Beginning of the Relationship between the Chinese Customs and England's De La Rue in 1877

To emulate in China the operation of Western postal services, Robert Hart, the Inspector General of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, requested the Inspectors from all Customs Offices for their opinions on the topic in order to draw on their collective wisdom. It is surmised that this took place no later than the end of 1876, as suggested in The History of Chinese Postage Stamps. Among the existing documents available, the earliest one focusing on postage stamp production of the Imperial Customs was found to be a March 5, 1877 letter from Gustav Detring to James Duncan Campbell. This record, preserved in the Tianjin Archives, presents Detring, the then-Inspector of the Chefoo Customs, inquiring of Campbell, the then-Commissioner of the London Office of the Inspectorate General of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, about the Inspector General's objectives. The questions raised by Detring were the following:

1．What would say one million postage stamps made in England cost?

2．What would it cost to procure machinery, plant and paper to make it in China say one million stamps per week?

3．What would be the cost per month of the English personnel required for producing one million stamps a week, taking into consideration that all elementary manu-al labour can be had here.

Furthermore, Detring earnestly requested Campbell to respond quickly and additionally help finding “the latest and best compila-tion of English and French Postal Laws and the Postal blank forms in use” of those two countries. Thereafter Campbell, on behalf of the Chinese Customs, officially made a succession of inquiries in London for the preparation of postage stamp production. Hence, the year of 1877 became an exceptionally special point in time in the history of Chinese postage stamps. To fulfill Detring's request, Campbell contacted Thomas De La Rue & Co. of London, which was a printing house with a long history, as well as strong technical expertise. This was the same “De La Rue” mentioned repeatedly in Campbell's letters and telegrams to Hart. There have been only a few references in the historical records available over the last the 140 years about the contacts between Campbell and De La Rue, none of which were directly related to this subject. This also made the Chinese Customs' early days of preparations for postage stamp production to be surrounded by some mystery. We noticed Detring's letter of inquiry, consisting of the three questions mentioned previ-ously, was pasted on the first page of De La Rue's China Archives of 1877, and Campbell's name card was affixed to the lower left corner of the letter. The date of May 1, 1877 was indicated at the upper right. In fact, comparing it to the copy of Detring's letter in the Tianjin Archives, the English wording used for composing the three questions was exactly the same, except for the date. The inquiry letter in De La Rue's Archives was not signed. Based on handwriting analysis, the letter was written by neither Detring nor Campbell, and thus was copied by a third person. Each question was followed by an answer written in pencil, as follows:

1．£50 to £60

2．Hypothetically

3．Will write full report

De La Rue would have considered the inquiry “to procure ma-chinery, plant and paper to make it in China” in the second ques-tion above bizarre and could not honor it. This obdurate decision of De La Rue not only resulted from its commercial interest but also from its biased opinion of then-Chinese technological ability. Subsequently, Campbell dutifully conveyed the message in his May 5 telegram No. 161 to Hart: “For Detring First postage Query fifty to sixty Pounds Second third considered impracticable Details ready in fortnight.”

Detring's letter of inquiry to Campbell, unchanged, was presented as the first page in De La Rue's China Archives of 1877. This is enough to illustrate the interaction between the two parties, originating from Hart's vision of creating the Chinese Imperial Post. De La Rue's Archives, therefore, become the concrete evidence for their related collaborations.