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The Qing Empire's Last Flowering: The expansion of China's Post Office at the turn of the twentieth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2015

WEIPIN TSAI
WEIPIN TSAI*
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Great Qing Imperial Post Office was set up in 1896, soon after the First Sino-Japanese War. It provided the first national postal service for the general public in the whole of Chinese history, and was a symbol of China's increasing engagement with the rest of the globe. Much of the preparation for the launch was carried out by the high-ranking foreign staff of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, an influential institution established after the first Opium War.

With a mission to promote modernization and project Qing power, the Imperial Post Office was established with a centrally controlled set of unified methods and procedures, and its success was rooted in integration with the new railway network, a strategy at the heart of its ambitious plans for expansion. This article explores the history of this postal expansion through railways, the use of which allowed its creators to plan networks in an integrated way—from urban centres on the coasts and great rivers through to China's interior.

Type
FORUM: Communications Networks in Modern China
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 895 - 930
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

1 Gustav Detring, Commissioner of Tianjin, letter to Robert Hart, IG of the Customs, 4 January 1894, Second Historical Archives of China in Nanjing (SHAC hereafter) 679 (2) 1935.

2 Francis Aglen, Acting Commissioner of Tianjin Customs, to IG, 29 October 1896, SHAC 679 (2) 1936.

3 Ibid.

4 Tsai, Weipin, ‘Breaking the Ice: the Establishment of Overland Winter Postal Routes in the Late Qing China’, Modern Asian Studies, 47:06 (November 2013), pp. 1749–1781CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Ladds, Catherine, Empire Careers: Working for the Chinese Customs Service, 1854–1949 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; van de Ven, Hans, Breaking with the Past: The Maritime Customs Service and the Global Origins of Modernity in China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014)Google Scholar; Chang, Chihyun, Government, Imperialism and Nationalism in China: The Maritime Customs Service and its Chinese Staff (London: Routledge, 2013)Google Scholar; Brunero, Donna, Britain's Imperial Cornerstone in China: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, 1854–1949 (London: Routledge, 2006)Google Scholar.

6 The native letter hongs, discussed in detail below, existed before the Imperial Post Office and were the traditional means by which mail and parcels for the general public were transmitted.

7 Wenpeng, Liu, Qingdai yichuan ji qi yu jiangyu xingcheng guanxi zhi yanjiu (Study of the Military Mail Service of the Qing Dynasty, and its Relationship with Imperial Boundaries) (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2004), pp. 26–27Google Scholar; Tieji, Xiong, ‘Qindai de youchuan zhidu (The Mail System of Qin Dynasty)’, Xueshu yanjiu (Academic Research) (April 1979), pp. 92–96Google Scholar.

8 Liu, Qingdai yichuan ji qi yu jiangyu xingcheng guanxi zhi yanjiu, pp. 275–280.

9 ‘Report on the Working of the Post Office’, Return of Trade and Trade Reports, 1905, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1906, Chinese version, p. 2.

10 Yingtian, Peng, Minxinjü fazhanshi: Zhongguode minjian tongxun shiye (The Development of Native Letter Hongs: The Communication Business in Chinese Society) (Taipei: Zhongguo wenhua daxue chubanbu, 1991), pp. 82–98Google Scholar. The terms used to refer to native letter hongs between the late Qing and the early Republican periods included xinjü, minjü, minxinjü, xinzhan, lunchuanjü, and pijü, pixinjü, etc.

11 ‘Report on the Working of the Post Office’, p. 5. Yanxing (pen name of Pan Ansheng), Zhonghua youzheng fazhanshi (The Developing History of Chinese Postal Service) (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu yinshuguan, 1994), pp. 239–242.

12 For this part of Ming social history, see Chen Yuh-neu, ‘Wanming sengsu wanglai shuxin zhong de duihua keti: xinshi, jiashi, guanchangshi (From the Dialogues in the Letters between Buddhist Monks and Believers in the Late Ming: Personal, Family and Official Affairs)’, Xuanzhuang foxue yanjiu (Hsuan Chuang Journal of Buddhism), issue 14 (September 2010), pp. 89–134; Chen Hong-Qi, ‘Liuxing yu xiaofei—lun wanming chidu shangpin de jieshou ji shengchan (Trends and Consumption: On the Acceptance and Production of Epistolary Commodities in Late Ming Period)’, Zhongji xuekan, issue 7 (June 2008), pp. 45–69; Hung-Tai Wang, ‘Yasu de bianzheng: Mingdai shangwan wenhua de liuxing yu shishang guanxi de cuoza (Between Ya “Refinement” and Su “Vulgarity”: The Popularization of Connoisseurship Culture in the Late Ming)’, Xin shixue (New History Journal), 7:4 (2006), pp. 73–134; Jen-Shu Wu, ‘Wanming de lüyou huodong yu xiaofei wenhua: yi jiangnan wei taolun zhongxin (Travel and Consumption Culture in Late Ming China: A Case Study of the Jiangnan Region)’, Jindaishi yanjiusuo jikan (Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica), issue 41 (September 2003), pp. 87–143; Brook, Timothy, The Confusions of Pleasure (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999), pp. 58–63Google Scholar.

