Lot# 9071

this group of four covers and aerogrammes exemplifies the major postal reform that took effect on 1 September 1956, marking the beginning of China’s 9th Postal Tariff Period. The reform abolished all distinctions in airmail surcharges by destination or route, introducing a single global airmail rate of 30 fen per 10g, while the surface rate for the first 20g remained 22 fen. The resulting inclusive rate was 52 fen for a 10g airmail letter and 43 fen for an airmail postcard, while aerogrammes were standardized worldwide at 35 fen, the lowest international rate ever introduced by China. These items illustrate the application of this new unified system across multiple destinations. Among them is a 1 September 1956 Shanghai to Stockholm airmail cover, a first-day usage showing the sender’s habitual “Via Prague” routing mark, now obsolete under the new system; a 10 September 1956 Shanghai to Czechoslovakia postcard correctly franked at 43 fen; and two 1957 Beijing aerogrammes sent respectively to Indonesia and the United States (Florida), both bearing the correct 35 fen franking. Collectively, these pieces document China’s transition toward a fully standardized global airmail structure, representing a milestone in the modernization and international integration of the Chinese postal system in the mid-1950s.