Taiwan Today

Dispatch of letters over long distances is almost as old as civilization. The successors of Cyrus had a postal service in Persia. One "letter bill" still survives from the Ptolemy period in Egypt. Roman posts linked a huge region from the Middle East to Britannia, only to go into eclipse as barbarism swept across Europe.

China's known beginnings of special dispatches are almost as old. Some 2,000 years ago, the emperors of ancient Cathay had developed a system of couriers called I Chan, or pony stations. When attached to an official communication, a slightly burned rooster feather indicated the message was of extreme urgency. Such special delivery letters of the time could be carried over a distance of more than 200 miles in 14 hours.

Private letter-carrying as a Chinese business began in the early 15th century. By the 18th century, the "letter hong" had grown into quite elaborate organizations, with connecting routes stretching across China's vast territory. But neither the official courier system nor the private letter carriers bore exact resemblance to a modern postal service. That-allimportant symbol—the postage stamp—was missing.

The Manchu Empire suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Western powers in the second half of the 19th century. With the opening of treaty ports and foreign concessions, Western consulates set up their own post offices and even issued crudely printed stamps. For a brief period, the post offices of five countries were operating in Shanghai, clearly violating Chinese territorial integrity.

The Chinese postal service began unofficially under this foreign pressure. In 1866, the tsung li ke kuo shih wu ya men (roughly equivalent to a foreign ministry) ordered the Inspector-General of Customs to undertake the transport of foreign legation and consulate mails between the port of Tientsin and Peking, then the imperial capital. In 1876, the Imperial Maritime Customs set up a Postal Department accepting mails to and from various consulates in the treaty ports. On March 23, 1878, this department began to accept Chinese civilian mails from Tientsin to Peking via a mounted courier service, marking the humble beginning of the postal service in China.

Not only were the early customers mainly foreigners. An Englishman, Sir Robert Hart, Inspector-General of Customs, was responsible for the postal service in its early stage. It was also in 1878 that China issued its first stamps, designed by H. B. Morse, an American serving with the Customs.

The exact date of issue is not known. Printed by the Customs Statistical Department in Shanghai, the "large dragons," as it was later called in contrast with the "small dragons" issue of 1885, came in a set of three: 1 candarin in green, 3 candarins in dark red, and 5 candarins in orange yellow. One candarin represented one hundredth of one tael (1.33 ounces) of silver. For each denomination, 1,000 sheets of 25 stamps were printed, with a total value of 2,250 taels.

The dragon was chosen because it had been, since time immemorial, the emblem of China's emperors. The imperial flag of the Manchu dynasty was adorned by a dragon. Unlike its image in Western fairy tales, the dragon was the king of all seas in Chinese legend, the maker of rain and storm and hurricane. Because of its design, in early days the stamp was known to Chinese as lung tou, or "dragon's head." The term yu piao. literally "postage stamp," came only later.

The "large dragons" underwent several reprinting after its issuance. The "small dragons," launched in 1885, was distinguished by the smaller size of the design, finer lines and the watermark of tai chi, a diagram of the yin and yang elements which the Chinese believed form the basis of everything in the universe. Tai chi has been the center design of the Korean national flag since 1945.

The first set of commemorative stamps was issued on November 16, 1894, the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi. But the Chinese postal service came into being only two years later. A full 18 years after the issuance of the first stamp, in a surge of demand for political reform after the disastrous Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Emperor Kuang Hsu approved on March 20, 1896, the setting up of the Chinese Imperial Post. March 20 has since been celebrated as Postal Service Day in China.

On February 20, 1897, the Chinese postal service was actually separated from the maritime customs and came into its own. With it came the monetary reform. The old system of tael, mace and candarin of silver gave way to dollar, chiao and cent. The change was promptly reflected in the stamps. Officials hastily pulled out customs revenue stamps and surcharged them with the words Ta Ching Yu Chen (Chinese Imperial Post) and the temporary face value in the new currency. The size of China made it necessary for many provinces to issue their own surcharges. This period of confusion also gave birth to some of the most treasured stamps in Chinese philatelic history.

