Taiwan Def 001 Japanese Postage Stamps with Overprint Reading "Taiwan Province—Republic of China" Temporary Issue (1945)

　　On October 25, 1945, Taiwan was returned to China. On November 1 of the same year, the Communication Department of the then Chief Administrations's Office in Taiwan organized the Post and Telegraph Controlling Committee responsible to take over from the Japanese the Postal and Telegraph Administration in Taiwan. As Chinese postage stamps had not yet arrived in Taiwan, Japanese postage stamps were surcharged in No. 5 Sung characters reading 〝中華民國臺灣省〞 (Taiwan Province of the Republic of China) which were overprinted locally in two vertical lines.

　　The whole set consists of nine denominations. The stamps valued from 3 Sen to 1 Yen were in Arabic Figures design, those valued 5 Yen in Kamatari Fujiwara's portrait design and those valued 10 Yen in the cherry blossom design (Japanese national flower). The stamps, when thus overprinted, were sold at their original value and continued to be used even after the establishment on May 5, 1946, of the Taiwan Post and Telegraph Head Office. However, the sale was suspended in October 1946, as soon as surcharged stamps for use in Taiwan arrived from the mainland.

　　The original stamps were printed with gum plates by the Taiwan Publication Press in the later period of World War when Japanese fleets had mostly been annihilated and the supply of stamps from Japan was not forthcoming. The paper used for stamp printing was coarse and inferior in quality and varied in thickness and color. The surcharge work was done by the Taiwan Chao Hsiang Printing Works (臺灣照像印刷工場).