Treaty Port postage stamps

Following the First Opium War (1839-1842), representatives of Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty of Imperial China signed the Treaty of Nanking on August 29, 1842.

At issue had been the Chinese seizure and destruction of opium stocks being sold by British merchants in Canton. Under terms of this “unequal” treaty, the opium trade continued but also significant was the establishment of a British naval base on Hong Kong Island and the establishment of five treaty ports in China.

Prior to 1842, foreigners were allowed to trade only in Canton but Article Two stipulated also opening Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai. These were the first five “treaty ports” in China. Swatow, Hankow, Kiungchow, Tientsin and Chefoo were subsequently also designated treaty ports.

Treaty ports were cities where foreigners could reside, conduct business and enjoy the privilege of extraterritoriality.

Throughout these years, Hong Kong was quickly growing as the administrative and commercial centre for British interests in East Asia, and Britain opened consular offices in the five treaty ports each with a British Post Office (BPO).

Hong Kong first issued its own postage stamps in 1862. These stamps portrayed Queen Victoria and were used by BPOs throughout the treaty ports. The initial set contained eight stamps and the paper was not watermarked. A second set of 27 stamps including shade differences was issued in 1863 on paper displaying a Crown and C.C. watermark.

At first, all BPO postage from these treaty ports was sent to Hong Kong and cancelled “B62” but from 1866 until 1885 postage stamps from each treaty port were cancelled with a specific cancellation. Canton stamps were cancelled “C1” and Amoy stamps were cancelled “A1” and “D27” (from 1876 to 1885). Foochow stamps were cancelled “F1”, Ningpo stamps were cancelled “N1”, and Shanghai stamps were cancelled “S1”.

In 1861, Swatow was designated a treaty port and postage stamps from Swatow were cancelled “S2”. Similarly, in 1872, Hankow stamps were cancelled “D29” and in 1873 Kiungchow stamps were cancelled “D28”.

This changed in 1885 when stamps of Hong Kong used in treaty port BPOs began to be cancelled with a “circle date stamp” (CDS). A CDS gives the city and date of cancellation and although the cancellation might be difficult to read, it is often possible to identify certain letters and numbers which might indicate the treaty port and date of origin.

Then, beginning on Jan. 1, 1917, the British treaty ports used stamps of Hong Kong overprinted “CHINA”. The initial overprinting included 18 values including shades ranging from one cent to ten dollars, and CDS cancellations continued throughout this time. In 1922, an additional eleven values on paper with the Multiple Script CA watermark were printed and also overprinted CHINA, but these stamps were not in use for long.

Following Chinese complaints over the loss of postal revenue and the lack of customs inspections, all BPOs closed on Nov. 30, 1922 except two BPOs (Port Edward and Liu Kung Tau) in the Leased Territory of Weihaiwei which continued to use the stamps overprinted CHINA until they closed on Oct. 1, 1930.

Treaty port privileges were formally abolished in the 1943 SinoBritish treaty for the relinquishment of extraterritorial rights in China. This marked the beginning of the end for unequal treaties in China.

So dust off that long-neglected stamp album and check your early Hong Kong issues for those cancellations I mentioned. Who knows? Something might turn up.

Happy stamping.