Li Gui

Li Gui

Li Gui (1842-1903), a native of Jiangning, Jiangsu Province (now Nanjing), was one of the advocates of modern postal service in China.

Life of the characters

Li Gui (1842-1903), whose name is Xiaochi, was born in Jiangning, Jiangsu Province (now Nanjing). At the age of 23, he was employed as the Secretary of Huo Boxun, Deputy tax department of Ningbo customs. In 1876, Hurd sent him to Philadelphia to attend the 100th anniversary exposition of the founding of the United States. After returning to China, Li Gui wrote a book about his inspection and experience in the United States, a new record of traveling around the earth. In the book, he made a detailed account of the United States post and proposed to open China Post. His views were praised by Li Hongzhang. In 1885, under the leadership of Ge Xianli, Li Gui translated the English "hongkong post guide" into Chinese. At the same time, he drafted the "Regulations for post office posting" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). "Regulations" has made detailed regulations on the specifications, characteristics and charges of more than ten kinds of mail. We should pay attention to the book's understanding of the postcard concept.

Related events

In the "Postcard" section, Li Gui explained the postcard as follows: "the postcard is printed on thick paper in the post office, and its information map is also printed on the card, which is sold by the post office, so that business people who send unimportant letters can write one-sided name and address, and the Postcard does not need an envelope, so the price is cheaper. It's a postcard that's available in every country. " The Chinese word "Postcard" is first seen here. the regulations were sent to senior officials and departments such as GE Xianli, Li Hongzhang, and the premier's Yamen. For this reason, the word "Postcard" did not spread at that time. There is a postcard in the appendix of the regulations. This postcard borrows from the postage picture of Victoria published in Hong Kong in 1880. Li Gui scraped off the English Hong Kong and emblem in the middle and upper part of the postcard and wrote "China of the Qing Dynasty"; on the other hand, he wrote "postcard of post office" on the line of "Universal Postal Union" and used a dragon stamp to stamp Vitol The postage map is completely covered to show that the postage map of China post can be printed here. Li Gui used his postcard as an attachment, which was intended to make the top officials see the real object. This "Postcard" is the rudiment of China Post postcard. The three words "Postcard" first appeared on the sample of the design concept. Its historical significance can not be overestimated. There are several versions of the regulations on post office letter sending, all written by Li Gui. The neat and respectful handwriting shows the solid foundation of Chinese characters. No matter from the historical or realistic point of view, we should all be glad that Li Gui appeared in the history of China Post. Only intellectuals with profound Chinese and Western cultural literacy like Li Gui in the late Qing Dynasty can accurately express the actual characteristics and meaning of "Postcard", and historically create the concept of "Postcard", which is still irreplaceable.

Personal contribution

In 1896, China officially opened the post office and instructed Ferrar to design postage postcards. In August of that year, he referred to "Postcard" as "letter card" in the addendum to the memorandum submitted to the General Revenue Department of Customs (1). However, in the Chinese and English parts of the Memorandum (2), Ferrar suggested that the Chinese "letter card" should be replaced by "postal Postcard". However, this was 11 years after Li Gui's "Regulations". on October 1, 1897, the first postage postcard of the Qing Dynasty Post was issued. The five words "postal Postcard" were printed under the postage map. From then on, the word "Postcard" began to appear on postcards of various periods in China and was widely used in the spoken language of Chinese people.

Chinese PinYin : Li Gui