Commemorative and Special Stamp Issues from Post-war Hong Kong

Postal services in Hong Kong were soon restored after the Second World War. Between the British resumption of its colonial administration in 1945 and the centenary of Hong Kong postage stamps in 1962, only six sets of commemorative stamps were issued. With more local artists and professional design companies participating in the design work, Hong Kong stamps gradually developed their own character.

The first set of special stamps on the theme of the Chinese zodiac appeared in 1967, and this sparked a trend in which many more stamps reflected Chinese culture and local features in their design. For instance, the stamps issued to coincide with the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 1974 featured Beijing opera masks and highlighted the blending of Chinese and Western cultures. The Arts Festival’s souvenir sheet was also the first in Hong Kong’s postal history. By the 1980s, local themes had come to dominate stamp designs. It is also worth noting that modern stamp vending machines were installed in several post offices from 1986 to 2004, and these sold electronic postage labels with different patterns each year until 1998.