This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Hong Kong.

British Colony, 1841-1997

The postal system in the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colony of Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

began in 1841 when the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

established the first

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...

in the region. Between 1841 and 1862, no stamps were issued, and

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit ...

s were used to certify payment of the postage instead. The earliest postmarks were used by military field offices, and read "MILITARY POST OFFICE CHINA" (c. 1842) and "MILITARY POST OFFICE HONG KONG" (1841-1842). An assortment of postmarks were used for civilian purposes, their contents usually a combination of "HONG KONG" and "PAID". All such postmarks were not used after the issuance of the first stamps in 1862. In 1860,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sir

Hercules Robinson Hercules George Robert Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead, (19 December 1824 – 28 October 1897), was a British colonial administrator who became the 5th Governor of Hong Kong and subsequently, the 14th Governor of New South Wales, the first Gover ...

requested a supply of stamps to be used in Hong Kong, but his request was refused in preference of the use of locally issued stamps. On 8 December 1862, the first local stamps were issued, printed by

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...

and engraved by Ferdinand Joubert, featuring the portrait of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

in seven denominations. The circulation of the first series was intended to last for two years. In 1863, four new values, with similar designs save for the addition of

watermarks A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

, were added. Thereafter, new values were added intermittently up until 1871. Stamps were not popularly used even after the appearance of the first stamps. At the time, customarily, the receiver rather than the sender was responsible for the postage fee. Therefore, senders were apprehensive of paying the postage before mailing. Nonetheless, the use of local stamps became compulsory by law in 1864. Following the release of the first stamps, a large variety of values and surcharges were introduced in the colony, mostly due to the difficulty and time of communication between the colony and UK. In 1877, Hong Kong joined the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...

. In 1891, the first

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...

was issued to celebrate the Hong Kong's 50th anniversary as a British colony. It was a limited edition of the 1883 two-cent carmine Queen's head, overprinted with "1841 HONG KONG JUBILEE 1891". Only 50,000 of the stamp were printed, with a stated on-sale period of only three days. The stamp was the world's first overprinted commemorative stamp. It was also Hong Kong's first

first day cover A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for useBennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanl ...

, postmarked with the issuing date but with no specific designs on the cover. The first day of sale, 22 January 1891, saw a large crowd of stamp collectors attracted by the stamp's rarity. At 7 a.m., on the opening of sale, each person was only allowed to purchase 25 of the commemorative stamp. By 8 a.m., each was only allowed 20. Chaos during the sales saw the death of two Portuguese, crushed by the mob, and one Dutch sailor who was stabbed to death. Between 1891 and 1941, only 3 other sets of commemorative stamps were issued, perhaps because of the bloodshed from the sale of the Jubilee stamp. These included the Silver Jubilee of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...

(1935),

Coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

of King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

(1937) and the centenary of British rule (1941). The 1941 centenary stamps, featuring local sights and scenes, marked the first time local features were incorporated into the stamp designs. The death of

in 1901 and the reign of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

saw the release of a new series of definitives, commonly referred to as the "bald man"'s definitives (「光頭佬」) by local philatelists and stamp collectors. The first set (1903) of stamps featuring Edward VII consisted of 15 stamps. A second set (1904) was printed on different paper, followed by a partial set (1907) was printed with different colours. These definitives saw a change in spelling for the name of the colony, from "HONGKONG" to "HONG KONG". This change was kept in the definitives of King

but was reverted to "HONGKONG" for the definitives of King

. No stamps for King

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1 ...

were issued in Hong Kong. Apart from the differences in spelling, the stamp designs also did not agree on the translation of "cent" in Chinese. Victorian stamps featured either "先時" (''sin-si'') and "仙" (''sin''). Stamps of Edward VII featured "先" (''sin''), until it was finalized as "角" (''kok'', see Chinese '' jiao'') during the reign of

. The George VI stamps also see the replacement of "scrolls" design at the top left and right of the stamp with a crown, along with the portrait of the monarch facing right, instead of the traditional left. In total, 23 stamps were issued for George VI. Between 1 January 1917 and November 1922, Hong Kong stamps were used in Chinese and Japanese

treaty ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

. Stamps overprinted with "CHINA" were also used in response to the devaluation of the Chinese dollar. After the treaty ports' closures in November 1922, the "CHINA" overprints were used exclusively in the leased territory of

Weihaiwei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popul ...

until its closure in 1930. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

factory in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

was bombed, leading to the issuing of a series of George VI definitives printed on thinly-coated paper by Bradbury Wilkinson and Harrison, called the "rough paper wartime printings". File:HKStamp96cents.jpg, 1862 96c stamp, one of the first seven stamps issued in 1862, with spelling "HONGKONG" and "先時" for "cents" File:UK-Hong-Kong-Stamp-1891-Overprint 50-Year-Jubilee.jpg, 1891 Jubilee stamp, first commemorative stamp issued File:Stamps Hong Kong 1903.jpg, 1903 $10 stamp, with spelling "HONG KONG" File:Stamp UK China 1917 20c.jpg, 1917 20c stamp, overprinted for use in

, with spelling "HONG KONG" and "先" for "cents" File:Hong Kong stamp 5cent in 1941.jpg, 1941 5c commemorative stamp, one of the first stamps featuring local scenes, in this case the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hon ...

Japanese Occupation, 1941-1945

Hong Kong surrendered to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

on 25 December 1941, marking the start of the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

. Postal services resumed in early 1942, with 20 or 21 Japanese definitives were introduced for use in Hong Kong. As a response to

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...

during the occupation, three stamp issues were surcharged with a higher value. These were also overprinted with "Office of the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kon ...