Probably the most famous of Chinese stamps was the small-lettered one dollar surcharge on 3-cent red revenue stamp. It was believed that only 50 were issued, and less than 35 pieces are extant today. A conservative estimate is that each piece is worth at least US$1,500. A block of four of these stamps, the only one known existing today, was sold in 1946 for US$21,000 by the late M. D. Chow, nicknamed "king" of Chinese philatelists. It is now in the collection of Allen Gokson, a Chinese in San Francisco.

The first stamps issued by the Chinese Imperial Post were put on sale on August 16, 1897. A set of 12 with face value ranging from half a cent to five dollars, the three principal designs, drawn by Frenchman R. A. de Villard, were the dragon, the jumping carp and the flying goose. The latter two were chosen because they figured prominently in Chinese classics as the carriers of good tidings. Nobody dreamed to put the portrait of the empress dowager or the emperor on the stamp, for fear that it would be an affront to the royal house.

The revolution of 1911 established the Republic of China, and out went the dragons. Still, during the early years of the Republic, the designs lacked imagination and there were few commemorative issues. For years a junk on the Yangtze River graced most letter covers. Historical sites in Peiping were used, including the Hall of Classics and the Altar of Heaven.

 

 

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, father of the Republic and first provisional president, became the first Chinese whose portrait was used on a stamp, the 12-piece national revolution commemorative issue of 1912. However, the issuance of this set was delayed until December 14 of that year so that another set, bearing the portrait of Yuan Shih-kai in commemoration of the founding of the republic, could be released at the same time. Yuan, who was elected the first president, is a familiar figure to students of modern Chinese history for his abortive attempt to make himself the emperor in 1916. His reign lasted only 83 days and he died in the same year.

English was used alongside Chinese on all early stamps. Those issued before the revolution bore the words "China", "Chinese Empire" or "Chinese Imperial Post"; while those after 1911 continued to use "The Republic of China" in addition to Chung Hua Min Kuo Yu Cheng (Republic of China Postage). This was first dropped in 1921 with the 25th anniversary of postal service commemorative issue, bearing the portrait of President Hsu Shih-chang, Prime Minister Chin Yun-peng and Minister of Communications Yeh Kung-cho. Only the word "cents" remained after denominating figures. This last vestige was shed in 1931 with the first London print of Dr. Sun Yat-sen issue. Thereafter, all stamps used arabic figures and Chinese denominators. English was used very rarely on commemorative issues, such as those for World Refugee Year, the United Nations or ILO.

The first airmail stamps were issued on July 1, 1921, to mark the opening of the. Peiping-Tsinan section of the Peiping-Shanghai civil aviation line. The design was a biplane flying above the Great Wall. Postagedue stamps were first issued in 1904. China's first charity stamps, surcharged on the junk issue, were released in 1920, and the field post stamps, also surcharges, in 1941.

Counting the years when it was a branch of the customs, the Chinese postal service will be 84 years old on March 20, 1962. In all these years, more than 300 sets of stamps were issued. The Scott's Catalogue lists 52 Chinese stamps each worth US$100 or more, with an aggregate value of US$11,125.

Early Chinese philatelic writers spoke of the "four treasures" in Chinese stamps. Contemporary collectors, however, contend that two of the four, being errors in printing, do not qualify under scrutiny. Anyway, the four considered to be the most treasured of Chinese stamps are:

* Original 3-cent customs revenue stamp of 1896, vermilion red in color.

* Small-lettered one-dollar surcharge on the above, issued in 1897.

* Five-dollar inverted surcharge on the same stamp, issued in 1897.

* Two-dollar, black and blue, center inverted, of first Peiping print, Hall of Classics issue, 1915.

The stories of some of the less-expensive stamps are more interesting.

Of historical value was the provisional neutrality issue. Following the revolution of 1911, a number of provinces declared themselves independent of the Manchu Empire. The postal service used the dragon, jumping carp and flying goose stamps by overprinting them with four Chinese characters horizontally, lin shih chung li. The words, literally "provisional neutrality," meant neutrality between the Manchu government and the revolutionary forces.

When Emperor Hsuan Tung abdicated and the republic became a reality, the postal service made another vertical overprint, Chung Hua Min Kuo (Republic of China), on those stamps already surcharged with lin shih chung li. Thus it became the Republic of China and provisional neutrality issue, making less sense than the first one. Only limited numbers were sold in Hankow, Nanking and Changsha before these double overprints, forming a cross on the stamp, were suspended from sale.