13 Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, pp. 186–189.

14 Dongdong, Wu, ‘Qianjia nianjian Huishang Wangshi xinzha de zhengli ji yanjiu jiazhi (Collation and Research Value of Wang's Letters, Huizhou Merchant in Qianlong and Jiaqing Period, as titled by the author)’, Anhui shifan daxue xuebao (Journal of Anhui Normal University, Humanities and Social Science), 40:1 (January 2012), pp. 12–16Google Scholar. See also Zhenzhong, Wang, Qianshan xiyang (Sunset in Thousand Mountains) (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2007), pp. 79–82Google Scholar.

15 Wang Tengjiao to his mother, letters 18, 19, and 22, Sanshi shouze shuxinji (Letters of Three Generations Collection), Shexian Archives Q306–4–017. The precise dates of the letters are usually unknown and their numbering is the work of archivists. See also Wu Dongdong, ‘Huishang jiating shenghuo tanwei: yi Huishang Wangshi xinhan wei zhongxin (Exploration of Huizhou Merchants’ Family Life: Focusing on Huizhou Merchant Wang's Letters’ (title supplied by Wu Dongdong), MA thesis, Anhui University, 2012.

16 Wang Tengjiao to his mother, letters 17 and 23, Sanshi shouze shuxinji, Shexian Archives Q306–4–017; see also Zhenzhong, Wang, ‘Huishang yu Qing Minguo shiqi de xinke yu xinjü (Hui Merchants and Messengers and Native Letter Hongs in Qing and Republican Periods’, in Tianyu, Feng (ed.), Renwen luntan (The Humanities Journal) (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue chubanshe, 2002), pp. 298–300Google Scholar.

17 China's population increased from 311,500,000 in 1776 to 383,100,000 in 1820 and to 436,100,000 by 1851. See Shuji, Cao, Zhongguo renkoushi (The History of Chinese Populations), Volume 5: Qing Period (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 1997), p. 832Google Scholar.

18 Jiangsu province's population increased from 31.4 million in 1787 to 44.2 in 1850; Zhejiang from 21.7 million in 1787 to 30 in 1850; Anhui from 28.9 in 1787 to 37.6 in 1850; and Canton from 16.0 million in 1787 to 28.2 in 1850. See Ho, Ping-ti, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China: Aspects of Social Mobility, 1368–1911 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962), p. 223Google Scholar.

19 Yiling, Fu, Mingqing nongcun shehui jingji bianqianlun (On Socio-economic Changes in Rural Areas during Ming and Qing Periods) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007), p. 198Google Scholar.

20 The author has personally inspected the stone plate twice, in 2011 and 2013. The text is not fully legible on the plate itself, but Mr Zheng Hui has taken a very readable, full-size rubbing from it.

21 Chen King-fong (Chief Inspector), ‘Minchü: Activity of, reporting’, Enclosure No. 1 to Chekiang Co-D. G. Memo. No. 2372/16905 of 1928, date Zhejiang Municipal Archives L090/4/102. Similar reports on native letter hongs were produced in other postal districts. For example, some of the seven hongs operating in Tianjin in 1929 claimed that their histories could be traced back to 1821, 1864, and 1873. ‘Abolition of Minchü, etc., concerning’, from Tientsin Acting Co-Commissioner to The Directors General, 20 March 1929, Tianjin Municipal Archives (TMA hereafter) W2–2767.

22 J. M. C. Rousse, Acting Postal Commissioner, ‘Report on Minchü functioning in Nanking: forwarding, 19 January 1911’, SHAC 137(2) 681.

