1
海國大通以來，異域僑民，恆自設信局。 咸豐十一年訂約，駐京公使郵件，初與總理衙門交驛代寄。 同治五年，改由總稅務司匯各駐京公使文件，遞天津寄上海。 光緒五年，增設封河後由天津至牛庄、煙台、鎮江三路郵差。 迄十一年，郵務愈繁，總稅務司乃於天津、鎮江、上海各稅務司處專員理之。 此總稅務兼理郵遞之權輿也。
After China opened broadly to the maritime world, foreign residents habitually set up their own letter offices. Under the treaties concluded in the eleventh year of Xianfeng, diplomatic mail for foreign ministers in Beijing was at first forwarded through relay exchange with the Zongli Yamen. In the fifth year of Tongzhi, the Inspector General of Customs took over collecting documents from all resident ministers and sent them via Tianjin to Shanghai. In the fifth year of Guangxu, three courier routes were added for the frozen-river season, running from Tianjin to Niuzhuang, Yantai, and Zhenjiang. By the eleventh year mail traffic had grown heavy enough that the Inspector General placed dedicated staff at the customs houses in Tianjin, Zhenjiang, and Shanghai to handle it. This marked the beginning of the Inspector General's concurrent oversight of postal delivery.
2
初，光緒二年，總稅務司英人赫德建議創辦郵政。 四年，始設送信官局於北京、天津、煙台、牛庄，以赫德主其事，九江、鎮江亦繼設局。 是為中國試辦郵政之始。 十六年，命通商口岸推廣舉辦。 十九年，北洋大臣李鴻章、南洋大臣劉坤一以各國增設各地信局，妨推廣之路，請速籌善策。 總署付赫德議。
As early as the second year of Guangxu, the British Inspector General Robert Hart proposed creating a national postal service. In the fourth year, official mail bureaus were opened in Beijing, Tianjin, Yantai, and Niuzhuang under Hart's direction, and Jiujiang and Zhenjiang soon followed. This was the start of China's experimental postal service. In the sixteenth year, the court ordered the service extended at the treaty ports. In the nineteenth year, Li Hongzhang and Liu Kunyi reported that foreign powers were opening letter offices everywhere, blocking China's expansion, and asked for prompt planning of an effective response. The Zongli Yamen referred the matter to Hart for discussion.
3
二十一年十二月，署南洋大臣張之洞疏請舉辦郵政。 略言：「泰西各國視郵政重同鐵路，特設郵政大臣綜理。 取資甚微，獲利甚鉅。 即以英國而論，一歲所收之費，當中銀三四千萬兩。 各國通行，莫不視為巨帑。 且權操於上，有所統一，利商利民，而即以利國。 近來英、法、美、德、日本先後在上海設立彼國郵局，其餘各口岸亦於領事署內兼設郵局，侵我大權，攘我大利，實背萬國通例。 光緒十一年間，前浙江寧紹台道薛福成據委員李奎條陳，請中國自行設局，以挽利權，並經稅務司葛顯禮前往香港、日本，向彼國商議，收回上海所設英、日兩國郵局，已有端倪。 南洋大臣曾國荃曾據咨總理衙門，飭總稅務司赫德議復辦法。 赫德亦謂此舉為裕國便民大政，陳有要端七事。 並稱須有奏准飭辦之明文，使各國皆知系中國國家所設，即可商令各國將在中國所設之郵局撤回，並可商入萬國信會之舉。 查各關試辦郵遞有年，未能推行及遠。 外國所設信局，並未裁撤。 良由稅關所辦郵遞，與國家所設，體制不同，故推廣每多窒礙。 現復與葛顯禮面加籌議，知其情形熟悉，各關稅務司熟諳辦法者當不乏人。 請飭總理衙門，轉飭赫德，妥議章程開辦。 即推行沿江沿海各省，兼及內地水陸各路。 務令各國將所設信局全撤，並與各國聯會，彼此傳遞文函，互相聯絡。 如果認真舉行，各國在華所設信局必肯裁撤。 此各國通行之辦法，有利無弊，誠理財之大端，便民之要政也。」
In the twelfth month of the twenty-first year, Acting Southern Seas Minister Zhang Zhidong submitted a memorial asking the court to establish a postal service. He wrote in summary: "Western nations treat the postal service as they do railways, appointing dedicated postal ministers to run it. Rates are minimal, yet the returns are enormous. Britain alone collects fees in a single year equivalent to thirty or forty million taels of Chinese silver. Every country that runs it treats it as a major source of revenue. Moreover, authority stays with the state under unified control, helping merchants and the public—and thereby strengthening the nation. Recently Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and Japan have opened their own post offices in Shanghai one after another, and at other treaty ports they run post offices inside consulates—usurping China's authority, diverting its profits, and violating international norms. In the eleventh year of Guangxu, Xue Fucheng, formerly intendant of the Ning-Shao-Tai circuit, acting on a proposal by Li Kui, urged China to open its own offices to recover commercial rights; Commissioner Gell had also gone to Hong Kong and Japan to negotiate withdrawal of the British and Japanese post offices in Shanghai, and progress was already visible. Southern Seas Minister Zeng Guoquan had already reported to the Zongli Yamen and directed Hart to draft a plan. Hart likewise called the project a major state policy to enrich the treasury and serve the public, outlining seven key points. He also insisted on an imperially approved order to implement the service, so foreign states would know it was a Chinese national institution—making it possible to negotiate withdrawal of their post offices in China and membership in the Universal Postal Union. The customs service had tried mail delivery for years without extending it very far. Foreign letter offices remained untouched. This was because customs-run mail differed institutionally from a national service, which repeatedly blocked expansion. I have met again with Gell to plan further; he knows the situation well, and plenty of customs commissioners at the ports understand how to operate the system. I ask that the Zongli Yamen instruct Hart to draft proper regulations and launch the service. Extend it through the coastal and river provinces and across inland routes by land and water. Require foreign states to close their letter offices entirely, join the international union, and exchange mail with one another. If the plan is pursued seriously, foreign letter offices in China will surely be withdrawn. This is standard practice worldwide—beneficial and without drawback—a major fiscal measure and an essential public service."
