World of Stamps
After China was defeated in the Chinese Opium wars of the 1800's various Chinese ports were opened to trade with foreign vessels. A postal system was set up by the various foreign postal systems for the passage of mail. Hong Kong,which had been ceded to Britain in perpetuity, was treated as being part of the British postal system. The first stamps were issued in 1862.
The postmark for Hong Kong was a B62 duplex. This was usually applied in black ink but blue,purple and green were sometimes used. Mail sent via the British Postal system from mainland China used Hong Kong stamps. These received dublex postmarks until cds were introduced.
After the Treaty of Nangking in 1842 the following ports were opened:
Amoy,Canton,Foochow,Ningpo and Shanghai.
The signing of the Treaty of Peking in 1860 opened the following ports:
Chefoo,Hankow,Kiungchow,Swatow and Tientsin.
The ports and cancels were as follows;
Amoy A1 and D27 Opened 1844
A1 was used on the island of Ku Lang Sue and D27 was used on the mainland agency.
Canton C1 Opened 1844
Foochow F1 Opened 1844
This agency was originally known as Foochowfoo.
Hankow D29 Opened 1872
Kiungchow (Hoihow) D28 Opened 1876
Kiungchow was situated on the island of Hainan. It was re-located to the port of Hoihow in 1878. The original agency opened again in 1879 giving two agencies on the island.
Ningpo N1 Opened in 1844
Shanghai S1 Opened in 1861
Cancels show spelling of Shanghai and Shanghae. A very rare "sunburst" cancel was also used in Shanghai.
Swatow S2 Opened 1861
Amoy
1869-1882 1876-1884 1876-1894 1867-1922 1916-1922
Canton
1870-1884 1870-1901 1890-1922
Foochow
1873-1884 1867-1905 1894-1917 1906-1910 1915-1922
Hankow
I 1878-1883 1883-1895 18966-1922
Kiungchow (Hoihow)
1879-1883 1879-1881 1885-1922
Ningpo
1870-1872 1870-1899 1899-22
Shanghai
1866-1885 1886-1906 Shanghae 1866
Swatow
1875-1885 1866-1890 1884-1922 1916-1922
The following ports did not use dublex cancels,only cds type.
Chefoo Opened 1903
1903-1920 1907-1913 1916-1922
Tientsin.
This agency first opened in 1882 but closed due to being unprofitable. It was re-opened on 1st October 1906.
1906-1913 1907-1922
Wei Hai Wei
Wei Hai Wei was territory leased to Great Britain. An agency was opened in 1899 on the island of Liu Kung Tau. A second agency was opened on the mainland at Port Edward naval base in 1904.
Wei Hai Wei was not a Treaty Port but a British Colony. The colony was returned to China in 1930.
1899-1901 1901-1930 1907-1930
In 1917 Hong Kong stamps were overprinted " China". A second issue was made in 1922. These overprints brought an end to Treaty Port cancels.
