Historic Hankow Postal Stamp - Two Cents, Early Chinese Mail Service #856 (License: Personal Use)

This black-and-white woodblock-style stamp from the Hankow Post Office (Hankou, China) dates to the late Qing or early Republican era, circa 1900-1910s. It features a stylized courier in traditional attire, carrying two ornate mail boxes suspended from a shoulder pole, with vertical Chinese characters reading “漢書信館” (Hàn Shū Xìn Guǎn, “Han Letter & Mail Agency”) and “二分洋錢” (Two Cents in Foreign Currency), alongside English “HANKOW L.P.O.” and “2 TWO CENTS”. The design reflects transitional postal practices blending local tradition with Western-influenced postal systems.

Used on historical philatelic websites, museum digital archives, or collector blogs to illustrate early Chinese postal history; targets users researching Sino-Western postal collaboration, antique stamps, or Qing-era communication infrastructure.