The size of China and the varying currencies used in one time or another made it necessary for the postal service to issue regional overprints. There were numerous surcharges limited for use in Tibet, Sinkiang Yunnan, Szechuan, the Northeastern Provinces and Taiwan.

The currency unit on Chinese stamps changed from tael, through silver dollar, fa pi (legal tender), gold yuan, to New Taiwan dollar. The highest denomination of Chinese stamps ever issued was the $5,000,000 fa pi stamp, in violet, of the 3rd Shanghai Dah Tung print of Dr. Sun Yat-sen issue. Issued in 1948, even this soon proved inadequate during the period of runaway inflation prior to the fall of the Chinese mainland, so a set of unit postage stamps were issued in May, 1949. They had no face values, but were to be sold at the price of the day for one unit of domestic ordinary letter postage, airmail, registration or registration express.

Philately is enjoying new popularity in free China. There are an estimated 100,000 collectors on Taiwan alone, or about one to every 100 persons. Students, servicemen, white-collar workers and professional men predominate among this number. In addition to the China Philatelic Society (P.O. Box 18, Taipei), there are dozens of local clubs. At least six newspapers carry daily philatelic columns. The China Philatelic Society publishes a monthly bulletin, in addition to over ten weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies and bi-monthlies put out by local clubs.

In March, 1956, the China Philatelic Society cooperated with the government in holding the 60th Anniversary of Postal Service Exhibition. Some 170,000 persons saw the two-week display of Chinese and foreign stamps as well as other items showing postal facilities and progress. A complete catalogue of Chinese stamps from 1878 to 1957 was published in separate Chinese and English editions by the Directorate General of Posts. Annual supplements have since been issued. The philatelic department of the Directorate General of Posts has also been active in serving the needs of domestic and foreign collectors.

Improvement in printing techniques gave Chinese stamps a new look, starting with the President Chiang Kai-shek second issue of October, 1955, printed in three colors by photogravure. The famous insects and orchids stamps, totaling 10 pieces, were chosen by Life magazine in February, 1960, as among the world's most beautiful stamps. Four ancient Chinese paintings between the 7th and 11th centuries were made into stamps in their original colors. One of these, Han Kan's "Two Horses and a Groom," was used on the cover of the September, 1960, issue of London's The Stamp Magazine. Eighteen art treasure stamps, including reproductions of bronze, porcelain and jade pieces in gorgeous color, are being issued in batches of three. They are already coveted everywhere around the world. The golden anniversary issue of the Republic of China also attracted worldwide attention.

On the Cover

1. 50th National Day issue: Portraits of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and President Chiang Kai-shek. 2. 50th National Day issue: Chinese national flag flying over the country. 3. 100th anniversary of Jeme Tien Youe, founder of the Chinese Institute of Engineers who built the Peiping-Kalgan railway. 4. Ancient Paintings issue: "Two Horses and a Groom" by Han Kan of Tang dynasty. 5. Ancient Paintings issue: "Flowers and Birds" by Hsiao Yung of Liao. 6. Industry issue: Kaohsiung Petroleum Refinery. 7. Industry issue: Taiwan Aluminum Corporation. 8. Scenery issue: Green Lake, near Taipei. 9. Art Treasures issue: Earl of Chen's bronze vessel of the Period of Warring States. 10. Art Treasures issue: Duke of Mao's bronze tripod of Chou dynasty. 11. Art Treasures issue: Perforated jade tube of Chou dynasty. 12. Sea-gull airmail. 13. Insects issue: Papilio memnon. 14. Insects issue: Euchirus mecleayi. 15. 10th anniversary of Chinese Women's Anti-Aggression League issue: Mme. Chiang Kai-shek. 16. Offshore islands issue: Map showing position of Quemoy and Matsu in relation to Taiwan. 17. 40th anniversary of civil aviation issue: CAT "Mandarin jet" airliner. 18. Mail order issue: Live lobsters can be ordered by mail in Taiwan. 19. Flowers issue: Laelia-cattleya or Mme. Chiang Kai-shek Orchidaceae. 20. Opening of East-West Highway issue. 21. Offshore island issue: Mt. Taiwu on Quemoy, rock bears inscription by President Chiang urging mainland recovery.