Page 75 - Chinese International Airmail to 1949

3 Post-World War II Route Stability and Hyperinflation

It took some while after the end of World War II for airlines to replace aircraft and establish new permanent routes
from China. This happened in the autumn of 1946 for the main routes. Section 3 illustrates great variation in rates
as China struggled with hyper‑inflation and two currency revaluations. There are four main sub‑sections:

3.1 Chinese National Currency (CNC $) destination specific rates
3.2 Chinese National Currency (CNC $) unified overseas rates (UOR)
3.3 Gold Dollar unified overseas rates. Revaluation at CNC $3,000,000 = Gold $1
3.4 Silver Dollar unified overseas rates. Revaluation at Gold $4,000,000 = Silver $1

A significant change was introduced on 13 October 1947 when the weight unit for the calculation of the air mail
fee was raised from 5g to 10g. A second important change came on 1 December 1947 when all of the rates to
international destinations were unified irrespective of the distance to be carried.

Routes

Mail to Europe. Immediately following the cessation of hostilities, the air mail routes to Europe from China continued
to be via Calcutta. On 27 August 1946, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) commenced the Dragon Route,
a direct service from Hong Kong to Poole in the UK via Bangkok, Rangoon, Calcutta, Karachi, Bahrain, Basra, Cairo,
Augusta and Marseilles. Air France re‑opened their route from Hong Kong to Paris in France via Saigon, Bangkok,
Calcutta, Karachi, Bouchir, Bagdad, Beirut, Athens, Naples and Marseilles on 4 April 1947. The mail from this period
onwards rarely has any indication of the carrier. The Chinese Post Office accepted mail from 26 September 1946.

Mail to North America. The first post‑war route established from China to North America was on 26 September
1946 by CNAC to Manila and then by PAA or TWA to San Francisco using the FAM 14 route across the Pacific via
Guam, Wake, Midway and Honolulu. From 7 June 1947 an additional option was available direct from Shanghai for
connecting with FAM 14. A major change was made on 22 July 1947 with the commencement of the FAM 28 service
from Shanghai to Seattle or Minneapolis via Seoul, Tokyo and Anchorage. This was operated jointly by CNAC, PAA,
Northwest and TWA. Mail from this period onwards rarely has any indication of the carrier.

Mail to Other Destinations. The majority of countries were routed either through North America or Europe. The
exceptions were Australasia where mail went south through Hong Kong and picked up the former British route, or
Japan and Russia who were served by direct services.

Rates

Ref Effective Date Days Surf 20g Surf+20g Air EU (5g) Air NA (5g) Regn Fee
CNC 1 26 Sep 1946 7 300 200 500 900 450
CNC 2 3 Oct 1946 50 300 200 500 1000 450
CNC 3 22 Nov 1946 40 300 200 650 1100 450
CNC 4 1 Jan 1947 59 300 200 650 650 450
CNC 5 1 Mar 1947 9 1100 700 650 650 1600
CNC 6 10 Mar 1947 113 1100 700 1900 1900 1600
CNC 7 1 Jul 1947 93 1100 700 2100 2100 1600
CNC 8 2 Oct 1947 11 1100 700 2300 2300 1600
CNC 9 13 Oct 1947 49 5500 3500 † 18500 † 12500 8000
1 Dec 1947
† air mail per 10g from 13 Oct 1947

All rates are in CNC $. Rates shown in italics are unaltered from the previous period.