Tag: Hong Kong stamp

The Communist and for that matter the Taiwan governments of China look to the memory of Sun Yat-sen  as the father of the revolution that ended the Qing Monarchy. For that he will be remembered but it is reasonable to wonder if his successors lived up to Sun’s hopes and where his hopes came from. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Remembering a dead leader is a safe thing to do since he is no longer a threat. The People’s Republic has done a great job in picturing Sun Yat-sen as one of them. Indeed just looking at the stamp, I thought it was Chou En-lai. Sun was often photographed with a moustache but understandably not by the People’s Republic.

Todays stamp is issue A156, a 10 Fen stamp issued by the People’s Republic of China on October 10th, 1961. It was a two stamp issue marking the 50th anniversary of the 1911 Chinese Revolution that overthrew the Monarchy. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth $5 used. It would be worth $75 unused. Taiwan had a stamp honoring the same revolution anniversary showing the KMT flag over both Chinas. It is worth much less.

Sun Yat-sen  was born in southern China in 1866. Interestingly there is American paperwork that he was really born in Hawaii. Sun claims that this was faked in order to get him in the USA during a period when the USA was restricting immigration. In any case, he was educated in Anglican schools in Hawaii and Hong Kong due to the generosity of his well off older brother in Hawaii. He became a Doctor of Medicine at what became the British founded University of Hong Kong, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/26/hong-kong1891-the-british-build-the-premier-university-in-asia-for-the-chinese-but-climb-the-hill-to-avoid-their-filth/  . He also was Baptized a Christian. The relative peace and prosperity of Hong Kong turned him against the old ways of China’s then Monarchy. He formed a Tong in Hong Kong to work against the Monarchy after a list of suggestions was rejected by the Chinese Ambassador in Hong Kong. He traveled around extensively among expatriate Chinese communities in South East Asia, Europe, and the USA seeking support and taking note of the success of such communities relative to the situation in China. This was also noted on racial terms as the success of the Han people, and he regarded the Qing Dynasty as of Mongolian heritage.

In America, Sun founded the Revive China Society. In China his organization was called the KMT, though Sun spent little time in China. There were multiple uprisings that failed but in 1911 success was achieved. This was accomplished by working with Yuan Shikai who commanded the North China Army. This seemed a good fit as Sun’s support was mainly in the South. The Republic did not fare well. Sun yielded the Presidency to Yuan who then splintered the government by declaring himself the new Emperor. Sun was back to exile and China entered it’s warlord period.

Sun then did what got him on this stamp. He had the KMT sign treaties with the Chinese Communist Party and an aid agreement with the Soviet Union. The treaty was signed with Adolph Joffe, a Crimean Jew and Trotskyite. That complicated things when the Soviets went Stalinist but by then that would be Sun’s successors problem. In 1924, in one of his last big speeches, Sun stated that the British traditions of peace, order, and good government that Sun had witnessed in Hong Kong had inspired him to be a revolutionary. Being a revolutionary is fun with all the travel and excitement but Sun’s brief period in power showed actually bringing Hong Kong’s success to China was not going to be quick or easy. Sun died of liver cancer in 1925.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the former British Administration of Hong Kong for showing the Chinese people how things could be. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Getting from the bottom to the top is always something to celebrate. Doing so with only a few interruptions for 100 years even more so. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering  from The Philatelist.

This is the type of British Empire stamp, that was so much more common in the 1950s and 60s than the 80s. An areas status as a colony is winding down and the stamp issues begin to display what the British would view as their achievements in the area. What is missing though is Queen Elizabeth II smiling down on the achievement. This is strange since her profile in the corner was still a common feature of the Hong Kong stamp issues. Probably the people involved with this stamp were not knowledgeable of the rich postal history they were treading into, and a further issue may have been the tram’s private ownership and the need to function as advertising for it. The modern world will always intrude.

Todays stamp is issue A106, a HK $1.70 stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong on August 4th, 1988. It was part of a 4 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating 100 years of the Peak Tramway. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

In the late 19th century, there was an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in southern China including the Chinese residents of Hong Kong. The British in Hong Kong were very concerned with catching it and this spurred development at the top of Victoria Peak, the highest point in the colony. There they hoped to find fresher water and Chinese were not allowed to reside there. A Scottish railwayman Alexander Findley-Smith proposed a private tram to ease climbing the hill. A steam powered tram was constructed between 1885-1888. It terminated near the Peak on property adjacent to Finley-Smith’s house that he redeveloped into a hotel and then sold for a huge profit after the tram opened.

Initially the tram operated in three classes. First Class was reserved for colonial British officials including the front two seats for His Excellency the Governor. If he wasn’t on board 1 minute before departure it was possible to ride in his seat. Second Class was reserved for British soldiers and police. 3rd Class was everyone else and animals. The class requirements ended in 1949. The tram was damaged and did not operate during the World War II Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

In the 1950s the tram was electrified and in 1989 computerized. The tram is currently owned by the Peninsula Hotel and the Peak station is now within a shopping complex known as the Peak. Typical of an ex colony to edit out Queen Victoria. The tram serves 17,000 travelers a day.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Mr. Findley-Smith, for his inspiration and the ability to follow through. A skill we all seem to be losing in modern construction. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

“You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have, the facts of life.” A tv theme song about a girl’s school, but it applies also to colonial era Hong Kong. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Most of the people in Hong Kong were Chinese, but there were Indians and Europeans, merchants and missionaries, selling strange to natives religion to save their souls and opium to addle them until the reckoning. Into this a stamp with a portrait of Queen Victoria, to remind the colonials of home and their higher duty.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 10 cent stamp issued by the crown colony of Hong Kong in 1890. This was the first Hong Kong stamp issue in 1862 and many versions and denominations existed until the same basic stamp was redrawn with King Edward VII in 1903. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25 used. A blue-green mint version of this 10 cent stamp is worth $2,000.

