Post by Jen B on Feb 16, 2014 4:12:36 GMT
Came across this issue while sorting out my China stamps.
In Scott is it listed under KewKiang #12 in the China Treaty Port section.
At first I wondered if it was real stamp.
It looks like it was drawn by the local post master or maybe a first mate on one of ships coming into port. Can't you imagine some fellow sitting there drawing a circle with a coin, then shifting it down a bit and drawing a half circle. Then carefully lettering in K E W K I A N G. I can't figure out if the image is showing a bridge across the Yangtze River or a tunnel going into the mountains in the background.
Anyway, there is plenty on the internet about this stamp and Treaty Port stamps in general. But I went looking for KewKiang itself and couldn't find any references. I finally stumbled on a site that explained that KewKaing was a westernized name for Jiujiang. The Encyclopedia Britannica site had this to say about the city
Anyone else have any of these Treaty Port stamps?
In Scott is it listed under KewKiang #12 in the China Treaty Port section.
At first I wondered if it was real stamp.
It looks like it was drawn by the local post master or maybe a first mate on one of ships coming into port. Can't you imagine some fellow sitting there drawing a circle with a coin, then shifting it down a bit and drawing a half circle. Then carefully lettering in K E W K I A N G. I can't figure out if the image is showing a bridge across the Yangtze River or a tunnel going into the mountains in the background.
Anyway, there is plenty on the internet about this stamp and Treaty Port stamps in general. But I went looking for KewKiang itself and couldn't find any references. I finally stumbled on a site that explained that KewKaing was a westernized name for Jiujiang. The Encyclopedia Britannica site had this to say about the city
Originally a customs station in the late 3rd century ce, the settlement was fortified in the 5th century and was constituted as a county town in 589. Historically, it was both a strategic place, guarding the route into Jiangxi, and a commercial hub. Between the 17th and 19th centuries Jiujiang became one of the major centres of the Chinese tea and rice trades. In 1861 it was opened as a treaty port to foreign trade, and in the latter part of the 19th century a sizable European settlement grew up there, not only in the port itself but also in nearby Guling to the west, which became a summer resort. The tea trade, however, gradually declined, and much of Jiujiang’s remaining export trade was siphoned off by the railway, opened in 1936–37, from Nanchang to the coast. Jiujiang declined to a local economic centre for northern Jiangxi, functioning as a collection point for grain, cotton, ramie, tea, and other products from the Xiu River valley and the region around Lake Poyang. There are copper deposits in the hills to the west.
Anyone else have any of these Treaty Port stamps?