Local postal surcharge labels
Encyclopedia
Local postal surcharge labels are a class of labels applied widely to Chinese
internal mail between January 1987 and February 1999. They have also been called Additional Charge Labels and Added Charge Labels.
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Recording the extra charge was done in a variety of ways, including manuscript marks, postal chop marks, extra postage stamps and printed labels.
Where printed labels were used they were of widely varying designs and could be of one, two or three parts to enable record keeping. Some were multi-coloured, perforated and similar to postage stamps like the label from Ankang shown above, others were crude productions in one colour similar to tickets or store receipts.
Local governments and postal officials successfully seized the opportunity to raise additional funds. Hubei province, for instance, introduced a rule that from 1 January 1993 a charge be made to finance postal development and a label was issued by a postmaster in Susong in support of China's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games. As time went on more stamp-like labels were produced and they were often banned by the central government within days of issue. Some may well have been purely philatelic issues with no genuine function.
The use of the labels was never popular with the Chinese government and eventually it was banned completely in 1999.
s. Labels produced purely for philatelic purposes or outside of the rules are cinderella stamp
s.
No definitive catalogue exists of all the labels used as the Chinese government initially suppressed their display at stamp exhibitions and it is likely that many items remain to be discovered and catalogued. Much of what has been published in this area is in Chinese.
Collectors have used postcodes printed on the labels to indicate probable origins and as a method of classification.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
internal mail between January 1987 and February 1999. They have also been called Additional Charge Labels and Added Charge Labels.
Background
In China, local provincial governments collect and supply the postal services but the charges are set by the national government. Increasing inflation meant that by 1987 the amount charged for postal services was less than the cost of providing those services. Local governments therefore requested an increase in postal rates but this was refused by the national government. The local governments were allowed, however, to levy an additional charge on certain outgoing mail items to defray their costs and in January 1987 the first local postal surcharge label was used in GuangdongGuangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
.
Use
The labels quickly became popular and, eventually, labels were issued in 25 different provinces. Around 1500 different labels are known. The rules set for their use were as follows:- The charges were to be created and collected locally.
- The charges only applied to items that had already had postage applied above the lowest rate, e.g. parcels and registered letters.
- The charges were not to apply on international mail.
- The additional charge was to be noted on the item and the sender given a receipt.
- The labels were not to resemble postage stamps. (In practice many did)
Recording the extra charge was done in a variety of ways, including manuscript marks, postal chop marks, extra postage stamps and printed labels.
Where printed labels were used they were of widely varying designs and could be of one, two or three parts to enable record keeping. Some were multi-coloured, perforated and similar to postage stamps like the label from Ankang shown above, others were crude productions in one colour similar to tickets or store receipts.
Local governments and postal officials successfully seized the opportunity to raise additional funds. Hubei province, for instance, introduced a rule that from 1 January 1993 a charge be made to finance postal development and a label was issued by a postmaster in Susong in support of China's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games. As time went on more stamp-like labels were produced and they were often banned by the central government within days of issue. Some may well have been purely philatelic issues with no genuine function.
The use of the labels was never popular with the Chinese government and eventually it was banned completely in 1999.
Classification
The wide variety of the labels and their varying use mean that they defy easy philatelic classification. They are not strictly local stamps, although locally produced, and not stamps of the central government of China. The charge levied may be seen as a form of local tax on each letter originating in a particular province, in which case they fall into the category of fiscal or revenue stampRevenue stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...
s. Labels produced purely for philatelic purposes or outside of the rules are cinderella stamp
Cinderella stamp
In philately, a cinderella stamp has been defined as "Virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration..." The term also excludes imprinted stamps on postal stationery.- Types :...
s.
Collecting
Philatelists prefer to collect these labels on cover as this gives the fullest information about the label and confirms genuine postal use.No definitive catalogue exists of all the labels used as the Chinese government initially suppressed their display at stamp exhibitions and it is likely that many items remain to be discovered and catalogued. Much of what has been published in this area is in Chinese.
Collectors have used postcodes printed on the labels to indicate probable origins and as a method of classification.
See also
- China Philatelic Society of LondonChina Philatelic Society of LondonThe China Philatelic Society of London is a philatelic organisation devoted to the study of all aspects of Chinese philately from the Municipal Posts of the Treaty Ports to the People's Republic and Taiwan.-Origins:...
- China Stamp SocietyChina Stamp SocietyThe China Stamp Society is a philatelic organization dedicated to the appreciation of the postage stamps and postal history of China, including the Treaty Ports, Foreign Offices in China, the Japanese Occupation, Hong Kong, Macao, Manchukuo and Tibet....
- List of postal codes in China
- Postage stamps and postal history of the People's Republic of ChinaPostage stamps and postal history of the People's Republic of ChinaAlthough postal service in China goes back some 2,500 years, modern postal services were not established until 1877 by the Qing government. The postal system of the People's Republic of China was established as the General Postal Administration in Beijing in 1949, growing out of the posts that had...
Further reading
- Ouyang, Charles C. & Zhu Hanchang. eds. Illustrated Catalogue of the Local Postal Surcharge Labels and Receipts of Hubei Province, P.R.C., Wuhan, China: Qintai Philatelic Society & The Thematists' Club, 2000.
- Palmer, Lars. Catalogue added charge labels (ACL) in P.R. China. Molndal, Sweden: Lars Palmer, 2007.
- Illustrated Catalogue of the Postal Surcharge of Guangdong Province.