23 There are two main sources for the characteristics of the hongs. First, Zheng Hui's private collection of personal letters transmitted by hongs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Zheng Hui, ‘Minxinjü zhaoshi de lishi beijing he tiaojian (The Historical Background and Conditions for the Origin of Native Letter Hongs)’, Zhongguo youshi yanjiu (Research on Chinese Postal History), issue 5 (September 2002), pp. 35–38; Zheng Hui, ‘Zheng Hui jiyou lunwenji minxinjü zhiyi—zixu (The Introduction to Zheng Hui's Philatelic Essays, Minxinjü)’ and ‘Zailun minxinjü chuangshi niandai (Further Discussion on the Original Period of Native Letter Hongs), Zhongguo youshi yanjiu, issue 6 (November 2002), pp. 47–54. Zheng kindly allowed the author to inspect this collection in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Second, the Post Office inspectors’ reports on local hongs between 1896 and 1920s. For example, the report by W. Scott, ‘Information regarding Min-chü at Anking’, 7 February 1911, SHAC 137(1) 4283, on hong operations in Anhui province, stated: ‘A Hong doing good business is staffed with a Manager, two Accountants, two Tingchais [porters], and two Letter Carriers. Each of the Min-chü [hongs] open in the morning and close at night at hours to suit the business . . . The Manager, Accountants, and Tingchais attend to the public in the hong itself, and the Letter Carriers both deliver and collect letters in the City. All the Mails despatched are made up and closed inside the Hong, but incoming Mails of every description are opened immediately on receipt by the Letter Carriers, who at once proceed on their distributing rounds and report result[s] afterwards to their respective hongs.’ The hongs delivered letters, silver dollars, clothing, tea leaves, medicinal plants, scrap metal, among many other things.

24 Yi, Zhang, Zhonghua youzhengshi (The History of the Chinese Postal Service) (Taipei: Dongda tushu gongsi, 1996), p. 66Google Scholar.

25 ‘Application from Fu Hing Shou Letter Hong, Yangchow, for registration’, 23 December 1915, SHAC 137(1) 6533.

26 Shenbao regularly published notices of the names of native letter hongs so that its readers would know where to buy it. For example, see ‘Gechu xinjü dijiao (The Hongs and Messengers in All Locations)’, Shenbao, 4 May 1872. Cai Erkang, who participated in setting up Shenbao in 1893, recorded that, thanks to the native letter hongs, they could receive news from other cities. See Cai Erkang (1851–1921), ‘Chuangxing xinwenbao (The Record of the Establishment of Xinwenbao)’, Shanghai Municipal Archives, Q430–1–173.

27 For example, there are three diary entries on 16 and 23 September 1885 in Zheng Xiaoxu's (1860–1938) diary, Zheng Xiaoxu riji (The Diary of Zheng Xiaoxu); and there are multiple diary entries for 1895 in Chengzhai riji (Diary of Yun Yuding 1862–1917). See the Guoxue baodian database at: http://erf.sbb.spk-berlin.de/han/gxdb/www.gxbd.com, [accessed 20 January 2014].

28 IG Circular 706/Postal no. 7, 9 April 1896, Postal Circulars and Notes, China, Ministry of Posts and Communications, I. Service Series, No. 7, Vol. I (Shanghai: Supply Department of the Directorate General of Posts, 1906), p. 22, TMA W2–2832.

29 IG Circular 873/Postal no. 44, 3 January 1899, Postal Circulars and Notes, Vol. I, p. 132, TMA W2–2832.

30 Hart wrote to Campbell: ‘The French are now pestering the Yamen for their share: they want Kwang Chow Wan, etc. As to the Post—they draw back on finding that it is in a dependent and underdeveloped condition, but bound the Yamen to remember French aspirations when it is strong and successful enough to be independent! That's a pretty finale to work up to! However—one must sink one's own personality and remember the State!’ Six months later he wrote again: ‘The P.O. too has to be pushed on a bit, but I go at it in a half-hearted way knowing the French want it as soon as it is on its legs and independent.’ Letter 1103, 10 April 1898, and letter 1119, 23 October 1898, in Fairbank, John King, Bruner, Katherine Frost and Matheson, Elizabeth MacLeod (eds), The I.G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868–1907 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1975), Vol. ii, pp. 1161Google Scholar, 1175; Wright, Stanley F., Hart and the Chinese Customs (Belfast: William Mullan and Sons, 1950), p. 675Google Scholar.

31 IG Circular 733/Postal No. 13, 17 July 1896, Postal Circulars and Notes, Vol. I, p. 52, TMA W2–2832. Hart's cautiousness, weariness, and frustration in dealing with public opinion, in particular with regard to the hongs, can be read in his communications to the commissioners at the treaty ports. See IG Circular 776/Postal No. 31, 30 March 1897; IG Circular 779/Postal No. 33, 9 April 1897; IG Circular 782/Postal No. 36, 24 April 1897; all in Postal Circulars and Notes, Vol. I, pp. 110–111, 113, 116, TMA W2–2832.

