French post offices in China

The French post offices in China were among the post offices maintained by foreign powers in China from the mid-19th century until 1922. In 1862, the first civilian French post office in China was opened in Shanghai. Initially, the French government used ordinary French postage stamps (e.g. Napoleon III, Laureated Empire, Ceres, Sage) issues for these offices. These forerunner stamps can be shown to have been sold or used in China only by a postmark. For example, stamps used in Shanghai prior to 1894 can only be identified by diamond-shaped cancel made of a type referred to (in French) as a "losange à gros chiffres" with the numbers "5104" in the center of the cancel or a Shanghai c.d.s. There are actually two types of "5104" obliterators differ by the shape of the "4", one straight and the other curved.