Chapter 7 Ancient and Modern Public Communication

Ancient Chinese post system was the special communication organization for government, which only delivered official documents and not private letters. Public communication which was organized by individuals developed slowly. By the coddle stage of Ming Dynasty, with the progress of productive forces and the increase of the requirements for public communication, private-owned post offices were created. By late Qing, the number of private-owned post offices had exceeded several thousands, forming their own communication network, which became the public communication organization in parallel with official posts.

Section 1 Public Communication before the Ming Dynasty

Public communication of pre-Qin period was recorded in Shijing, but not clearly. The unearthed private letters on wooden slips of Qin soldiers from the No.4 Qin Tomb in Hubei province are the historical proof of the earliest public communication in China.

In the 800 years-long history of Western Han, Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, society was turbulent with frequent wars, public communication was more and more difficult. In the Sui Dynasty, after the canal was opened up, transportation in Southeast areas was getting flourishing, inns and hotels developed, public communication improved. By Tang Dynasty, society was stable with developed economy, public communication developed a lot. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan period in Tang Dynasty (741 A.D), there appeared "post donkey" between Changan and Luoyang which was specifically set up by individuals to deliver private letters. The range of private letters included private letters of officials, poetry of poets, civilian's private letters and money exchange between merchants of different places, which was called "flying money". It was recorded that after the Monk Tang Xuanzang returned from Indian peninsula, he continued to communicate with Indian Monks. However, after "the Rebellion of An-Shi", civilians along the Yellow River wandered about homelessly. In a depressed society, public communication was quite difficult. "Sending letters to Luoyang several bines and there is no response for ten years". After Song Dynasty was established, the chaos of the fighting between warlords in late Tong was ended, the country was reunified. A series of reforms was made toward post system. The old regulations was abolished. Private letters of officials could be delivered by the post. However, there were few persons who could enjoy such a Privilege. There was no change on the situation of difficult public communication.