Unique Chinese Civil War Stamp Exhibit Opens April 3

"Philatelic Footprints on the Road to the Liberation of Shanghai"

An Exhibit

IR/PS Library
University of California, San Diego
April 3- June 12, 2009

Items from the private collection of Hugh Lawrence will be showcased in an exhibit opening at UCSD's International Relations and Pacific Studies Library on April 3, 2009.  "Philatelic Footprints on the Road to the Liberation of Shanghai" uses Chinese postage stamps and related materials to trace the Communist advance from the Battle of Huaihai in northern Jiangsu Province in November and December 1948, through the taking of Shanghai on May 27, 1949.  As Communist forces moved southward towards Shanghai, they overprinted existing stocks of Nationalist postage stamps with text reading "People's Post", "People's Currency" and the like, for use in newly occupied cities and towns.  Of course, the stamps used for this purpose were those that pictured the father of the Chinese republic, Sun Yat-sen, or neutral subjects such as methods of transportation, and not those picturing the Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek.

While "revenue protection" may have been part of the rationale for issuing these stamps (the Communists sought to replace the Nationalist Gold Yuan or Silver Yuan currencies as quickly as possible), the Communists were also acutely aware that the establishment and main­tenance of a postal sys­tem had long been considered important indi­cia of gov­ernmental legiti­macy in China.  Accordingly, these postage stamps became primary, albeit miniature, documents proclaiming, "the changing of the guard" to local populaces.

Hugh Lawrence has been collecting the Chinese postage stamps of this era for the past 35 years as a way of maintaining his prior academic interest in modern Chinese history.  He is currently working on a second exhibit which focuses on the Nationalist hyperinflation during this same period.  
 
The exhibit is sponsored by the UCSD Libraries, Friends of the UCSD Libraries, The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and the Chinese Studies Program.

Check http://irpslibrary.ucsd.edu and click on "Services" for the IR/PS Library hours of operations and location.

For more information contact: Reiney Adams (mradams@ucsd.edu / 858-534-1413) or Jim Cheng  (jicheng@ucsd.edu / 858-534-7788 .