Page 28 - Chinese International Airmail to 1949

Reading Chinese Characters in Postmarks

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 day month year

Reading Dates in Chinese Postmarks

Straightforward datestamp in Chinese characters in date Datestamp in Western script,
Western script and format. portion read: but ‘37’ is year of Republic
8 10 30 rather than a Western
<day> <month> 6 calendar year.
27 September 1946
Should be read as: 4 August 1948
8th day of 10th month of
36th year of the Republic.
Year 1 was 1912, so 36 is 1947.

8 October 1947

6.9.47 9.7.37
6 September 1947 9 July 1948

Two different Kuling postmarks used within a year of one another. The earlier one shows the year
according to the Western calendar, but the second one uses the year of the Republic.