4
總理衙門疏言：「光緒二年間，赫德因議滇案，請設送信官局，為郵政發端之始。 四年，擬開設京城、天津、煙台、牛庄、上海五處，略仿泰西郵政辦法，交赫德管理。 嗣因各國紛紛在上海暨各口設立郵局，慮占華民生計。 九年，德國使臣巴蘭德來，請派員赴會。 十一年，曾國荃咨稱州同李圭條陳郵政利益，並據寧海關稅務司葛顯禮申稱，香港英監督有原將上海英局改歸華關自辦之議。 十六年三月，劄行赫德，以所擬辦法無損民局，即就通商各口推廣辦理。 擬俟辦有規模，再行請旨定設。 此各稅關試辦郵遞之始也。 十八年冬，赫德以數年來創辦艱難，若再不奏請設立郵政局，恐將另生枝節。 十九年五月，李鴻章、劉坤一稱江海關道聶緝槼稟稱，上海英、美工部局現議增設各口信局，異日中國再議推廣，必更維艱。 考泰西郵政，自乾隆初年普國始議代民經理，統以大臣，位齊卿貳。 各國以為上下交通，爭相仿效。 葛顯禮呈送萬國郵政條例，聯約者六十餘國。 大端以先購圖記紙，黏貼信面，送局以抵信資，其費每封口信重五錢者，取銀四分，道遠酌加。 其取資既微，又有定期。 百貨騰跌，萬里起居，隨時徑達。 如有事時，並可查禁敵國私函。 誠如張之洞所稱『權有統一，為利商利民即以利國』之要政也。 溯自十八年以來，美國一國郵局清單一紙，所收銀圓至六十四兆二十萬九千四百九十圓之多。 張之洞所舉英國收數當中銀三四千萬兩，尚系約略之辭。 利侔鐵路，誠為不虛。 且西國郵政與電局相輔，以火車輪船為遞送。 近來法國設立公司輪船十艘，通名信船，遇口停泊，信包未到，不能開碇，其鄭重如此。 中國工商旅居新舊金山、檀香山、新嘉坡、檳榔嶼、古巴、秘魯者，不下數百萬人，往往有一紙家書十年不達者，緣郵會有扣阻無約國文函之例也。 中國郵政若行，即以獲資置備輪船出洋，藉遞信以流通商貨。 其挽回利權，所關尤鉅。 臣等博訪周諮，知為當務之急。 爰於十九年劄飭赫德詳加討論。 上年六月至十二月，復與總稅務司面商屢次，先後據其遞到四項章程，計四十四款。 臣等詳加披閱，大致釐然，自應及時開辦。 應請旨敕下臣衙門，轉飭總稅務司赫德專司其事，仍由臣衙門總其成，即照赫德所擬章程，定期開辦。 應制單紙，亦由赫德一手經理。 遇有應行酌改增添之處，隨時呈由臣衙門核定，務期有利無弊。 至赫德呈內稱萬國聯約郵政公會，系在瑞士國，應備照會，寄由出使大臣轉交其國執政大臣，為入會之據。 自可援萬國通例，轉告各國，將所設信局一律撤回。 以上所議，如蒙俞允，即由臣衙門欽遵分別咨照劄飭辦理。 俟辦有頭緒，即推行內地水陸各路，剋期興辦。 並咨行沿江沿海及內地各直省將軍督撫知照，屆期即將簡要辦法，飭地方州縣曉諭商民，咸知利便。 凡有民局，仍舊開設，不奪小民之利。 並准赴官局報明領單，照章幫同遞送，期與各電局相為表裡。 其江海輪船及將來鐵路所通處所，應如何交寄文信，由總稅務司與各局員會商辦理。 官郵政局歲入暨開支款目，由總稅務司按結申報，臣衙門匯核奏報。」 奉旨：如所議行。 此開辦郵政之始末也。 自是遍通全國，上下交受其利。
The Zongli Yamen reported: "In the second year of Guangxu, while handling the Yunnan affair, Hart proposed official mail bureaus—the first step toward a postal service. In the fourth year, offices were planned for Beijing, Tianjin, Yantai, Niuzhuang, and Shanghai, modeled loosely on Western postal practice and placed under Hart. Foreign powers then opened post offices in Shanghai and other ports, raising fears they would crowd out Chinese livelihoods. In the ninth year, German minister Brandt asked China to send representatives to the conference. In the eleventh year, Zeng Guoquan relayed Li Gui's memorial on postal benefits and Gell's report that the British superintendent in Hong Kong had once proposed turning Shanghai's British office over to Chinese customs. In the third month of the sixteenth year, Hart was instructed that the proposed rules would not harm private letter offices and that the service should be extended at treaty ports at once. The plan was to wait until the trial had matured, then seek imperial approval for permanent establishment. This was how customs trial mail service began. In the winter of the eighteenth year, Hart warned that years of difficult startup meant further delay in petitioning for a postal bureau would invite new complications. In the fifth month of the nineteenth year, Li Hongzhang and Liu Kunyi relayed Nie Jigui's report that British and American post offices in Shanghai planned new branch offices at every port—making any later Chinese expansion far harder. Western postal systems began when Prussia, in the early Qianlong era, proposed state management on the public's behalf under a minister of vice-ministerial rank. Other nations saw it as binding government and society together and rushed to copy the model. Gell submitted the Universal Postal Convention, signed by more than sixty countries. The main practice is to buy stamped paper, affix it to the envelope, and present the letter at the post office; a sealed letter of five mace costs four fen of silver, with surcharges for distance. Rates are low, and delivery runs on fixed schedules. Whether