Former Site of Jiangsu Postal Administration

Former Site of Jiangsu Postal Administration

The former site of Jiangsu Postal Administration is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

The former site of Jiangsu Postal Administration is located on Dama Road in present-day Xiaguan District. The current post office building is used by the Nanjing Postal Equipment Company, the Nanjing Postal Human Resources Center, and the Postal Guesthouse. The postal service in Nanjing began in the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign (1897). After Nanjing was opened as a treaty port, in the 25th year of the Guangxu reign (1899), the Nanjing Post Office was officially established in Xiaguan. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), after the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, the Great Qing Post and Telegraph Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Communications, and the Great Qing Post Office was renamed the Chinese Post Office. In the third year of the Republic of China (1914), the Nanjing Post Office was renamed the Jiangsu Postal Administration, located at Dashiqiao, overseeing 447 postal offices across Jiangsu Province except for Shanghai and its surrounding areas. The postmaster was a British man named Richard John Little. In the seventh year of the Republic of China (1918), due to the growth in personnel and postal operations, a new office building was constructed on Dama Road in Xiaguan. The new building is a reinforced concrete structure, with three floors above ground and two underground, covering a construction area of 4,545 square meters. The front exterior wall bears the inscription “1918”. The building has a rectangular floor plan and a veranda-style façade. It features thick columns and eaves, and a flat roof. A two-story tower with a dome stands atop the building. The sides of the pillars, cornices, string courses, and lintels are adorned with carved stone reliefs. The corners of the building, the lower-floor column surfaces, and some side walls are finished with ordinary cement imitation stone plaster, while the main walls are surfaced with water-ground stone, and some side sections are coated with ordinary cement mortar. The ground floor houses a spacious postal hall. The building is surrounded by full-pour concrete staircases, featuring embossed square iron railings, hardwood handrails, and wide baseboards. The upper floors are designed with interior corridors. Two light wells are located in the center of the building, with corridors arranged around them and rooms situated along the perimeter. The rooftop is an accessible terrace, on which the tower stands. Inside the tower is a wooden staircase that allows visitors to climb up for a panoramic view. In 1929, the Jiangsu Postal Administration was renamed the Jiangsu Post Office.

On June 5, 2006, the former site of Jiangsu Postal Administration was designated as part of the sixth batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangsu Province.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangsu Province