Chapter 6 China's Accession to the Universal Postal Union

As an inter-governmental organization among the member countries to discuss the international postal affairs, the Universal Postal Union was founded in l 879, and was called originally the "General Postal Union". In 1878, it was changed into the "Universal Postal Union", known as the "UPU". In July, 1948, it became the specialized agency of the United Nations, responsible for the postal affairs. China is an ancient country standing in the east of the world, with a long history, large territory and a large population. In ancient times, China had a developed postal courier service, which had a big influence on other countries in the world. The development of modern postal services in China attracted the attention of the UPU. At the birth of the modern postal services, the Chinese postal authority declared that all the international mail should be handled according to the international postal convention and the various rules and regulations. China signed postal or parcel treaties with various countries to develop the international postal services.

Section 1 Participation in the Activities of UPU in Early Days

Before the 2nd UPU Congress was held in Paris in 1878, the French government invited China to attend the meeting. Due to the fact that postal services

were only set up in some customhouses, and that the postal route by horse was only available between Beijing and Tianjin, China didn't send any representatives to attend the meeting. Later, the growth of it was rather slow in about twenty years, and it never went beyond the service range of the twenty-four Customs Offices, China didn't satisfy the conditions to join the UPU. In 1896, when the Postal Office of the Qing Dynasty was set up, the Qing government delivered a note to Swiss government through the minister to Britain expressing the wish to join the UPU.

The Conference Hall of the 5th Meeting
of UPU in Washington, in 1897, second
to the right was Wu Tingfang, the Envoy of
Qing Government of China in USA

In 1897, the general director of the customs, Herd who was concurrently a postal general sent a telegraph to the international Bureau of the UPU, reporting the postal services in China and presented by means of diplomatic note through Premier's office, the Measurements signed with some member countries of the UPU concerning the exchange of mail items. This is the beginning of the relationship between China and the UPU. In 1897, when the sib UPU Congress was held in Washington, the Qing government accepted the invitation of the government of the United States and sent Wu Tingfang, the plenipotentiary resident imperial official to the United States, to attend the Congress. At the meeting, he reported the postal services in China in the capacity of the observer and explained why China could not attend the Congress. The main reason was that the modern post in China had started for a short time, and that it had not developed into full shape yet. His speech was focused on the difficulties at the beginning of the postal operation and the method to expand the Postal services. He also made it clear that the post offices that had been in operation were able to exchange mail with other countries, according to the regulations of the UPU.

In 1906, the 6th UPU Congress was held in Rome, Italy. At the invitation of the Italian government, the Chinese government sent the imperial plenipotentiary ambassador Huang Gao to go to UK as the observer, and sent He Cheng-clan, the deputy director of customs to go with Huang. In the speech delivered at the Congress, Huang Gao stated that since the previous UPU Washington Congress (in 1897), the 23rd year of emperor Guangxu, the postal services had been gradually expanded to 430 post offices and 1190 branch offices. Various agreements had been signed with France, Japan, India, Hong Kong, Germany, British Nada (Ó¢ÊôÄÇ´ï), Russia and Viet Nam. The postal business had taken form in China. He said China strongly hoped to join the UPU, and hoped that the UPU would accept China as a member country at the next Congress if all the conditions were met His speech won warm applause from all the participants. As a senior representative from Hungary, Hania (º«ÄáÑÅ) stood up and made a speech' "It is our wish that China could join the UPU right now". "We hope that at the next Congress, China, the oldest country with the largest population could be here as the member country, and that will be our delight. Now we should accept China's request, and allow her to join the UPU whenever she is ready." After his speech, British representative Barton(°ÍÕ¶Ù) stood up and said that he agreed to what Hungary delegate said. He wished that China could join the UPU at the next Congress. Delegates from various countries all hoped that China could accede to the UPU. The Congress reached a decision; "The Rome Congress should not stop the registration for China", so that China could join the UPU at any time as she wished.