" ( ja, 香港總督部). Censorship, changes of local addresses into a Japanese format, and renaming of district and building names into names of Japanese origins led to a chaotic postal system during the occupation. Most of the British stamps were safely hidden until Japan's surrender. Some were stored in the vaults of the

and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation building, while others were sent to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

for safekeeping.

Post-War, 1945-1997

Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, and postal service under the British resumed on 25 August, initially for free. No stamps were available, so octagonal handstamps inscribed with ‘HONG KONG 1945 POSTAGE PAID’ were later used in lieu of stamps. In early September, the government rediscovered the stash of hidden stamps. Together with the return of the stamp cache from Australia and South Africa, the sales of stamps re-continued on 28 September. The end of the

saw the release of the "Victory" commemorative stamps (30 August 1946) on the anniversary of the British takeover. The 30-cent and 1-dollar stamps were designed by Postmaster Edward Irvine Wynne-Jones and Chief Draughtsman of the Public Works Department William E Jones during their internment in the

Stanley Internment Camp Stanley Internment Camp () was a civilian internment camp in Hong Kong during the Second World War. Located in Stanley, on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, it was used by the Japanese imperial forces to hold non- Chinese enemy nationals a ...

by the Japanese. The design featured a

phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

with the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

text "1941 RESURGO 1945", along with the Chinese text "鳳鳥復興漢英昇平" (

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

Resurgence; Han-British Peace). The Chinese text was rendered as "鳳鳥復興漢英大和" in the original draft, which had the same meaning. However, as "大和" was also a rendition of "Yamato", the text was changed to alternate

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

. The same month also saw the return of some

definitives that were printed in 1941 but remained undelivered to Hong Kong until 1946. The reign of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

saw several significant changes to stamp design. While the first series (1954) retained the design of the George VI stamps, the second series (1962) saw significant changes. The series, designed by Chinese Cheung Yat-man, did not feature the traditional frames of the previous stamps, instead featuring a frameless portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by

Pietro Annigoni Pietro Annigoni, OMRI (7 June 1910 – 28 October 1988) was an Italian artist, portrait painter, fresco painter and medallist, best known for his painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. His work was in the Renaissance tradition, contrasting ...

. The larger values were printed in colour and in a larger physical size. This series is nicknamed the "military attire" (「軍裝」) series by local stamp collectors. 1962 saw the release of the first officially designed envelopes for

s, marked with "OFFICIAL FIRST DAY COVER", for the 100th anniversary of the first postage stamp of Hong Kong. Prior to 1962, there were no official designs other than the postmarked date, and envelopes were designed instead by hobbyists such as the Hong Kong Philatelic Society and the China Philatelic Association. Commemorative stamps with Chinese themes were first issued in 1967, featuring the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain ...

. The bauhinia flower and Hong Kong's coat of arms were also incorporated as the key features on two denominations issued in 1968, the first time that local themes had been integrated in the territory's definitive stamps. The addition of Chinese and local themes and features, along with designs by local Hong Kongers, became increasingly common in the 1970s and onward. The third series (1973) featured a reproduction of the

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE, R.A., FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Life Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china pai ...

, a design feature that would be retained in all following new series. The fourth series (1983) saw the introduction of fluorescent security markings in a design by Arthur Hacker. The fifth series (1987) featured 15 stamps. In 1988, the fifth series was reprinted with a change in shading on the Queen's lower lip. These were reprinted in 1989, 1990 and 1991 as the stocks for certain values were running out. In the early and mid 1990s, as the

Handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admin ...

of 1 July 1997 drew near, British-themed stamps were slowly being phased out. The sixth issue (2 September 1996) was the last set of stamps featuring Elizabeth II. This led to an "explosion" of sales and stamp collecting in the local stamp market, with many hoping the stamps would sell for a profit in the future. On 23 May 1996, it was announced that all stamps with a portrait of the Queen or any British features would become invalid on the day of the handover. A "transitional" set of definitives was issued to prepare for the handover. Nicknamed the "neutral definitive stamps" (26 January 1997), they featured the skyline of

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrume ...

with no British features. The neutral definitives could still be used after the handover, and colonial stamps could be exchanged up until July 31, 1997. File:Post Stamp HONG KONG.jpg, 1946 30c "Resurgo" stamp, designed by British POWs during WW2 File:Timbre HK Victory 1D 1946.jpg, 1946 $1 "Resurgo" stamp, designed by British POWs during WW2 File:Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Stamp HK 1953.jpg, 1953 10c commemorative stamp issued for the

Coronation of Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

File:HK 1962 MiNr0206Xy pm B002.jpg, 1962 $1.30 stamp, one of the first frameless definitives File:Stamp $1 Hong Kong 1968.jpg, 1968 $1 stamp, one of the first definitive stamps featuring local themes, in this case

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

Post-handover

A set of commemorative stamp, celebrating the handover, was issued in 1997. The first definitive stamps were issued by the government on 18 October 1999, bearing the name "HONG KONG, CHINA". The stamps featured local sights and scenes. Between 1999 and 2020, three more sets of definitives were issued: The " East and West" series (2002), the

birds of Hong Kong Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

series (2006) and the "Hong Kong

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

Global Geopark" series (2014).

Sources

* Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues. * Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986. * Webb, Francis Wynne (1961) ''The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan'',

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its ...

References

External links

Hong Kong Study Circle

China Philatelic Association, Hong Kong

Linn's Stamp News ''Linn's Stamp News'' is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott ''Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue'', the Scott ''Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Cove ...

Queen Victoria Stamps of Hong Kong, China Philatelic Assn., Hong Kong.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postage Stamps And Postal History Of Hong Kong Postal system of Hong Kong Philately of Hong Kong Postal history of China