List of people on the postage stamps of Hong Kong

This is a list of people depicted on the postage stamps of Hong Kong. British Hong Kong issued stamps from 1862 to 1999. Stamps of Hong Kong were then issued under the control of China. The date when the person depicted first appeared on stamps is listed in parentheses.

History

Established in August 1841, the Postal Department (later renamed to Hongkong Post) on 8 December 1862 published its inaugural postage stamp featuring Queen Victoria's image, which Ferdinand Joubert did the engraving of. In the period between 1862 and 1935, Hong Kong published only definitive stamps and issued new stamps every time there was a new British monarch who presided over Hong Kong. The stamps featured images of the monarchs such as King Edward VII in 1903, King George V in 1912, and King George VI in 1938. The Postal Department released the first stamp featuring Queen Elizabeth II on 5 January 1954. It subsequently released four differently designed stamps with her image. In 1894, the Postal Department featured the Scottish missionary James Legge on a postage stamp, making him the first individual not from the British royal family to be shown on a stamp.

The Postal Department released commemorative stamps less frequently and in tinier batches. The commemorative stamps celebrated events and people. They used the stamps to celebrate royal events such as the Wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips that featured the couple and Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II that featured Elizabeth II. To celebrate the 1974 Hong Kong Arts Festival, they used stamps to highlight Chinese culture and attract foreigners attendees even though the festival was not exclusively focused on Chinese culture. The stamp architect selected Cantonese opera masks to appear on the stamp. Each mask had a person who was legendary or was from ancient times. The list included the mythical Monkey King, the military general Guan Yu, and the judge Bao Zheng.

In the 1980s, the Postal Department began releasing commemorative stamps featuring celebrities. In November 1995, to commemorate movie stars, Hong Kong released a collection of four stamps titled "Hong Kong Movie Stars" (Chinese: 香港影星) featuring Bruce Lee, Leung Sing Poh, Yam Kim-fai, and Lin Dai in 1995. The stamps' denominations were HK$1.20, HK$2.10, HK$2.60 and HK$5. Owing to the stamps' popularity, the Postal Department released a second collection of four movie star stamps in 2001, this time featuring on each stamp one male and one female movie star who had been great partners in movies. The duos were Ng Cho-fan and Yin Pak, Sun Ma Sze Tsang and Tang Bik-wan, Cheung Wood-yau and Man-lei Wong, and Mak Bing-wing and Wong-Nui Fung. The stamps' denominations were HK$1.30, HK$2.50, HK$3.10, and HK$5.00. In June 2001, the Hongkong Post issued a collection of stamps titled "My Wishes" (Chinese: 我的祝願) featuring athletes and stars from the literary and art arenas who were from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The goal was to support the Beijing bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The people featured on the stamps included Zhang Yimou, Ge You, Mao Amin, Gong Li, Yang Lan, Zhao Wei, and Zhang Ziyi. On 8 November 2005, the Hongkong Post released a set of stamps in a collection titled "Hong Kong Pop Stars" (Chinese: 香港流行歌星). It commemorated five Hong singers who had died: Danny Chan], Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Roman Tam, and Wong Ka Kui.

A

• Anne, Princess Royal (1973)

B

• Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (2007), a stamp containing his portrait was issued on 1 March 2007 to celebrate the centennial of his founding of the Scout Movement. Yi Dal-wing (Chinese: 易達榮) designed the stamp.
• Bao Zheng (1974)

C

• Charles, Prince of Wales (1972)
• Cai Yuanpei (2011)
• Danny Chan (2005)
• Leslie Cheung (2005)
• Cheung Wood-yau (2001), actor
• Winston Churchill (1966)

D

• Deng Xiaoping (2004)

E

• Edward VII (1903)
• Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (1937)
• Elizabeth II (1953)

F

• Wong-Nui Fung (2001)

G

• Ge You (2001)
• George V (1912)
• George VI (1937)
• Gong Li (2001)
• Guan Yu (1974)

H

• Prince Harry (1985)
• Huang Xing (1911)

L

• Bruce Lee (1995)
• James Legge (1894)
• Leung Sing Poh (1995)
• Lin Dai (1995)

M

• Mak Bing-wing (2001), actor
• Mao Amin (2001)
• Anita Mui (2005)

N

• Ng Cho-fan (2001), actor

P

• Yin Pak (2001), actress
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1972), a commemorative stamp was issued to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his wedding with Queen Elizabeth II.
• Mark Phillips (1973)

S

• Diana, Princess of Wales (1981)
• Song Jiaoren (2011)
• Sun Ma Sze Tsang (2001)
• Sun Yat-sen (2006)

T

• Roman Tam (2005)
• Tang Bik-wan (2001)

V

• Queen Victoria (1862)

W

• Wong Ka Kui (2005)
• Man-lei Wong (2001), actor

Y

• Yam Kim-fai (1995)
• Yang Lan (2001)

Z

• Zhang Binglin (2011)
• Zhang Yimou (2001)
• Zhang Ziyi
• Zhao Wei (2001)
• Zheng He (2005)

Bibliography

• Covell, Ralph R. (1999). Anderson, Gerald H. (ed.). Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 392–393. ISBN 0-8028-4680-7. Retrieved 2022-06-04 – via Google Books.
• Pang, Allan T. F. (2022-05-06). Stamping 'Imagination and Sensibility': Objects, Culture, and Governance in Late Colonial Hong Kong. pp. 1–28. doi:10.1080/03086534.2022.2057744. Retrieved 2022-06-04. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
• Wong, May (2019). "Postage Stamps as Windows on Social Changes and Identity in Postcolonial Hong Kong". Multimodal Communication: A social semiotic approach to text and image in print and digital media. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 55–80. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-15428-8. ISBN 978-3-030-15427-1. Retrieved 2022-06-04 – via Google Books.

Further reading

• Snee, Charles, ed. (2015). Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue 2016. Sidney: Amos Media. pp. 853–879. ISBN 978-0-89487-500-7.