Russian post offices in China

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35 kopecks, 1904
35 kopecks, 1904

The Russian post offices in China were a collection of post offices established by Imperial Russia in various cities of China beginning in 1870.

The first offices were in Beijing, Kalgan, Tientsin, and Urga (in Mongolia), all in areas near to Russian-controlled territory. In the 1890s additional offices opened in Shanghai, Chefoo, Hankow, Port Arthur, and Dairen.

Initially, the offices used the regular stamps of Russia, but in 1899, they received stamps overprinted with "KITAI". This overprint was applied to all types of stamps up to 1916, including the varieties on horizontally laid, vertically laid, and wove paper. The overprint itself was in black, blue, or red, generally being chosen to contrast with the stamp colors. Most of these types are commonly available today (less than one US$); the most problematic is the blue overprint on the 14-kopeck wove paper variety, whose existence has been questioned.

25 cents on 25 kopecks, 1917
25 cents on 25 kopecks, 1917

Although the offices had always accepted Chinese currency at par, a Chinese cent being considered equivalent to a kopeck, in 1917 the overprint was changed to clarify the situation, simply consisting of the value in Chinese money and using Latin letters. The valuation was still one-to-one. A later round of overprints, in 1920, changed to use a horizontal overprint in mixed case, but these saw little use, the Chinese post offices being closed in that year.

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