Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Transport, Post and Telecommunications (Part 4)
Section 4 Postal Services. Postal and courier communications in the region began in the Han Dynasty and were refined during the Ming and Qing. In 1885 (the 11th year of the Guangxu reign), the prefecture had 9 general postal stations, 6 foot-courier stations and 108 relay posts, all official message-carrying services. Private letters and parcels were mostly entrusted to individuals, causing great inconvenience — hence the lament that "a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold."
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 4 Postal Service
Postal and courier communications in the region began in the Han Dynasty and were perfected during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the eleventh year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1885), Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture had 9 general post stations, 6 foot relay stations, and 108 relay posts, which were government-run information transmission facilities. Folk communications and parcel delivery were mostly entrusted to private agents, which was very inconvenient, hence the sentiment "a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold" that has been passed down through the ages. In the twenty-seventh year of the Guangxu reign, the Luxi postal agency was first established, and afterward postal agencies in Qiancheng (present-day Jishou), Longshan, Baojing, Yongshui (present-day Huayuan), and other subprefectures and counties, as well as the Yongshun postal sub-office, were successively established. Relay posts were gradually abolished, and postal and courier communications began to enter the private sector. During the Republic of China period, the prefecture had telecommunications offices and telecommunications agencies, mainly handling domestic ordinary letter business.
After the founding of New China, postal communications developed rapidly. On October 14, 1953, the Jishou Postal and Telecommunications Center Bureau was established. On December 16, 1956, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Prefecture Postal and Telecommunications Bureau was established, exercising enterprise management functions for all counties within the prefecture. On September 20, 1957, it was changed to the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Postal and Telecommunications Bureau. In December 1969, postal and telecommunications were separated, and the Prefecture Revolutionary Committee Postal Bureau was established. In August of the following year, transportation and postal services merged to form the Prefecture Revolutionary Committee Transportation and Postal Bureau, under which was the Prefecture Revolutionary Committee Postal Bureau. On August 10, 1972, the Transportation and Postal Bureau was abolished, and the Transportation Bureau and Postal Bureau were established. In March 1973, postal and telecommunications merged, and on September 1, the Prefecture Revolutionary Committee Postal and Telecommunications Bureau was established. After 1988, enterprise reform deepened, and internal organizational changes were frequent. By the end of 1995, the Prefecture Postal and Telecommunications Bureau had 19 internal departments. On October 23, 1998, postal and telecommunications operations were separated, and the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Postal Bureau was inaugurated, with postal services entering a period of independent operation, continuing to the present day.
The postal transmission routes within the prefecture in the eleventh year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1885) had a relay post route length of 1,787 kilometers, with 247 relay post officers. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the main postal routes in the region were 5 foot-carrier postal routes: Chenzhou (present-day Yuanling County, Huaihua City) to Yongshun, Yongshun to Laifeng in Hubei, Chenzhou to Fenghuang, Fenghuang to Yuanzhou (present-day Zhijiang, Huaihua City), and Wangcun to Xiushan in Sichuan. By 1949, there were 11 foot-carrier postal routes and 2 commissioned automobile postal routes. In 1995, there were 53 automobile postal routes with a total length of 2,937 kilometers, 7,194 kilometers of bicycle postal routes, and 5,543 kilometers of foot-carrier postal routes.
After the founding of New China, the postal department successively opened many businesses including letters, parcels, newspaper and periodical distribution, remittances, savings, simple insurance, agency for the state treasury, sale of stamp tax stamps, confidential communications, and philately, achieving remarkable results. Especially after the separation of postal and telecommunications operations in October 1998, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Postal Service took production and operation as the center, service as the purpose, science and technology as support, and the creation of social benefits as the goal, further emancipated the mind, forged ahead, and vigorously grasped management and business development, achieving new and greater results. In 1999, the Prefecture Postal Bureau was awarded the honorary title of "Advanced Enterprise" by the Hunan Provincial Postal Bureau; in December 2002, the Central Business Hall of the Prefecture Postal Bureau received the national postal "Top Ten" business hall honor awarded by the State Postal Bureau. In other operational reform projects, it also received numerous awards at the national, provincial, and prefecture levels.
