I collect stamps and have a few pages devoted to China, Japan and Korea. So, I thought I might offer a brief history of East Asian postage stamps. The first official U.S. stamp was issued in 1847. It was not until 1878 that China introduced its first postage stamp featuring an Imperial dragon with five claws on each foot, and, Griffin-like, the attributes of several other animals. Chinese philosophy and geomancy are common themes in the Old Empire stamps. After becoming a republic in 1912, many stamps featured the image of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. The establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949 led to new type of design serving Soviet inspired propaganda themes to celebrate the struggle and nobility of the workers and Communism. With war, revolutions and occupations there was a rise and decline of various regional and provincial issues. In 1885 the first series of Korean stamps were introduced. The Koreans reacted negatively to the western idea of having a postal service; they burned the first post office killing the post master and a couple of officials. Charming. Korea would have to wait another ten years to launch an effective postal system with stamps. The yin-yang symbol appeared on many designs, but the Emperor’s official sanction was indicated by the inclusion of the Imperial crest, a five-petalled cherry blossom. From 1905 to 1946 Korea was subsumed by Japan. After the civil war of 1948 North Korea and South Korea have issued their own respective stamps. Japanese stamps date back to 1871. A 16-petalled chrysanthemum crest appears on nearly all Japanese stamps up until 1947.
https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+stamps&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=K3fFUJ_kJcShiQKL54Fw&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=988&bih=666
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