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Pre-Manchukuo Revenue Stamps

This page shows a selection of the revenue stamps in use prior to the formation of Manchukuo in March 1932.

To see a selection of pre-Manchukuo revenues on original documents - click here.

The Great Wall Revenue Issue

In 1912, shortly after the revolution, the Chinese Bureau of Printing and Engraving (Peking) produced a range of revenue stamps for use by the Chinese Republic. These stamps, which featured a fort and part of the Great Wall, came in a range of 5 values as shown below. The original stamps were engraved but subsequent reprints were produced by a range of methods with minor changes occurring in the design, size, shades and perforation.

These stamps were used for tax charging purposes, either as a form of sales tax and affixed to the receipt or for tax payments made at Post Offices, Tax Offices or other Government offices across Manchuria and the rest of China. Each province, town and office had its own overprint, and these were applied in a wide range of colours, sizes and styles. It is said that there may be as many as 20,000 different varieties. Some of those Manchuria pre-1932 overprints are shown below, each are part of a full set similar to the one shown above.

The items below have been identified by reference to J G Wetterling's, Handbook and Checklist of Chinese Revenue Stamps (Part 1).

1917 Mukden Provincial Department of Finance (in red)

Known values 1c, 2c and 10c

1918 Mukden Provincial Department of Finance (in black)

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan

1919 Mukden Revenue Tax Office

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan

1920 Mukden Revenue Tax Sub Office

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan

1921 (2 Character 吉林 ) Kirin (Jilin) Narrow Spacing

Town and Bureau names are added to this stamp. Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1923 (2 Character 吉林 ) Kirin (Jilin) Wide Spacing

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1921 Kirin Bureau (Narrow Spacing) - Pin Chiang

This shows the narrow spaced Kirin stamp with the addition of the Pin Chiang 濱江 control characters. The first stamp is unusual it also has an extra overprinted 哈 Ha character in purple, presumably short for Harbin.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1920 Changchun Hsien (County) 長春縣

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1921 Kirin Bureau (Narrow Spacing) - Chang Chun

This shows the narrow spaced Kirin stamp with the addition of the 長春 Changchun control characters.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1923 Kirin Bureau (Wide Spacing) - Chang Chun

This shows the later wide spaced Kirin stamp with the addition of the 長春 Changchun control characters.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1923 Kirin Bureau Pin Chiang (wide spacing)

This shows the wide spaced Kirin stamp with the addition of the Pin Chiang 濱江 control characters.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1920 (3 Character 吉林省 Kirin (Jilin) Province

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1920 (3 Character 吉林縣 Kirin (Jilin) County

The this stamp shows a different bottom character 縣 this means County, this may or may not be a rarity - 省 is far more common.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1919 Kirin Revenue Stamp Bureau

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1919 Kirin Revenue Stamp - Harbin Bureau

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Pin Chiang Revenue Tax Office

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Unknown Revenue Tax Office

This example features the character "西" above a fluer-de-lis, there are many possible town names beginning with this character in Kirin.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

1919 Kirin Revenue Stamp - Changchun Bureau

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Kirin Revenue Stamp - 癸亥 Gui-hai Bureau?

This example is listed in Wetterling but I have been unable to trace the town.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Pin Chiang (Harbin) Bureau

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Harbin - Bank of China  哈爾濱  中国银行

c.1922 This is a red overprint applied to the Great Wall Revenues in red by the Bank of China in Harbin. I have seen no other examples with Bank of China Branch Office overprints so I assume these are something of a rarity. Wetterling lists a large four character 中国银行 Bank of China overprint in black ,so it is known they overprinted these stamps.

Probable values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan, the black Bank of China overprint appeared on the full set..

1925 Jehol (Rehe) Province 热河省

Known values 1c, 2c and 10c.

1920 Heilungkiang (Heilongjiang) Province 黑龍江省

The character design is based upon seal script. Now Heilongjiang, the name means Black Dragon River. The 1c overprint is known in two sizes, large and small.

Known values 1c, 2c, 10c, 50c and 1 Yuan.

Fengtien Opium Destroy Certificates

Issued in 1920. Below are Fengtien (Mukden, now Shenyang) Opium Destroy Certificates, This is a set of 6 coloured certificates. The certificates were issued by the Fengtian Opium Control Bureau. The value shown on the stamps is one tael "两", a weight measurement roughly equivalent to 50 grammes. The colours may indicate a grade or type of opium destroyed. Examples have been seen with an indistinct red chop implying that they needed to be cancelled in some way.

