History of Chinese Stamps (Volume 2)

Author: Editorial Committee of the History of Chinese Stamps, Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The History of Chinese Stamps, Volume 2 records the issuance of stamps during the period of the Imperial Chinese Post Office, covering the years from 1896 to 1911. It includes items such as the Wan Shou and Xiao Long overprinted value stamps, the Hong Yang overprinted temporary use stamps, the Japanese and London editions of the Dragon stamps, the Xuantong commemorative stamps, as well as postal items like unpaid postage stamps, express mail stamps, prepaid postcards, and the Dragon overprinted for Tibet use. When the Imperial Chinese Post Office was established on March 20, 1896 (the seventh day of the second month in the 22nd year of the Guangxu reign), China was in the midst of a crisis-ridden semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The major powers were intensifying their scramble for China, and the Qing Dynasty was facing internal and external difficulties, teetering on the brink of collapse. Shortly after its establishment, Britain and France engaged in fierce competition over the appointment of postal officials, directly impacting China's entry into the Universal Postal Union. The political instability and frequent institutional changes during the late Qing Dynasty, with the responsibility for customs (and postal) affairs shifting from the Imperial Household Department to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then to the Taxation Supervision Office, and finally to the Ministry of Posts and Communications, introduced numerous uncertainties into postal development. The issuance of stamps for China's modern national postal service began in such a complex background.
The Imperial Chinese Post Office was established by emulating the postal systems of Western countries (primarily Britain). In the decade following its founding, it was still managed by the customs. Under the historical conditions of the time, it was only through the organizational framework and necessary resources provided by the customs that the national postal service could survive and gradually grow, competing against the "guest posts" of foreign powers and domestic private letter carriers, despite lacking dedicated funding and professional expertise. From the perspective of stamp issuance and management, the Imperial Chinese Post Office had three significant impacts on later postal practices: First, it established a vertical, centralized management system. This mechanism, derived from the customs organization, facilitated the planning of postal expansion nationwide, laying a foundation for the orderly and effective conduct of stamp issuance, which aligns with the inherent requirements of stamp issuance for information flow and strict adherence to orders. Second, it formulated relatively comprehensive rules and regulations. The Imperial Chinese Post Office drafted the Regulations for the Management of Stamps of the Ministry of Posts, participated in formulating the Criminal Code for Counterfeiting Stamps of the Ministry of Posts, and established specific rules for stamp storage, handling, issuance, accounting, and use, which were later adopted by postal authorities in subsequent periods. Third, it issued stamps and postal items based on the needs of postal services. The Imperial Chinese Post Office created many "firsts" in the history of Chinese stamps, such as the first batch of overprinted value stamps, the first official commemorative stamp series with issuance regulations, the first set of unpaid postage stamps, the first express mail stamps, and the first set of prepaid postcards. The successes and failures in the issuance of stamps by the Imperial Chinese Post Office provided valuable lessons for later generations to learn from.
The editorial style of this volume is similar to that of the first volume. Chapter 1 introduces the postal situation, briefly outlining the establishment of the Imperial Chinese Post Office and the background of postal development essential for understanding stamp issuance, such as the official operation dates of postal offices in various regions, strategies for dealing with "guest posts" and private letter carriers, an overview of postal expansion, and the evolution of postal management. This chapter also dedicates a section to introducing and analyzing the regulations of the Imperial Chinese Post Office concerning stamp management and usage. Chapters 2 to 8 describe the various stamp series and postal items in chronological order, covering the reasons for their design and printing, the characteristics of their designs, the processes of plate making and printing, as well as their issuance and usage. Issues closely related to stamp issuance, such as currency value changes, postal rate adjustments, and printing techniques, are discussed in each chapter in relation to specific stamps. The design features of stamp plates, differences in perforations, and variations in paper quality are generally not elaborated on excessively. The overprinted value stamps issued starting in 1897 are relatively rich in content and are introduced in two chapters (Chapters 2 and 3). The Dragon stamps, officially printed by the Imperial Chinese Post Office after its establishment, were produced in Japan and Britain with different printing techniques, leading to greater differences in their issuance and usage, so they are also covered in two chapters (Chapters 4 and 5). The Xuantong commemorative stamps, unpaid postage stamps, express mail stamps, prepaid postcards, and the Dragon overprinted for Tibet use are relatively independent in content and are discussed in Chapters 6, 7, and 8, respectively.
The stamps issued by the Imperial Chinese Post Office have been nearly a century old. Although some official documents have been published, their quantity is far insufficient to meet the needs of writing the history of stamps. During the compilation of this volume, a number of previously unused archival documents were discovered, including private and official correspondence of individuals involved in the production of the Japanese Dragon stamps and the late Qing prepaid postcards, as well as exchanges of official documents between the Customs Printing Bureau regarding the printing techniques and prices of the London Dragon stamps, changes in ink colors, the addition of new face values, and the overprinting of unpaid postage stamps. These archival materials provide rich details about the printing and issuance of the Dragon stamps, allowing for the correction of long-standing popular misconceptions. Regarding stamps from this period, especially the Wan Shou, Xiao Long overprinted value stamps, Hong Yang overprinted temporary use stamps, and late Qing postal items, stamp collectors and researchers from China and abroad have extensively gathered physical evidence and documentary records, conducting meticulous studies that have yielded substantial and convincing results. The relevant sections of this volume have carefully selected and incorporated these findings. Additionally, this volume has extracted a wealth of related materials from old stamp catalogs, letter collections, scholarly works, and articles in postal journals to cross-reference with archival documents and existing, providing a more detailed and comprehensive discussion of long-standing issues in stamp and postal history research, such as the relationship between "IPC" and "PIC," the 110 watermarked paper stored by the Customs Printing Bureau, the "Beihai stamps," "Morandoff stamps," and "Hurricane stamps," as well as the ink colors of the London Dragon 5-cent stamp.