Stamps of China: The Amoy Local Posts

After a very cold and windy walk on the Great Wall of China it was quite a change to arrive in the city of Xiamen a few days later. Located in the southern part of Fujian province, Xiamen enjoys a subtropical climate. However, a few weeks after my visit in late April Fujian was hit by a tropical hurricane which caused death and destruction in the coastal areas of South East China.

When I discovered that my trip to China included a visit to Xiamen I was delighted. Xiamen used to be known as Amoy and it was one of the old treaty ports. Local businessmen started a local post in Amoy in 1895 and I have collected the local post stamps for the past 40 years. I never imagined that I would one day visit the city where these interesting stamps were used all those years ago.

Gao Huiying, my Chinese companion, didn’t really believe me when I told her that Xiamen was referred to as Amoy in the past. However, she was convinced when we visited Xiamen University which is called Universitas Amoiense in Latin as testified by the seal on all official documents.

The Chinese language uses a common written language but the spoken language varies a lot from province to province. In fact, a person from Hebei province probably wouldn’t understand the language spoken in Fujian province. To solve the problem there is a lingua franca called putonghua which is used on a nationwide basis.

Xiamen is located opposite the island of Taiwan. Fujian and Taiwan more or less share the same language and relations between Xiamen and Taiwan appear to be on the increase. My visit to Xiamen coincided with the visit of the former leader of the Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party which ruled on Taiwan for years. Several agreements on increased imports of fruits and vegetables from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland were signed demonstrating that relations between the mainland and Taiwan are improving.

Xiamen also is a special economic zone where businessmen from Taiwan have invested heavily. I visited a huge factory which produced parts for the computer industry. Xiamen can offer an inexpensive work force and tax benefits.

Today Xiamen is a bustling city of more than one million people. It also attracts large numbers of tourists who come to enjoy both the climate and the many interesting sights. There are also numerous restaurants specializing in seafood.

However, back in 1842 Amoy probably was a sleepy coastal town with a nice harbour. Following the Opium War, the Western powers forced China to open a number of its ports for trade with Europe and North America. Amoy was one of the ports which were included in this treaty and soon Western trading companies established offices there.

The offices and consulates were built on the island of Gulangyu which can be reached by ferry from Xiamen harbour. The island has a population of some 20,000 people today and they probably thrive on the tourist industry. Many of the old buildings from the 1890s and early 1900s still survive today. A walk through the narrow streets and alleys allowed me to see most of the buildings which are in various stages of disrepair but with some in very good shape. There were also two or three churches which we were unfortunately unable to visit. The island has a lot of lush greenery and beautiful parks. There is a Buddhist temple area with poems inscribed on the rocks. We climbed to the top of Sunlight Rock. The view of the island was fantastic with Xiamen in the distance. Gulangyu is also an island of music; rather interestingly it is home to Asia’s biggest piano museum.

At the northern end of the island there is a huge statue of Koxinga, a legendary hero who helped liberate Taiwan back in 1661-1662. His army of liberation set out from Xiamen (Amoy) crossing the Taiwan strait. A number of small Taiwanese islands are located very close to Xiamen and one afternoon we sailed very close to the islands. On the top of the island we saw the flag of the Republic of China and a huge banner near the beach carried a message about real democracy. The Chinese passengers took hundreds of photos and it was obvious that they were all dreaming of the day when Taiwan would return to China.

In the 1800s, China had a number of postal systems for both official and private mail. However, many of the European traders apparently felt that they could not be trusted and they preferred to use the foreign post offices in the country. The stamps of Hong Kong were used at many of the treaty ports including Amoy.

The Municipal Council of Shanghai started a local post as early as 1863. This was a highly successful operation with agencies in many of the other treaty ports. It also ran an agency in Amoy which opened in 1890.

In 1894, the Amoy Local Council decided to establish its own local post. After contacts with the Shanghai Local Post the operations started on April 1, 1895, with John Phillips as the postmaster. At first no stamps had been received so postage had to be paid in cash and the covers were cancelled Paid.

On June 8, 1895, the stamps arrived from the printers in Germany. The first set comprised the following denominations: ½, 1, 2, 4 and 5 cents. The stamps depict a couple of birds in the marshland near Amoy. I am not an ornithologist so I am unable to identify the birds. It seems catalogue editors have very differing opinions about the species depicted on Amoy’s stamps. Scott says they are ducks while Stanley Gibbons states they are herons. This is also the opinion of Charles W. Dougan in his book The Shanghai Postal System.

Gao Huiying told me that Xiamen’s municipal bird is called bailu in Chinese which translates as egret in English. Thus the birds depicted on Amoy’s stamps are probably egrets.

In May 1896, the local post ran out of the ½ cent value and provisional stamps were produced by overprinting “Half Cent” on 4 and 5 cent stamps. The ½ cent was the rate for newspapers but I suppose a lot of half cent stamps were acquired by collectors.

That same month additional supplies of the ½ cent value was received from the printers in Germany along with the new denominations of 15, 20 and 25 cent stamps.

In October 1896, there were additional surcharges (3, 6 and 10 cents) on the three high values released in May the same year.

In 1895, the Japanese were trying to occupy the island of Taiwan (at that time known as Formosa). Parts of the island managed to hold out against the Japanese for a while. Quite a lot of mail was sent to Amoy without any postage. To solve the situation, the Amoy Local Post issued a set of Postage Due labels by overprinting the original set. Specialists distinguish between four different printings of Amoy’s postage due stamps.

All in all, the Amoy Local Post issued some 23 regular postage stamps and 12 postage dues. Catalogue values range from about a dollar to as much as $300 for the scarcest varieties. Covers can also be found but I guess many are philatelic in nature. Stamps of Hong Kong and Shanghai cancelled by the Amoy agencies are not impossible to locate.

The Amoy Local Post was a highly successful enterprise which fulfilled a postal need. It offered to deliver mail locally at fees much lower than those of the Hong Kong agency. In early 1897, it was taken over by the Imperial Chinese Post Office.

Today we know quite a lot about the operation of the Amoy Local Post thanks to a pamphlet written in 1897 by local resident and philatelist Juan Mencarini.

The Amoy Local Post is a very handy area to collect. Despite the limited number of stamps there are opportunities for philatelic study. Also it tells about an interesting period in Chinese history.