China Stamps - 1996-4 , Scott 2654 The Centenary Birthday of Post of China, S/S, MNH, F-VF - (92654)

China Stamps - 1996-4 , Scott 2654 The Centenary Birthday of Post of China, S/S, MNH, F-VF : China's postal service is developed from the courier station service in the ancient times. The primitive communications means in the Shang Dynasty in the 11th century BC was by hearing the drums and watching beacon-fire, which conveyed a message or border alarm in the Zhou Dynasty, courier stations and the beacon towers co-existed. The Qin Dynasty ( 221-207 BC) unified the characters, and constructed many postal routes and postal pavilions to further boost the development of postal system. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC - AD 220), which followed the postal system in the Qin Dynasty, built a relatively complete postal network by setting up a postal station every 30 li ( 15 kilometers ). Then in the Southern and Northern Dynasties ( 420-581). Postal law was issued.The ancient postal system climbed to its height of development in the Tang Dynasty ( 618-907), when more then 1,600 postal stations were built nationwide, and 300 li ( 150 kilometers ) for a courier was a day's journey. The remaining dynasties in Chinese history followed the conventions, among which the Yuan Dynasty ( 1271-1378) was famous in the world at that time for its large scale and the number of postal stations, and developed postal routes. A courier in the Qing Dynasty ( 1644-1911) could travel 600 li ( 300 kilometers )per day and night.The modern Chinese postal service was a business communications organization run by the State to serve people in 1866, the Customs was entrusted to concurrently handle the postal business, and in 1878, it was empowered to run the postal service on trial basis. And finally in 1896, the country's postal service was formally launched.