The Taipei Beimen Post Office is to host a series of events to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its establishment, Chunghwa Post said yesterday.
Construction of the post office’s building began in 1929 after the previous building on Beimen Street was destroyed in a fire, office director Susan Lan (藍淑貞) said at a ceremony, adding that its baroque architecture was designed by Japanese architect Shunichi Kuriyama.
In addition to the ceremony, the post office hosted a guided tour of the four-story building’s history and architecture, as well as nearby historic sites, such as the North Gate (北門) west of Taipei Railway Station.
Photo: CNA
The post office is to host a series of events this year to celebrate its 90th anniversary, including a photography competition and an exhibition on the history of the office, which is the subject of a book it is to publish.
The building’s main entrances, which in 1970 were converted from five arched doorways to three marble square entrances to facilitate the entry and exit of postal vehicles, are to be restored this year, Lan said, adding that construction is scheduled to begin in the next few days and completed in 10 months.
The completion of the renovation of the arched doorways — which were called carriage porches during the Japanese colonial era — would also mark the end of the celebrations, she said.
The office’s festive events this year are also the beginning of celebrations for Chunghwa Post’s 123rd anniversary, she said.
The company was established in 1896, when the Qing Dynasty founded the Imperial Postal Service.
Based on the company’s historical records, postal services were first offered in Taiwan when Qing Dynasty Taiwan governor Liu Ming-chuan (劉銘傳) enacted the Taiwan Post Act in 1888, eight years before post services were officially launched in China.
Liu later that year established the Directorate-General of the Post, which was headquartered on what was then Jianchang Street in Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area.
He also established a postal station in Taipei and another in Tainan to deliver mail, issue postage stamps and collect personal letters, marking the beginning of the modern postal service in Taiwan.
After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895 following the first Sino-Japanese War, the local postal service went through several changes and the Beimen Post Office was renamed repeatedly, including to the 2nd Field Command Postal Bureau, the Taipei First Class Postal and Telegraph Office and in 1930 the Taipei Post Office.
It also began offering remittance and postal savings services, in addition to postal services.
After the end of World War II, the government renamed the Taipei Post Office to the Postal and Telegraph Office, as it was in charge of postal and telegraphic businesses.
In 1949, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications established two separate administrative bodies to supervise postal and telegraphic businesses.
The Postal and Telegraph Office was renamed the Taipei First Class Post Office, which began to operate mail and parcel businesses. It also provided savings, remittance and insurance services.
A plan by Chunghwa Post to demolish the Beimen Post Office was met with strong opposition by the public.
The dispute ended after the Ministry of the Interior designated the building as a category three historic site.
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