32 IG Circular 706/Postal No. 7, 9 April 1896. For preparing staff, including recruiting Chinese through collaborations with local schools, see IG Circular 715/Postal No. 11, 28 May 1896, Postal Circulars and Notes, Vol. I, p. 49, TMA W2–2832.

33 See Enclosure of IG Circular 873/Postal No. 44, 3 January 1899, Postal Circulars and Notes, Vol. I, p. 133–141, TMA W2–2832.

34 Zhang, Zhonghua youzhengshi, pp. 271–275.

35 Hart to Campbell, letter 1121, 13 November 1898, in Fairbank, Bruner and Matheson (eds), The I.G. in Peking, p. 1177.

36 Van de Ven, Breaking with the Past, pp. 62–63; Chang, Government, Imperialism and Nationalism in China, pp. 184–185.

37 Ladds, Empire Careers, p. 29.

38 Ladds, Empire Careers, pp. 201–203.

39 Fei Xiaotong, ‘On Gentries and Literati’, Wu Han ‘On the Power of Emperors’ and ‘On the Power of Gentries’, in Huangquan yu shenquan (On the Power of Emperors and Power of Gentries) (Shanghai: Guanchashe, 1948), pp. 2–9, 41–50.

40 Morse to Hart, 10 June 1896. Harvard University, Houghton Library, Morse collection, MS Chinese 3.

41 J. P. Donovan, unpublished manuscript, Vol. 1, p. 202. SOAS Archives CWML MSS208.

42 Water Lay (Commissioner of Newchwang), ‘Post Office Fracas at Yangchow: reporting details in reply to despatch no. 1397, concerning’, no. 1974 report to IG, 29 March 1897, SHAC (2) 680.

43 Donovan, J. P., ‘Tour of Inspection’, 30 April 1900, SHAC 137 (1)7603Google Scholar.

44 Donovan, J. P., Yesterday and To-day in China (London: Drane's, 1923), p. 140Google Scholar.

45 Donovan, unpublished manuscript, Vol. 1, p. 203.

46 IG Circular 715/Postal No. 11, 28 May 1896; IG Circular 877/Postal No. 45, 1 January 1899, Postal Circulars and Notes, p. 114, TMA W2–2832.

47 In Jiujiang in 1901, for example, there was a postal officer (foreign), an assistant postal officer on probation (foreign), two assistant postal clerks (one foreign, one Chinese), two assistant postal clerks on probation (Chinese), one Tingchai (porter), and four letter-carriers. See Donovan, ‘Tour of Inspection’, 30 April and 15 July 1901, SHAC 137 (1) 7603.

48 Théophile Piry wrote: ‘Foreign hands are indispensable during the period of development, but China must prepare to take ultimate control.’ T. Piry, ‘Postal Secretary's Chinese Report on the Imperial Postal Service’, 21 December 1903, SHAC 137 (1) 7587.

49 Postal Circular 181, 31 January 1908, Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, China, Ministry of Posts and Communications, I. Service Series, No. 7, Vol. II (Shanghai: Supply Department of the Directorate General of Posts, 1912), p. 166, TMA W2–2838.

50 IG Circular 715/Postal No. 11, 28 May 1896.

51 ‘Candidate Postal Clerks, D’, earning a salary of Hk. Tls. 10. IG Circular 1017/Postal No. 56, 4 April 1902, Postal Circulars and Notes, p. 172, TMA W2–2832.

52 Postal Circular 164, 26 March 1907, pp. 103–105; Postal Circular 165, 10 June 1907, pp. 106–107, both reprinted in Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, TMA W2–2838.

53 Donovan, unpublished manuscript, Vol. 1, pp. 203–204.

54 Compare Isaiah 2:4, ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares.’

55 Letter from Cen Chunxuan to IG of Customs: see Enclosure, IG Circular 975/Postal No. 52, 17 September 1901, Postal Circulars and Notes, p. 172, TMA W2–2832.

56 Inspectorate General of Post to Dingzhou Prefect, Guagnxu 27th year, 5th month, 13th day; To Shanxi Governor Cen, Guangxu 27 (1901), 5th month, 16th day; Hart to Shanxi Governor Cen, Guangxu 27th year, 6th month, 3rd day, SHAC 137 (2) 304.

57 Inspectorate General of Post to Waiwu Bu, Guangxu 27th year, 7th month, 12th day, and Guangxu 29th year, 9th month, 23rd day, SHAC 137 (2) 304.