prices swing or family news travels ten thousand li, it can arrive directly and on time. In wartime, private enemy correspondence can also be inspected and stopped. It is indeed the essential policy Zhang Zhidong described: unified authority that benefits commerce and the public—and thereby the state. Since the eighteenth year, a single U.S. postal revenue statement listed collections of sixty-four trillion, two hundred nine thousand, four hundred ninety dollars. Zhang Zhidong's figure of thirty or forty million taels for Britain was itself only an approximation. Profits comparable to railways are no exaggeration. Western post offices also work with telegraph bureaus, delivering mail by rail and steamship. France recently launched ten company steamers known as mail ships; at each port they would not sail until the mail bags arrived—such was the priority they gave to mail. Millions of Chinese merchants and workers live in San Francisco, Honolulu, Singapore, Penang, Cuba, and Peru, yet family letters sometimes take ten years—because the postal union holds mail from non-member states. Once China's postal service operates, its revenue can fund overseas steamers and use mail routes to move trade goods. Recovering commercial rights would matter even more. We have consulted widely and know this must be treated as urgent. Accordingly, in the nineteenth year Hart was ordered to study the matter in detail. From the sixth through the twelfth month of last year we met repeatedly with the Inspector General, who submitted four regulatory drafts totaling forty-four articles. We have reviewed them carefully; the main points are clear, and the service should open promptly. We ask that the throne order our yamen to direct Hart to run the service while we retain overall supervision, opening on schedule under Hart's regulations. Official forms and stamped stationery should likewise be handled entirely by Hart. Any needed revisions should be submitted to our yamen for approval, ensuring benefit without harm. Hart's memorial noted that the Universal Postal Union sits in Switzerland; China should prepare a diplomatic note for its envoy to deliver to the Swiss government as credentials for membership. China could then cite international practice and notify foreign states to withdraw their letter offices entirely. If approved, our yamen will carry out the plan through the appropriate notices and orders. Once operations begin, inland routes by land and water will be extended on a fixed schedule. Provincial authorities along the coast, rivers, and interior will be notified so that, when the service opens, local officials can explain the rules to merchants and the public. Private letter offices may continue operating so the public is not deprived of their livelihood. They may also register at official bureaus, receive forms, and assist delivery under the rules, coordinating with telegraph offices. How mail should be handed over on steamers and future railways will be arranged by the Inspector General in consultation with bureau staff. The Inspector General will report postal revenue and expenses periodically; our yamen will compile them for imperial memorial." The throne replied: Proceed as proposed. Such was the story of how the postal service was launched. Thereafter it spread nationwide, benefiting government and people alike.