After the separation of postal and telecommunications operations, the postal service implemented a series of major reforms.
First, postal transport system reform was implemented. In order to achieve the delivery time limit compliance rate stipulated by the Hunan Provincial Postal Bureau, postal departments at the prefecture, county, and city levels implemented daily delivery shifts in urban areas of each county and city, with no less than five shifts per week on main township and rural routes. Jishou City urban area achieved twice-daily delivery starting from April 1, 2000. The Jishou Postal District Center Bureau was built, responsible for the import, export, and transit of all types of mail in the prefecture, centralizing sorting and other processing links of county bureaus within the postal district to the center bureau, thereby improving labor productivity, facilitating mechanized mail processing, and accelerating mail transmission speed. In 2001, postal routes in the prefecture were adjusted, opening radiating postal routes from Jishou to Fenghuang, Jishou to Luxi, Jishou to Longshan, and Jishou to Majing'ao, and canceling 43 self-operated postal routes within counties; intra-county postal routes implemented commissioned mail transport. In 2002, 3 self-operated automobile postal routes within counties were again adjusted to commissioned postal routes, integrating 8 postal transport vehicles, reducing transport costs and optimizing the postal transport network. In 2004, comprehensive buyout contracting was implemented for trunk postal routes within the prefecture, and 6 postal transport vehicles were publicly auctioned, realizing the "integration of people, vehicles, and routes" contracting model. Since official operation began on October 25 of that year, conditions have been good, with postal transport costs reduced by 20% compared to before contracting, and vehicle management efficiency greatly improved.
Second, diversified operation reform was implemented. After separation, postal enterprises throughout the prefecture, in accordance with superior requirements, successively opened a series of new businesses such as commercial letter advertising, mail order, audio-visual rental and sales, telecommunications agency, and insurance, broadening the postal service's operational scope and expanding service items. Through efforts, new businesses gradually developed into revenue growth points running neck and neck with traditional businesses. In 2001, postal services throughout the prefecture successively signed strategic cooperation agreements with Mobile, Unicom, and Telecom, comprehensively acting as agents for telecommunications businesses in various locations. An Agency Management Section was established, responsible for managing cooperation with other social sectors, laying the foundation for the comprehensive development of "agency" businesses. In 2002, making full use of network advantages, integrating postal public service platform resources, actively seeking partners in communications, finance and insurance, and other fields, expanding postal operational scope, acting as agent for financial sector treasury bonds, and acting as agent for "Guoshou Hongtai" investment dividend insurance business, becoming the only comprehensive telecommunications agent in the prefecture. Before the end of December 2003, cooperation with railways, insurance, social security, civil affairs, and other units made new progress, with businesses such as ticket agency, insurance agency, pension distribution agency, and salary distribution agency rising steadily.
Third, taking the path of professional marketing. In 2004, postal services throughout the prefecture, in accordance with the overall approach of "deepening reform to promote development, and accelerating development to advance reform," and according to the deployment of the Hunan Provincial Bureau, actively and steadily carried out operational reform work in four specialties: express delivery, logistics, philately, and book and newspaper retail. In the professional divestiture, the principles of "openness, fairness, and justice" were adhered to. Normal operation was achieved after divestiture.
Fourth, major reforms were carried out in personnel systems, distribution systems, and other aspects. Through several years of training and adjustment, the cadre ranks further moved toward becoming younger, more knowledgeable, and more professional, with comprehensive qualities significantly improved. Through ideological education and professional study, the staff's ability to withstand reform, market development capability, and business handling capability were significantly enhanced. In the provincial postal vocational skills assessment organized by the provincial bureau, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Bureau was in a leading position. In the second half of 2005, post salary standards were raised, striving to let employees enjoy the tangible benefits brought by reform and development, achieving the goal of increasing per capita employee income by 1,500 yuan for the year.
