The efficient post station service that functioned before the Ming (1368-1644) and Ching(1644-1911) dynasties for the conveyance of government messages and goods dates from the Chou dynasty (1122-221 B.C.) with a history of 3000 years. But China started its modern postal service somewhat very late. 　　On March 20, 1896, an imperial decree was issued creating a modern national post for China and reorganizing the Postal Department of the Customs into the Directorate General of Posts. The date of March 20, 1896 has since been looked upon as the inaugural date of the modern Chinese Postal Service. Thus, the 50th anniversary of the founding of Chinese Postal Service fell due on March 20, 1946. A set of stamps titled, 〝50th Anniversary of Postal Service Commemorative Issue,〞was, therefore, released to mark this significant occasion.　　Because of the desire of having an attractive set to be printed abroad and the difficulty of applying for the required foreign exchange, the release date of the set was postponed to the following year.　　The set consists of five denominations printed in the following three desings：　　$100 denomination . The design is a globe (showing the map of China) with a train, a steamer and several airplanes to show how the world is closely linked by modern means of communication. 　　$200 and $300 denomination. The central design shows a small truck traveling over a hilly road and a Postal Courier with a mail bag on his back going over a mountain trail.　　$400 and $500 denomination. The characters〝中華民國郵政總局成立五十週年紀念〞(50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Directorate General of Posts of the Republic of China) appear in two vertical lines in the center of the stamp, dividing it into two portions, one with an airplane above the Chinese numeral characters in the right and the other with a junk under the Arabic figures in the left.　　On all the stamps of the above five denominations were printed with the years 〝1896〞and 〝1946〞to commemorate the fifty year period. The borders in each of these stamps are marked by the Chinese characters 〝五十〞(50).