Official Post: I-Chan and Wen Pao Chu
I-Chan have been in existence in China for many years. I-Chan is actually the name of the station or the building compound where the official courier and their horse rest. The I-Chan (stations) was located at most of the major roads and the courier will travel on horseback from one station to another until the destination for the mail is reached. The courier might stay overnight in the station if the mail is not urgent and he might change his horse at one of these stations and continue on his way. For urgent mail, the courier or horse might be changed many times, so the mail could be carried and delivered as quickly as possible. These mails is usually between government offices called ‘Yamen’ or the Imperial Court.
Wen Pao Chu or Official dispatch office was established in 1878 to handle mail between the Chinese and Foreign legations in China. Later in the 19^th Century, Wen Pao Chu takes over some of the work done by I-Chan and handle mail between government offices.

Private Post: Min-Chu
Operated by private letter companies and have also been in existence in China for many years. The Min-Chu was very reliable and was trusted by the Chinese public and firms alike and the Min-Chu was in existence until much later into the Republic of China.

Local Post Office (1863-1896)
In 1863, the Shanghai Municipal Council established the Shanghai Local Post Office.
It operated between south to Swatow, north to Tientsin and Peking and west up the Yangtze River to Chungking. There is no valid reason to issue postage stamps as most of the mails are subscribers mail and the Local Post was accused of issuing stamps for the need of stamp collectors and supplement the Local Post System with extra revenue. While stamps were issued since 1865, but because of the reason mentioned, these stamps are only considered as souvenir and not legitimate postage stamps by many!

The Customs Post (1863-1896)
Customs Post was established since 1863 for mail between diplomatic, consular and Customs personnel and their families from Foreign Legations.
In early 1878, the Customs office opened the postal service to the public and stamps were issued later that year. Only 3 sets of stamps were issued: Large Dragon, Small Dragon and Dowager issues and these stamps were considered as the first 3 issues of China. The Customs Postal Service continued to function until its replacement by the Imperial Post Office in 1897.

Imperial Post Office (1897-1911)
In March 1896, the Chinese government approved the set-up of a National Post Office.
The Imperial Chinese Post Office inaugurated on the 2^nd February 1897 and a new silver Dollar currency was used. Initially, Customs issues were overprinted with the new currency until new stamps were issued later that year.

In October 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen overthrew the Imperial Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Imperial China and the Imperial Post Office was dissolved in early 1912.