58 Inspectorate General of Post to Waiwu Bu, Guangxu 28th year (1902), 6th month, 1st day, SHAC 137 (2) 355.

59 ‘Youzheng zoukou (Memorial for Postal Service from Zongli Yamen)’, Shenbao, 3 May 1896; ‘Jie lu zong shuwusi Hede suoyi youzheng zhangcheng (A Full Citation of the Postal Regulation proposed by Hart, the Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs Service)’, Shenbao, 5 May 1896.

60 ‘Zhongguo zhengwu rixing xier lunzhi (An Upbeat Note on the Daily Improvement in China's Affairs)’, Shenbao, 7 May 1896.

61 News of new postal branches opening in the interior was regularly carried in Shenbao under either of these two short titles: ‘Tuiguang youzheng (Postal Work Expansion)’ or ‘Tianshe youju (Adding New Postal Branch)’. See, for example: 27 June 1898, 1 January 1899, 14 October 1899, 22 December 1899, 9 April 1900, 15 December 1900, 21 June 1901, 13 August 1901, 10 September 1901, 13 December 1901, and 2 January 1902.

62 Man-houng Lin, China Upside Down: Currency, Society, and Ideologies, 1808–1856 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006), pp. 212–236Google Scholar.

63 Lin, China Upside Down, pp. 242–245Google Scholar.

64 Postal Circular 156, 26 December 1906, Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, TMA W2–2838.

65 The ‘Postal Working Map’ was produced by the Postal Sectary's Office, Inspectorate General of Customs and Post, and printed by the Oriental Press in Shanghai, 15 May 1903. Royal Geographical Society: mr Chins G31.

66 China: Postal Album Showing the Post Offices and Postal Routes in Each Province (Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1907). Royal Geographical Society: mr 14.B.19. See also Postal Circular 186, 31 March 1908, Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, p. 209, TMA W2–2838.

67 Piry, ‘Postal Secretary's Report on the year 1902’, 7 April, 1903, SHAC 137 (1) 7587.

68 ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office, 1st Year of Hsüan T’ung (1909)’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1909, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1910, p. 3.

69 IG Circular 1076/Postal No. 61, 16 April 1903, Postal Circulars and Notes, p. 194, TMA W2–2832.

70 The Eight Rules were headed: ‘Eight Rules embodying the provisional agreement made between the railway company in the north and the Imperial Postal Service, with the sanction and through the intermediary of the Wai-wu Pu’. Enclosure No. 1, IG Circular 1076/Postal No. 61, 16 April 1903, p. 195.

71 IG Circulars No 62, 28 April 1903, Postal Circulars and Notes, Ministry of Posts and Communications, TMA W2–2832.

72 Later on the Chinese Post Office started to pay railway company fees.

73 Mores, H. B., The International Relations of the Chinese Empire (Boston: Adamant Media Corporation, 2005Google Scholar; first edition published in 1916), Vol. iii, p.71.

74 Peng, Minxinjü fazhanshi, pp. 210–212; see also Lane Jeremy Harris, ‘The Post Office and State Formation in Modern China, 1896–1949’, PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012, pp. 431–438.

75 In the early annual reports for postal work, China was divided into four areas: North China, Central China, Lower Yangtze, and South China and Yunnan stations. Each area had several postal districts. See ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1906. China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1907, p. 67.

76 ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1905, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1906, p. xxxviii.

77 Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1905, ibid.

78 Information taken from ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1906, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1907, p. 66; and ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1907, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1908, p. 2.

79 Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1906, p. 67.

80 Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1906, p. 67.

81 ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1907, p. 3. Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1906, p. 70.

82 Enclosure 1 of Postal Circular 220, 2 February 1909, Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, pp. 331–32, TMA W2–2838.

83 ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’, Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1910, China Imperial Maritime Customs, Statistical Series: Nos. 3 and 4. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1907, p. 1.

84 There were 99 foreign staff working for the Imperial Post Office in 1910. See China Imperial Maritime Customs, Service List, Series IV. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1910. SOAS Archives.

85 Information taken from ‘Report on the Working of the Imperial Post Office’ run from 1906 to 1911. These were later reproduced in Zhongguo youzheng shiwu zonglun (Report on the Working of the Chinese Post Office), 3 volumes (Beijing: Yanshan chubanshe, 1995), Vol. 1.

86 China Imperial Maritime Customs, Service List, Series IV. Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspectorate General of Customs, 1896–1910. SOAS Archives.

87 IG Circulars No. 1802/Postal Circulars 261, 30 May 1911, Postal Circulars and Instructions, 1906–1911, pp. 633–34, TMA W2–2838.