Major breakthroughs were made in capital construction. Postal bureaus at the prefecture, county, and city levels all built comprehensive postal business buildings. In newspaper and periodical business, 6,900 letter and newspaper boxes were installed; integrated book and newspaper retail operations at the prefecture and county levels were implemented; by 2002, 28 community service stations had been built throughout the prefecture. By the end of 2001, the prefecture had basically completed the construction of the comprehensive business computer network and financial business network. After several renovations and improvements, by 2005 the terminal equipment of all 103 postal savings outlets was updated, and 36 outlets underwent standardization renovation. All outlets throughout the prefecture achieved universal deposit and withdrawal; 8 ATM automatic teller machines were installed throughout the prefecture, greatly improving the technological content of postal savings, enhancing business innovation capability, and powerfully promoting the rapid development of basic postal savings business toward intermediary business. In safety and security, the prefecture successively invested in installing 8 sets of ATM television monitoring systems; all outlets were equipped with ID card verification devices and currency detectors, purchased infrared voice alarms, fire extinguishers, and fire hoses, installed security doors, and built telephone networked alarm systems for 94 outlets, providing strong guarantees for safe production.
Key businesses developed rapidly. Postal savings always maintained a momentum of sustained growth. In 2005, postal savings throughout the prefecture achieved a cumulative net increase of 256 million yuan, the highest net increase in history, an increase of 44 million yuan over the previous year, completing 102.56% of the prefecture bureau's plan and 106.84% of the provincial bureau's ten-billion project decomposition plan, ranking sixth in the province; the demand deposit proportion reached 42%, an increase of 3.8 percentage points over the previous year; market share reached 18.52%; the cumulative net increase ranked second among 6 financial institutions, second only to rural credit cooperatives. Newspaper and periodical distribution business consistently maintained a leading position in the province. In 2005, the 2006 annual newspaper and periodical circulation volume of 17.05 million yuan was completed cumulatively, completing 101.15% of the major subscription plan, an increase of 1.33% over the previous year. Letter business opened new areas, with prominent efforts on commercial letter advertising, enterprise gold cards, and bills. In 2004, the proportion of revenue plan completed ranked first in the province, and in 2005, 101.48% of the provincial bureau's plan was completed, ranking seventh in the province.
New highlight businesses showed gratifying growth. First, the agency insurance business grew and strengthened on its own. Through extensive recruitment and selection, the prefectural bureau formed a social insurance marketing team belonging entirely to the postal service, completing a cumulative insurance premium of 15.33 million yuan in 2005, ranking fifth in the province. Second, the strength of agency telecommunications services continued to increase. The whole prefecture continuously expanded the intensity, depth, and joint development of cooperation with various telecommunications operating enterprises, focusing on developing four types of business: fee collection on behalf of others, call charge sharing, number release on behalf of others, and card sales on behalf of others, and established agency business channels combining postal self-operation and social chain operations, with revenue rising year by year. In 2005, agency telecommunications revenue reached 1.25 million yuan, 13,049 numbers were released, and 25.95 million yuan in call charges were collected on behalf of others. Third, electronic postal services reached new heights. In 2005, postal offices throughout the prefecture achieved 810,000 yuan in agency ticketing revenue, an increase of 62% over the previous year. Among these, the plan completion rate and market share for agency Spring Festival travel ticketing ranked first in the province, and it won the second prize for Spring Festival travel ticketing organization in Hunan Province and the first prize for gold-medal marketing. In addition, logistics business was effectively launched, and project marketing business also achieved a full harvest.
In 2005, the whole prefecture completed postal business revenue of 54.27 million yuan (including counter express delivery), an increase of 14.86% over the previous year, completing 105.89% of the provincial bureau's plan, ranking seventh in the province, exceeding the target by 3.02 million yuan, with revenue reaching a record high; cost expenses completed were 51.23 million yuan, an increase of 11.98% over the previous year, 2.88 percentage points lower than the growth rate of business revenue over the same period; the balance of income and expenditure completed was -480,000 yuan, 80,000 yuan less than the provincial bureau's plan and 2.12 million yuan less in losses than the previous year.