37§  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
The  Wenpao  Chii,  or  Document  Office,  is  an  offshoot  of
the  I-chan,  but  quite  independent  of  it.  On  the  appointment
of  Ministers  to  foreign  countries  in  1875,  it  became  necessary
to  arrange  for  the  transmission  of  their  despatches  between
Peking  and  Shanghai,  where  they  could  be  deposited  in  and
taken  from  the  foreign  Post  Offices  ;  and  offices  were  opened
for  this  purpose  at  Tientsin  and  Shanghai.  In  subsequent
years  offices  were  opened  at  Yangtze  ports  from  Hankow
down,  and  at  coast  ports  as  far  south  as  Canton  ;  and  much
of  the  work  of  the  I-chan  along  the  coast  and  on  the  Yangtze
is  done  by  these  offices.  Notwithstanding  the  development
of  the  Imperial  Post,  the  Wenpao  Chii  continues  to  function-The
  only  really  Government  Post  open  to  the  public,
organised  by  Chinese  officials,  was  established  in  Formosa.
When,  after  the  attack  by  the  French  naval  forces  in  1884-5»
the  attention  of  the  Imperial  Government  was  drawn  to
the  necessity  of  organising  the  island  as  a  province,  the
Imperial  High  Commissioner  and  Governor,  Liu  Ming-chuan,
introduced  several  startling  innovations,  among  them  a
railway  and  a  Post  Office.  For  the  latter  it  was  at  first
proposed  to  adopt  adhesive  stamps,  and  they  were  ordered
from  England  in  two  denominations,  red  3-cent  for  short
distances,  and  green  5-cents  for  longer  distances.  The
simplicity  of  an  almost  uniform  tariff  worked,  as  always  in
China,  against  its  adoption  ;  and  these  stamps  had  a  history
unique  in  philately,  being  used  for  railway  tickets.  Thi 5
Post  Office  was  ultimately  organised  on  the  following  lines
Mails  were  carried  by  couriers  on  foot.
The  postal  routes  were  divided  into  stages,  averaging
a  day’s  journey  in  length,  or,  say,  70  to  100  h-Letters
  and  packages  were  carried  at  the  rate  of  2°
cash  per  tael  per  stage,  with  additional  charge 0
for  delivery  at  places  not  on  the  main  routes.
Postage  stamps  were  of  two  kinds—official  an»
ordinary.  The  former  were  supplied  to  pubfi c
offices,  free  of  charge,  to  be  used  on  officia*
mail  matter  ;  and  the  latter  were  sold  to  the
public.  As  regards  stamps,  the  system  #a*

4.