5
其郵政區域，北部東起朝鮮、渤海，西訖新疆、青海，北起西比利亞、蒙古，南訖江蘇、湖北、四川，而盛京、吉林、黑龍江、直隸、山東、山西、河南、陝西、甘肅括焉。 中部東起浙江、福建，西訖西藏、雲南，北起安徽、陝西、河南、甘肅，南訖廣東、廣西、雲南，而江西、湖北、湖南、四川、貴州括焉。 東部即長江下游，東起黃海，西訖湖北、江西，北起山東、河南，南訖福建，而江蘇、安徽、浙江括焉。 南部東起台灣，西訖緬甸，北起江西、貴州、湖南、四川，南訖越南，而福建、浙江、廣東、廣西、雲南括焉。
The northern postal region ran from Korea and the Bohai eastward to Xinjiang and Qinghai westward, from Siberia and Mongolia northward to Jiangsu, Hubei, and Sichuan southward, covering Shengjing, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. The central region stretched from Zhejiang and Fujian eastward to Tibet and Yunnan westward, from Anhui, Shaanxi, Henan, and Gansu northward to Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan southward, including Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, and Guizhou. The eastern region was the lower Yangzi basin, from the Yellow Sea east to Hubei and Jiangxi west, Shandong and Henan north to Fujian south, covering Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang. The southern region ran from Taiwan east to Burma west, from Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, and Sichuan north to Vietnam south, including Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan.
6
其郵局，則總局、副總局、分局、支局、代辦處，總計六千二百又一。 其郵路里數，則郵差郵路、民船郵路、輪船郵路、火車郵路，總計三十八萬一千里。 每面積百里，通郵線路七里又四九。 其郵件，則通常、特種，總計三萬萬六千二百二十一萬六千二百三十九。 其包裹，則通常、特種，總計件數三百零二萬二千八百七十二，重量一千零六萬零四百三十三啟羅。 其匯兌，則旱匯局、火匯局，總計七百五十八，匯入銀數三百九十三萬六千兩，兌出銀數三百九十八萬四千二百兩，總計銀數七百九十二萬零二百兩。 歲入經常二百五十二萬八千五百餘兩，臨時六百八十三萬五千八百餘兩。 歲出經常二百八十二萬七千八百餘兩，臨時六百四十六萬六千五百餘兩。 出入兩抵，實盈六萬九千九百餘兩。 此據宣統三年統計也。
Postal offices—head offices, sub-head offices, branches, sub-branches, and agencies—numbered 6,201 in all. Postal routes totaled 381,000 li, including courier, junk, steamer, and railway lines. Every hundred square li of territory had 7.49 li of postal lines. Ordinary and special mail totaled 362,216,239 pieces. Ordinary and special parcels numbered 3,022,872 pieces, weighing 10,604,033 kilograms. Remittance offices—land and railway—numbered 758; inward remittances totaled 3,936,000 taels, outward payments 3,984,200 taels, and combined turnover 7,920,200 taels. Regular annual revenue exceeded 2,528,500 taels, with temporary revenue exceeding 6,835,800 taels. Regular annual expenditure exceeded 2,827,800 taels, with temporary expenditure exceeding 6,466,500 taels. After offsetting income and expenditure, the net surplus exceeded 69,900 taels. These figures come from the third year of the Xuantong reign.
7
其各國郵局設於中國各口岸者，英國則上海、天津、漢口、煙台、福州、廈門、廣州、汕頭、寧波九處。 德國則上海、北京、天津、漢口、煙台、福州、廈門、廣州、汕頭、南京、濟南、青島、宜昌、鎮江十四處。 法國則上海、北京、天津、漢口、煙台、福州、廈門、廣州、寧波、重慶、瓊州、北海、龍州、蒙自十四處。 日本國則上海、北京、天津、漢口、煙台、福州、廈門、廣州、汕頭、重慶、南京、牛庄、唐沽、沙市、蘇州、杭州十六處。 美國則上海一處。 俄國則上海、北京、天津、漢口、煙台五處。 此其大略也。
Foreign post offices at Chinese treaty ports included nine British offices: Shanghai, Tianjin, Hankou, Yantai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shantou, and Ningbo. Germany maintained fourteen offices: Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou, Yantai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shantou, Nanjing, Jinan, Qingdao, Yichang, and Zhenjiang. France had fourteen offices: Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou, Yantai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Chongqing, Qiongzhou, Beihai, Longzhou, and Mengzi. Japan operated sixteen offices: Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou, Yantai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shantou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Niuzhuang, Tanggu, Shashi, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. The United States maintained a single office in Shanghai. Russia had five offices: Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hankou, and Yantai. Such was the general picture.