The top row of characters reads 奉天禁烟善后局 Mukden Ban on Smoking/Opium 'Handling of Problems' Bureau. Below this 销毁证 Destroying, (either by melting or burning), Certificate.

Design 26.5mm x 27mm, Engraved on thin, white to buff, un-watermarked paper. Always imperf, no gum.

Design size 44mm x 19.5mm, Engraved on thin white unwatermarked paper.

Three Eastern Provinces - Parcel Post Tax

Date unknown. These revenue stamps seem to have been used to collect a form of parcel post tax although some sources list them simply as parcel stamps. Four values are known to me, 5c brown, 10c red, 20c blue and 50c olive (below), other values may exist. The banner reads 东三省邮包税票 Eastern 3 Provinces Postal Package Tax, the provinces being Kirin, Liaoning and Heilungkiang. The design features a steam locomotive with sprigs of cherry blossom this is the same for each value. The printer is almost certainly the same as the producer of the Opium Destroy Certificates, the paper and processes used is identical it is therefore likely that these stamps were printed in Mukden.

Design size 32mm x 19.5mm, Litho printed on thin, white or buff, unwatermarked paper.

The 20c Green is not normally listed as part of this set so it is possible that this is a proof copy.

The Wheat Revenue Issue

The Wheat issue c1925 and is a series with five values. The central inscription reads vertically 印花税票 Revenue Stamp followed by the familiar Republic of China. The Wheat series were tied to different provinces in China with the name of the province being shown in the two circular panels at the bottom of each stamp. With regard to Manchuria, three provinces are known to be represented in these stamps, Kirin, Heilunkiang and Jehol; of these only the stamps for Kirin went into temporary use and overprinted Great Manchukuo.

Designs and colours are different for some provinces.

Kirin - 1c Blue Green, 2c Orange Red, 10c Red, 50c Blue and 100c Red, Western value centre bottom.
Jehol - 1c Brown, 2c Green, 10c Vermillion, 50c Blue and 100c Red, Western value top left.
Mukden - 1c Brown, 2c Green, 10c Vermillion. (Un-recorded higher values may exist).
Heilungkiang - 1c Brown, 2c Green, 10c Vermillion, 50c Blue and 100c Red,

Three versions of the 1c Kirin Wheat Revenue were issued on 1st September 1925 all the above examples are overprinted 濱江 Pinchiang (Harbin).

Kirin  Wheat Issue the 2c stamp was first issued in December 1925 and 10c stamps in late 1926 or early 1927. The second stamp has a control overprint reading Kirin and the 100c/1Y stamp is overprinted 濱江 Pinchiang (Harbin).

1926 Mukden 2c Wheat Revenue (note the difference in design to the Kirin stamps shown above) a 10c red is needed to complete the set.

Heilungkiang  Wheat Issue, note the additional roundel to contain the extra character. This issue is thought to date from early 1926.

To see examples of these stamps in use on original documents click here.

Mukden (Moukden) Municipal Issues

Mukden produced a range of Municipal Revenues they were used to raise taxes for the area, in particular a form of purchase tax and are often found on receipts. The Chinese banner above the gate reads (right to left), Republic of China, Mukden, Revenue Stamp.

In addition to the stamps shown below, special municipal taxes were also applied to sales of wine, and a special Mukden wine tax stamp also exists.

1912 First General Feng-t’ien (Mukden) Municipal Issue

Known Values - 1c Brown, 2c Green, 10c Red, 50c Black, some books mention a $1 Blue, (if these exist at all they are very scarce).

Litho Printed, Size 28.75mm x 20mm on thin un-watermarked paper, always imperf.

The design features a city gate (possibly the Eastern gate) bordered by wheat stalks. The top banner reads 中華民國奉天印花税票  (Zhonghua Minguo Fengtian Yinhua Shuipiao) “Republic of China Mukden Revenue Stamp” (the Chinese text reads from right to left).  The stamps are overprinted with four characters in black 印花税處  (Yinhua Shui Chu) “Stamp Tax Office. (Wetterling translates this as “Stamp Duty Office”). I doubt that this stamp exists without an overprint.

