Section 2 Appearance of Special Public Communication

By Ming Dynasty, agricultural production level had improved a lot, which brought about the development of handicraft industry and commerce. The canal which linked the transportation between south and north, and the Huitong River between Beijing and Tianjin were both unblocked in the 15th century. Transportation conditions improved a lot, civilian exchange and merchandise circulation range expanded. which raised stricter requirements on message delivery. Specified public communication organization came into being at the opportune historic moment.

A. Public post office:

Former site and sign board of "Postal Agency"
in Guiyang, established in 1909

In YongIe period (1403~1424 A.D) of Ming Dynasty, owing to the creation of capitalism, public post offices were set up in some developed towns and cities at Southeast coastal areas, such as Ningbo, Hangzhou and Jiaxing areas of Zhejiang, and gradually developed toward inland. In Jiaqing, Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, especially after "the Opium War", China society was turbulent, there were great changes in economy. Large amount of foreign merchandise rushed into China, gradually destroyed the feudal economy basis. The relations of minor Producer in the countryside with merchandise market were getting closer and closer. In such a situation, trade between areas developed to some extent which increased the requirements for message delivery and material transportation. Meanwhile, because there were 5 ports having trade relations with foreign countries, lap-sided flourish appeared in coastal areas, which Promoted the development of public communication industry. There were combinations and competitions between different public post offices. For the convenience of customers, there were many new measures. In Tongzhi and Guangxu period, Public communication office went into flourishing period. Public post office was mainly divided into two classes' one was inland, its operating range was limited within one or two provinces, delivering letters by postmen, horses or ships. The other was ship office, delivery letters by ships which came and went between provinces in coastal or river side areas. It was divided into 3 routes: North, Yangste and South, with wide operating areas. The number of staff and setup of positions all depended on the business quantity and the scale of operating area, with as few as 3-5 persons, as many as over 10 persons. The capital of the public post office was as high as tens of thousands, as low as several hundreds Yuan. some were invested independently, some were invested jointly, some with branch organizations, some not. There were no subordination relations between each office, but they cooperated with each other, forming a lose organization. Its business range was wide, not only delivered letters and parcels, issued newspapers, transported large merchandise, but also exchanged money, conveyed gold and silver. The office laid stress on reputations, if losses were caused by the office's error, it would compensate for it completely, which made banks feels safety. It emphasized on the efficiency in letter delivery. Once the ship arrived at the port, mails were immediately taken over and sorted, then sot Out, which was appreciated by customers. Its service was good, with simple procedures. Generally it would fetch or even wait for the letters, there were Postmen on duty at night, to handle the business at any time. The charges mainly depended on time limit. Express and urgent mails could be sent by special persons within the time limit. Preference and convenience were provided to important clients and large amount of business. In modern times, the situation of coexistence of Public POst office, delivery and post gradually formed. Public communication was mainly undertaken by public post office. As a socialized large product organization, modern post had the advantage of combined operation all over the whole network. It showed strong vitality from the beginning. It made use of the measures of administration intervention by government and enforcing operation management to fully compete with public post office, which made public communication industry decline and shrink. In 1928, the government made a decision that by 1930 all public post offices would be canceled, which couldn't be carried out due to the strong opposition by public post office. In Nov. 1931, the government made the decision again that by the end of 1934 all public post offices should be closed. Thus all public post offices which had over 500 years history were closed down around 1935.

B. Overseas post office which handled communication and remittance of overseas Chinese

Early in the Song, Yuan period, there were many Chinese people going abroad seeking a livelihood. By the middle of 14th century, Chinese workers in Southeast Asia had reached over 100,000. At the beginning, overseas Chinese selected several persons to bring money and letters back home by monsoon. Later those who specially undertook the errand of money and letter delivery were called overseas "visitors". By 16th century, because western colonist invaded Southeast Asia, the life and property of overseas Chinese were seriously threatened and destroyed. "Overseas visitor" industry was once stopped until 19th century. By then, because large amount of Chinese workers went abroad, "overseas visitor" industry was active again, and gradually developed into overseas post office which specially handled letters and remittances.

