WAR AREA SERVICE CORPS STAMPS

Ai Li-Shan

Recently, I was fortunate to find some of the stamps still on the original forms that were given away by the War Area Service Corps in China. Probably very few of them survive today. The form is printed on a poor quality woodfree paper. All have yellowed over the years. The size is 117 x 98 mm with the box being 67 x 48.5 mm. They are known printed in red, yellow and green. Those printed in yellow have in many cases faded so as to be almost invisible.

War Area Service Corps stamp sheet

The stamps on the forms are those from the 1920s to the 1940s. Revenue stamps have also been seen. These were given away free at the service centers.

The WASC was established in 1938 to provide hostels and services to foreign nationals that came to China to fight the Japanese. It is directly under the Chinese National Military Council, and headed by Major General J. L Huang. As of 1944, the headquarters was located in Kunming, with some 60 hostels operated by them in the Free China area (those areas not controlled by the Japanese). The group also provided diaries to the personnel that include a history of the organization and list of the services they provide. A calendar is provided in the diaries, with an explanation of the Chinese holidays. So far, I have only seen those for 1944 and 1946.

Just another unusual item to add to your China collection!