In 1886 Taiwan was upgraded from a prefecture to a province. A postal service was organised by Governor Liu Mingchuan, and postage stamps were issued the same year.[1]
Republic of Formosa
A stamp of the Republic of Formosa
In 1895 China ceded Taiwan to Japan. The Taiwanese reacted by establishing the short-lived Republic of Formosa, which issued its own stamps.
Japanese rule
Under Japanese rule, Taiwanese mail was handled as part of the Japanese postal system. After the surrender of Japan in August 1945, the postal system continued to operate locally, and on 21 October 1945, it issued 3-sen and 5-sen stamps, the design consisting of a large numeral and the imperial chrysanthemum. Despite the official transfer of Taiwan to the Republic of China on 25 October, on the 31st a 10-sen stamp of the same design was issued. (An additional five values were printed but never issued.)
The locally printed stamps, both issued and unissued, were immediately overprinted with "Chinese Republic" and "Taiwan Province" and went on sale 4 November. Two Japanese stamps, the 5-yen and 10-yen values of the 1937 pictorial series, were also overprinted, serving as the high values.
Throughout 1946, stocks of Chinese stamps were overprinted with new values in sen and "for use in Taiwan only". This was followed by an issue in March 1947 marking Chiang Kai-shek's 60th birthday; four small characters in the background say "for Taiwan only". Subsequent stamp issues followed the same pattern through 1948.
Stamps of Taiwan, 1995.
With the loss of mainland China, there was no longer any purpose in separate issues for Taiwan.
The native states of India, also known as feudatory or princely states, were typically vassals under a local or regional ruler who owed allegiance to the British Raj. There were about 675 native states in all but many were not parts of British India proper because they never become possessions of the British Crown; rather, they were tied to it in a system of subsidiary alliances. Following the Partition of India in 1947, the suzerainty of the Raj was terminated and native states had to choose between independence or formal accession by either India or Pakistan. In practice, all of the native states had acceded or been annexed by the end of 1949.
This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of Australia.
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of Siberia. It was formed from the Amur, Transbaikal, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Primorye regions. In theory, it extended from Lake Baikal to Vladivostok but, in May 1921, the Priamur and Maritime Provinces seceded. Although nominally independent, it was largely controlled by the RSFSR and its main purpose was to be a democratic buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War to avoid war with Japan. Initially, its capital was Verkhneudinsk, but from October 1920 it was Chita. On 15 November 1922, after the war ended and the Japanese withdrew from Vladivostok, the Far Eastern Republic was annexed by Soviet Russia.
The Straits Settlements of the Malayan Peninsula have a postal history distinct from the other Malayan areas.
The history of the postage stamps and postal history of China is complicated by the gradual decay of Imperial China and the years of civil war and Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Hong Kong.
In philately, the denomination is the "inscribed value of a stamp".
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
The postage stamps of Ireland are issued by the postal operator of the independent Irish state. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first postage stamps were issued in 1840. These stamps, and all subsequent British issues, were used in Ireland until the new Irish Government assumed power in 1922. Beginning on 17 February 1922, existing British stamps were overprinted with Irish text to provide some definitives until separate Irish issues became available. Following the overprints, a regular series of definitive stamps was produced by the new Department of Posts and Telegraphs, using domestic designs. These definitives were issued on 6 December 1922; the first was a 2d stamp, depicting a map of Ireland. Since then new images, and additional values as needed, have produced nine definitive series of different designs.
Numerous Chinese stamps depict Sun Yat-sen, and a representative collection can be acquired with little trouble. These may conveniently be divided as the definitives, provincial issues, overprints, and commemoratives, but there is much crossover between these categories.
The postage stamps of Vietnam were issued by a variety of states and administrations. Stamps were first introduced by the French colonial administration. Stamps specifically for Vietnam were first issued in 1945. During the decades of conflict and partitioning, stamps were issued by mutually hostile governments. The reunification of Vietnam in 1976 brought about a unified postal service.
The postage stamps and postal history of Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, was linked to its original economic situation until 1993. Mainly ruled by a phosphate production commission, the island was part of the British Straits Settlements colony from 1901 to 1942, then of Singapore from 1946 to 1958. Although it was placed under Australian control in 1958, the island remained postally and philatelically independent until 1993 when Australia Post became the island's postal operator.
Bangladesh first issued its own postage stamps upon gaining independence in 1971. A set of eight stamps, with various motifs including a map of the country, were issued. Shortly after, stamps in eight values were overprinted "Bangladesh Liberated" in both English and Bengali were prepared in the United Kingdom, but only three values were issued in Bangladesh.
The postage stamps and postal history of Papua New Guinea originated in the two colonial administrations on the eastern part of the island of New Guinea and continued until their eventual merger, followed by independence in 1975.
The story of Japan's postal system with its postage stamps and related postal history goes back centuries. The country's first modern postal service got started in 1871, with mail professionally travelling between Kyoto and Tokyo as well as the latter city and Osaka. This took place in the midst of the rapid industrialization and social reorganization that the Meiji period symbolized in Japanese history. Given how the nation's railroad technology was in its infancy, Japan's growing postal system relied heavily on human-powered transport, including rickshaws, as well as horse-drawn methods of delivery. For example, while commemorating the 50th anniversary of Japan's postal service, the country's 1921 government released decorative postcards depicting intrepid horseback riders carrying the mail. This however was done to compare postal transport in past and present, as the other card showed modern transportation viz. rail and shipping. The railroad net from the north to the south, Aomori to Nagasaki, was completed in 1889. Prior to 1920s, local delivery was mainly by men- and horsepower, not principally different to Europe.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Brunei.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Czechoslovakia.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Biafra.
Ma's Illustrated Catalogue of the Stamps of China is a specialized catalogue of earlier Chinese stamps covering the periods from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. It provides the most comprehensive and systematic record of every stamp from the first Customs issue of 1878 to the Dah Tung print Postage Due stamp in 1947. Ma's Illustrated Catalogue differs from other stamp catalogues as it goes beyond a simple listing of stamps. Ma's catalogue provides a wealth of philately related information of high historical significance that is much needed in the research and study of early Chinese stamps. Today many refer to this catalogue as simply "馬氏圖鑑" or "馬氏國郵圖鑑".
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