Hong Kong Island passed to Great Britain as a result of the Opium Wars after the island was used as a staging point for the British Indian Army. Great Britain had been running a huge trade deficit with China and hit upon trading mainly Indian grown opium that was legal in the British Empire for the silver needed to buy Chinese tea and other goods. The Chinese authorities understandably did not want their people addicted to opium and were enjoying the trade surplus so a series of wars were fought that were won by the British Empire. Eventually additional land on the mainland was taken to make the island more defensible.

The island at first just had a small number of Chinese fisherman but the trading post colony quickly attracted a large number of Chinese and Indians. The British set up schools for the Chinese that were founded under the guise of Christian missionary work. Sir Fredrick Lugard, the colonial governor had the idea to expand the medical school into a proper University to rival a school the Prussians had founded in Shanghai. He enlisted the help of Parsi Indian businessman Sir Hormusje Naorojee Mody. Parsis were Zoroastrian  Persians who had emigrated to India from Persia prior to the British during the Mughal time. He put up personally half the money on condition that others donated matching funds. The University was a big success with Sun Yat Sen being an early graduate and even today is one of the top universities in Asia. You may recall Lugard from his earlier work on behalf of the British East Africa Company as The Philatelist wrote about here. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/07/imperial-british-east-africa-company-1890-another-company-fails-to-administer-a-colony/. No mention of Lugard attempting his blood brother schtick with the Chinese in Hong Kong, for good reason.

Late 19th century southern China was beset with an outbreak of the bubonic plague. This terrified the British in Hong Kong. They viewed Chinese personal habits and sanitation as disgusting and now quite dangerous. Chinese threw their refuse into the street that was taken by the flooding rains into the water supply. To avoid this hazard  British and other Europeans kept moving ever higher up the hill on Hong Kong Island in the hopes of better water. When their settlement reached the crest of the hill, the colonial government passed a Peak District Reservation Ordinance that forbid Chinese from living near the top of the hill. This is not something that could be done today but succeeded for at least the Europeans. 24,000 Hong Kong residents got the plague. It was 90% fatal, but very few were Europeans.

Lugard is most famous rightly for the University of Hong Kong but came close to changing Hong Kong forever. He offered return of certain territories to China in return for making the 99 year lease of the new territories permanent. Remember it was the pending end of the 99 year lease that lead to Great Britain turning over Hong Kong in it’s entirety to China in 1997. Lugard’s offer was not well received in China.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

In the early eighties, people in Hong Kong began to worry about the end of the British lease of the new territories. How well this was handled was a credit to China and Britain. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is excellent. As one of the last colonies, it follows the tradition of taking on a more local flavor. It also is respectful toward China, in a way that hints at a smooth transition. If the transition to Chinese sovereignty had gone poorly, this stamp would look foolish. Instead time has vindicated the stamp, and the efforts of those on both sides.

Todays stamp is issue A102, a 50 cent stamp issued by the British colony of Hong Kong on November 18th, 1987. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that depict traditional Chinese folk costumes. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The boom in the value of mainland Chinese stamps has not yet stretched to include Hong Kong. I am surprised by this as it is the type of place that many diverse people have spent time in and therefore may want to collect the stamps. It may have to do with a notion in China that Chinese from Hong Kong think themselves superior.

Britain acquired Hong Kong in perpetuity in the opium wars in the 19th century. The complicating factor was that they acquired New Territories in 1898 by the method of a 99 year lease. Throughout the time of colony status, the vast bulk of the residents were ethnically Chinese. Indeed there were more Filipino and Indonesians that often worked as servants than British.

Around 1980, it became clear that something had to be done in regard to the new territory lease that was to expire in 1998. China made it clear that it intended to not renew the lease and indeed expected to have the whole of Hong Kong revert to Chinese sovereignty. This made Hong Kong residents fearful as they had greatly prospered under British rule. The property values in Hong Kong were quite high. As the standard mortgage at the time was 15 years, it was thought that the issue had to be resolved 15 years before the lease was up.

The colony was not easily defended militarily and indeed most of the food and water supply came from China. Combined with the ethnic Chinese roots of most of the people meant there was no realistic way for Britain to hold on to the colony. Luckily for Hong Kong, Margaret Thatcher and Deng Zhou Ping worked out a good deal for the residents. Hong Kong would be allowed to keep it’s separate economic and judicial system including it’s own money. It was also protected from waves of mainland Chinese being allowed to move there. Ethnic Chinese were allowed automatic Chinese citizenship and foreign workers including British were not removed. Some were disappointed that regular British citizenship was not offered to Hong Kong citizens. Since there were over 5 million people in Hong Kong, this was simply too much to ask of Great Britain. The transition of the whole colony went smoothly in 1997 to the credit of all involved.

Well my drink is empty so I will poor another to toast the late Margaret Thatcher, the late Deng Zhuo Ping, and the still with us last British governor Chris Patton. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.