, Northwest Scientific Expedition Commemorative Stamp, New Life Movement Commemorative Stamp, and the 40th Anniversary of the Opening of the Provisional Postal Administration Commemorative Stamp. These commemorative stamps featured exquisite designs, some using multi-color printing, making them highly sought after by stamp collectors for exchange and gifting. It is worth noting that the design of the Tan Yankai Commemorative Stamp broke the traditional practice of having borders on all stamps, making the theme more prominent and pioneering a new style for future stamp designs.
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 are arranged by theme. Chapter 4 covers provincial-use stamps. Due to national conditions and historical reasons, the Republic of China did not implement a unified currency system nationwide. To prevent speculation and ensure normal social communication needs, the Provisional Postal Administration issued multiple sets of provincial-use stamps starting in 1915, such as "Provincial Use for Xin Province" regular stamps, "Provincial Use for Xin Province" commemorative stamps, "Provincial Use for Xin Province 'Temporary as' Airmail" stamps, "Official Document Use" stamps, "Provincial Use for Guangxi and Guizhou" stamps, "Provincial Use for Yunnan" stamps, "Provincial Use for Sichuan" stamps, and "Provincial Use for Jilin and Heilongjiang" stamps. Chapter 5 covers Tibetan regional stamps. Chapter 6 covers postal postcards, postal envelopes, and stamp albums. Most stamps issued during the early Republic of China were printed by the Beijing Finance Ministry Printing Bureau. This bureau introduced significant changes in stamp topics, designs, formats, colors, and printing techniques compared to the Qing Dynasty stamps, offering a fresh and innovative look.
This volume is the third in the History of Chinese Stamps series and specifically covers the upper part of the Provisional Postal Administration history of the Republic of China. However, since Tibetan regional stamps are not discussed in subsequent volumes, events after 1937 are also included in Chapter 5 of this volume to maintain relative completeness.