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Local governments and postal officials successfully seized the opportunity to raise additional funds. Hubei province, for instance, introduced a rule that from 1 January 1993 a charge be made to finance postal development and a label was issued by a postmaster in Susong in support of China's bid for
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Philatelists prefer to collect these labels on cover as this gives the fullest information about the label and confirms genuine postal use. No definitive catalogue exists of all the labels used as the
Chinese government initially suppressed their display at stamp exhibitions and it is likely that
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Where printed labels were used they were of widely varying designs and could be of one, two or three parts to enable record keeping. Some were multi-coloured, perforated and similar to postage stamps like the label from Ankang shown above, others were crude productions in one colour similar to
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therefore requested an increase in postal rates but this was refused by the national government. The local governments were allowed, however, to levy an additional charge on certain outgoing mail items to defray their costs and in
January 1987 the first local postal surcharge label was used in
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In China, local provincial governments collect and supply the postal services but the charges are set by the national government. Increasing inflation meant that by 1987 the amount charged for postal services was less than the cost of providing those services.
121:, although locally produced, and not stamps of the central government of China. The charge levied may be seen as a form of local tax on each letter originating in a particular province, in which case they fall into the category of fiscal or
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the 2000 Olympic Games. As time went on more stamp-like labels were produced and they were often banned by the central government within days of issue. Some may well have been purely philatelic issues with no genuine function.
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The labels quickly became popular and, eventually, labels were issued in 25 different provinces. Around 1500 different labels are known. The rules set for their use were as follows:
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Recording the extra charge was done in a variety of ways, including manuscript marks, postal chop marks, extra postage stamps and printed labels.
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The charges only applied to items that had already had postage applied above the lowest rate, e.g. parcels and registered letters.
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The wide variety of the labels and their varying use mean that they defy easy philatelic classification. They are not strictly
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Collectors have used postcodes printed on the labels to indicate probable origins and as a method of classification.
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The use of the labels was never popular with the
Chinese government and eventually it was banned completely in 1999.
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many items remain to be discovered and catalogued. Much of what has been published in this area is in
Chinese.
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Illustrated
Catalogue of the Local Postal Surcharge Labels and Receipts of Hubei Province, P.R.C.
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The additional charge was to be noted on the item and the sender given a receipt.
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internal mail between
January 1987 and February 1999. They have also been called
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238:, Wuhan, China: Qintai Philatelic Society & The Thematists' Club, 2000.
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The labels were not to resemble postage stamps. (In practice many did)
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Illustrated
Catalogue of the Postal Surcharge of Guangdong Province
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The charges were to be created and collected locally.
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The charges were not to apply to international mail.
243:Catalogue added charge labels (ACL) in P.R. China
262:China Zip Codes For Province & Municipality
213:Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Part 17, China
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234:Ouyang, Charles C. & Zhu Hanchang. eds.
170:Postage stamps and postal history of China
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35:are a class of labels applied widely to
20:Local postal surcharge labels issued at
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200:, Vol.56, No.2, December 2008, pp.20-25
196:Palmer, Lars. "Added Charge Labels" in
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245:. Molndal, Sweden: Lars Palmer, 2007.
129:purposes or outside of the rules are
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165:China Philatelic Society of London
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160:List of postal codes in China
125:. Labels produced purely for
33:Local postal surcharge labels
215:, 7th edition, 2006, p.216.
198:Journal of Chinese Philately
97:tickets or store receipts.
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41:Additional Charge Labels
292:Postal system of China
282:Philatelic terminology
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155:China Stamp Society
45:Added Charge Labels
297:Philately of China
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287:Cinderella stamps
131:cinderella stamps
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276:Categories
176:References
137:Collecting
127:philatelic
51:Background
63:Guangdong
149:See also
28:Province
101:Banning
37:Chinese
26:Shaanxi
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22:Ankang
43:and
217:ISBN
69:Use
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