I have seen examples of this stamp in use as late as 1928 and the earliest usage that I have seen on paper is dated 1926. I would like to hear from readers if they have earlier examples.

Control Chops.

Control chops appear to be rare for this issue and the example for  省中 (Shěng zhōng) Provinces is unlisted. Wetterling lists the overprint 府務政 which he translates as “Government Business Office”;

To see examples of these stamps in use on original documents click here.

The design of this stamp is very similar to that of the first issue; the text is identical both in Chinese and English, the main difference being the size. All examples I have seen have been overprinted with 現详Cash Silver in red, the stamps were probably not available without it. Note that the background behind the city gate is fully shaded, this is distinctive of type 1.

Both Wetterling and Bendig show the additional control chops 臨江 Linjiang, 臨 江縣政府 Linjiang County Government, 通陽 Tongyang and 傅 錫 Fu-xian. It is probable that many more control chops exist, some of which appear below.

All stamps are overprinted 現详Cash Silver in red. No control chops have been seen so far on this issue.

The 1c and 2c stamp have not been observed by me to carry the 現详 Cash Silver overprint, whereas the 10c stamps all seem to have been overprinted 現详Cash Silver in Blue-Black.

Control Chops (Most of these are unlisted).

岫岩税局 Hsiu-yen (Xiu yan) Tax Office - on a document dated August 1930.

海城税局 Haicheng Tax Bureau    抚顺局 Fushun Bureau       義 縣 I-hsien (Yixian)        

1915 Third General Feng-t’ien (Mukden) Municipal Issue

These stamps had a different heading in the banner 奉天印花税票 (Fengtian Yinhua Shuipiao) "Fengtian Revenue Stamp" with a script Fengtian instead of Moukden Municipal Revenue at the base. After the Japanese Occupation and before the formation of Manchukuo there existed a Japanese controlled Fengtian Maintenance Committee for Local Autonomy, it is probably during this period that this stamp was in use. This would explain the dropping of the 中華民國 Republic of China from the banner.

This stamp also has the overprint 現详meaning "cash silver" in black. I have also seen examples with additional control chops for 安東 Andong and 西安 Xi-an, both in black and due to the alignment it appears that these may have been added after the original printing process.

From March 1932 these stamps were overprinted with the characters 大滿州國 Great Manchukuo.

The above is clearly a municipal and these stamps were replaced by the countrywide first general issue of revenue stamps for Manchukuo in October of 1932. This seems to have ended this form of local taxation.

The set has the usual five values 1c brown, 2c green, 10c red/orange, 50c mauve, $1 blue. Engraved, size 21 x 18mm, perf 14.

Heilungkiang Revenue Stamps

The province of Heilungkiang also issued a special revenue tax stamp. The Chinese banner above the gate reads (right to left), Republic of China, Heilungkiang, Revenue Stamp.

Issued c1922 The Heilungkiang Revenues also features town gate, as yet unidentified. The set is comprised of 1c Brown (above), 2c Green, 10c Red. Size 21mm x 20mm, always Imperf, thin white paper, no watermark.

The 2c stamp shown above is overprinted in soft red 東北省 meaning "North East Province"

Kirin Overprint Judicial Revenue Stamps

These stamps were produced for use on court documents and are sometimes referred to as "Documentary Tax Stamps". The stamps show a picture of a one horned sheep that is said to have existed by drinking only of the morning dew, it was also, as the legend has it, able to recognise both truth and lies. The sheep is sometimes called the "sheep prodigy" and the single horn resembled the hat worn by judges at this time.

The sheep prodigy stamps first appeared in 1913 (Type 1) in a set of eight values 1c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c. $1, $5, $10, in 1917 (Type 2) this set was overprinted with a red seal in the form of a wreath encircling the central sheep motif. At about this time a vertical row of four characters 司法印花 reading "Judicial Stamp" were added.

Local issues appear  for Kirin (below), Heilungkiang, Antung, Fengtien and Shenyang

Type 1

Type 2

It is probable that all eight stamps of both sets were overprinted.

A similar design exists with a blank panel below the pagoda overprinted 大燕子, this translates as "Big Swallow" it could be a brand name or the name of a town.

The top two characters in the central cartouche read 遼寧 (Liaoning), today the province is called Xingcheng.