On September 20, 1940 postage for local letters was raised from 2￠to 4￠per 20 gr., thus causing a sudden demand for 4￠stamps. Before the issue of new stamps, the 5 ￠stamps, which formed the major portion of remaining stock, were surcharged as 4 ￠with the Chinese characters 〝暫作肆分〞(temporarily surcharged as 4￠) over printed on the right and left-hand sides and the Arabic figure 〝4〞 at the bottom. Such surcharged stamps were immediately put on sale. The surcharge was made in No. 4 Imitation Sung Characters in red by the Dah Tung Book Co., Hongkong on the 5 ￠stamps of the unwatermarked Hongkong Dah Tung Print. A full sheet of 200 stamps was surcharged with two plated at a time.