stamps first  appeared in China after the  Opium  War in 1840. Some  Western
      countries  established  posts  in China's  trading ports and issued stamps. These
      stamps were used  mainly for  business  exchanges  and were not  issued by  China's
      Ministry of Posts. Sowe cannot regard them as Chinese stamps.
   
            The first set of real Chinese stamps came into being in 1878 when the Post
      Office of the Qing Dynasty issued the DalongorGiant Dragonstamps.They were printed
      from copperplate  and bore  the picture of a huge  dragon  against a  background  of
      clouds and waves.This set was issued three times:in 1878, 1882 and 1883.The yellow
      five-fen stamp with a wide margin, issued in 1883, is the rarest. Only one unused
      whole page exists in China and they are considered a treasure in Chinese stamps.
   
            Today,commemorative stamps are quite popular in China.The first commemorative
      sheet of Chinese stamps came ort in N ovember 1984. That was when the whole counery
      celebrated the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. She was the true ruler of the
      country at that time. This set is known in China as Long Life stamps. It consisted
      of nine different face value stamps. Each ahd a color variation and bore a picture
      of a dragon, a carp, a sailing boat, a peony flower, an evergreen, a large peach,
      or the Chiese character, shou(寿) ,meaninglongevity Some of these stamps are hard
      to find today.
   
            Regular stamps for common people's everyday use did not come out until Nove-
      mber 16 1897. The first set of regular stamps was issued by the Post Office of the
      Qing Dynasty and was made in Japan from stoneplate.The fce value of this set of 12
      stamps ranged from half a fen to five yuan, based on the money system of that time.
   
            In 1912, Dr. sun Yat-sen(孙逸仙)became the temporary president of the newly-
      founded Republic.He showed great concem for stamp design. Once he wrote about this
      in his diary. Then, a  commemorative sheet and a  regular set  were  designed. The
      commemorative bore the  picture of Dr. Sun Yat-sen while the  regular  stamp had a
      picture of an airship. but the stamps were not isued recause yuan shikai took over
      the post of president of the republic and he insisted that his portrait be printed
      on stamps.
   
            After  dixcussion  in the  Parliament,  it was  decided that two  sets  of
      commemorative stamps would be issued, one had Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's picture , another
      Yuan Shikai's. Each set comprised 12 stamps. The two sets shared the same color,
      the came design and the same face values.
   
            The first set of regular stamps by the Ministry of Posts of the Republic of
      China was finally issued in 1913. The set of 19 stamps had pictures of a sailing
      boat, a barvest scene, and a glazed tile memorial archway in Beijing.
   
            The 1920s were the  period  when China  suffered  from chaos caused  by the
      warlores.On July 1,1921,the government controlled by the Northern Warlords issued
      the first aircraft stamps.The set of five stamps had a picture of a black airplane
      skimming over the  Great Wall. This is alxo known by  philatelists  as the first
      aviationissue.
   
            On October 1,1949, the People's Republic of China was founded. On October 8,
      New China issued the first sete of stamps to celebrate the convening of the first
      Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.On January 1,1950, the Ministry
      of Postal Services was set up in Beijing, opening a new page in China's postal his-
      tory.
   
            Now, China's stamps are like a mini-encyclopedia,reflecting China's politics,
      economy, culture,science,history and geography.The special stamps and commemorative
      stamps are especally appealing to stamp collectors because of the unique artistic
      designs.