According to the existing information, the earliest public communication organization for overseas Chinese was "Deli Post Office" set up in Chaozhou, Guangdong, in the 8th year of Xianfeng period (1858). Overseas post offices were also set up in seaports and hometowns of overseas Chinese of Guangdong, Fujian, as well as places abroad with large amount of overseas. Inl898, Philippine Chinese Guo Youpin set up "Tianyi" post office in Zhangzhou and set up remittance offices in Manila, Singapore, Thailand, Burma and Xiamen, which were the earliest organizations on overseas remittance. By 1934, there were total 322 overseas post offices and 2,363 branches all over the country.

By them, on some overseas letters only "sent to mother" were written, no definite names of receivers or only receivers were written with no clear address. For such letters, common post offices couldn't deliver while overseas post office used "specific number" to check the detail address and name of the receiver, and delivered faster than post office. Its good and careful services gained trust and support from overseas Chinese and their family members. When the government of China announced to cancel all public post offices, overseas post office was allowed to continue its business because China Post couldn't solve the Problem of communication and remittance of overseas Chinese.

After the People's Republic of China was established, to serve overseas Chinese, convenient for remittance, the government carried out the policy of combination of unity and administration toward overseas post office. In 1950, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (M.P.T) notified overseas post offices to -register and allowed them to operate legally. Later, M.P.T cooperated with national bank to carry out the administration method of "unified management, separate operation, independent accounting and solely held economical responsibilities" toward the overseas post offices. Under the leadership of national economy, these overseas post offices gradually became the commission organization of national post.

C. Ma Xiang Yue

It was a kind of ancient public communication organization. It was said that in late Ming and early Qing, many peasants in Hubei were forced to move to Sichuan to reclaim waste land. Each year, they would select several persons to return their home town, bringing local products and letters to and from. These persons were impartial, profuse-keeping, who were called ''Ma Xiangyue". "Ma" means Ma Cheng county, "Xiang Yue" was the administrators who were responsible for mediating a settlement in countryside.

Another kind of Ma Xiang Yue was created in about Xianfeng Period of Qing Dynasty. The ancestor of the creator Chen Hongyi had been "Xiangyue", while he himself carried on the manner, plus his pockmarked face, he was called "Ma Xiang Yue". Honest and diligent, Chen Hongyi gained the appreciation and assistant by official Tang Esheng and set up post office in Kunming which ated in southwest areas for nearly one hundred years. It was stopped before the Liberation in 1949.

At the beginning when "Ma Xiang Yue" was created, all kinds of public post industry organization were competing with each other. It surpassed its predecessors with its good management and reputation. Firstly, it protected clients materials, emphasized on parcel, ensured high level service quality. In its nearly one hundred years operation, its excellent services kept and gradually enlarged stable clients and promoted the standardization of cargo transportation system. Secondly, it strictly kept to the contract. Except for irrevocable accidents, it carried out compensation regulations, which was an important factor for the good reputation of "Ma Xiang Yue". Thirdly, it handled all kinds of commodities and letters, no matter its kind, quantities, size, weight. They would meet client's requirements by every possible means. Fourthly, internal management adopted the regulations of level-by-level responsibilities with clear reward and punishment to ensure on time delivery of commodities.

Besides public post office, overseas post office, Ma Xiangyue, there was another kind of organization on public communication. "Xinke" which engaged in letters, silver and money, as well as furniture and animals. "Xinke" was managed by one person or cooperated by 2-3 persons who went through remote villages where public post office couldn't reach, mainly in Ningbo, Zhejiang. By the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), it had formed a certain scale and set up "Ningbo Union" with 142 members, which registered at Ningbo Post Administration Bureau. In 1934, public post office was ordered to close down, so was Xinke. When the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, transportation between Ningbo and Shanghai was blocked, Xinke was active again. After the People's Republic of China was founded, in July 1950, post administration Bureau of Zhejiang province instructed to cancel Xinke industry. By 1953, it appeared again with total 76 persons. Though it was canceled but it didn't stop its activities. By 1963, it was still active. Later, with the development of post industry, it stopped its activities.

In the situation that post delivery didn't engage in private communication, private-owned communication organization undertook the tasks of civilian communication, which solve the difficulty of civil communication to some extent However, its organization was scattered, with little profit, and couldn't form unified civil communication network. Therefore, after new post appeared, it couldn't contend with Qing Post and gradually died out.