Stamps of French Indochina
By Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong | May 24, 2022
Have you ever bought a stamp to send letters? Have you remembered the last time you saw a stamp?
If not, then we are on the same boat. Like most of the Gen Z, I'm growing up with fast-changing technological culture which allows me to send everything in seconds. I have not ever been curious about the so-called backward and slow means of communication in the past. Yet, it was the gap that needed to be filled in.
This is my journey in knowing more about stamps, and I hope to get your accompany!
Figure 1: Vintage Stamps Depict Tourist Sites in Indochina, Made in France
Historical background
In 1947, the French colonialists impose their protectorate in some of the countries in Southeast Asia, named French Indochina. Indochina consists of Laos, Cambodia, and the Vietnam area of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. My research will focus mostly on stamps in Cochinchina since this region was the center of the socio-political administration of French colonialists.
With a view to "Westernize" or civilize the Indochinese, the French had constructed many public infrastructures in the area of Vietnam. Saigon Post Office was one of the first portals in Vietnam, located in Cochinchina. The construction of this site laid a solid foundation for the development of post, telegraph, and telephone in Vietnam afterward.
Stamps are first produced Indochina region, specifically Cochinchina by the French administration for spreading propaganda and expressing their perspectives.
Figure 2. Saigon Post Office in Cochinchina
So, what stamps are used for?
During the colonial period, stamps as used as means of communication that transferred and delivered the message around. Within the area of Tonkin - Annam and Cochinchina, stamps are used for three main purposes:
- First of all, it served as a receipt of payment. In the past, stamps were stuck on the parcels to indicate the amount of fee paid. However, the advent of technology enables individuals to replace hand-written letters with digital messages and optimizes the process from collecting to delivering parcels.
- Secondly, stamps are bought as souvenirs. During the time of separation, people sent selective stamps to their relatives as a type of souvenir. The soldier or businessmen who lives in the South (Cochinchina), often chose a nice stamp when sending letters to their families in the North (Tonkin).
- Most importantly, stamps are an effective medium of demonstration during the colonialism period. It was used as a marketing tool to promote the government and postal administration's brand, images, and ideologies.
These stamps were circulated for local/regional service only by the train, and sometimes could also be bought for sending something abroad, e.g., to France. Normally, the value of a stamp does not change the message displayed: so on each denomination, there is the same message, which is different from the design of banknotes. Hence, it is not so much about the geographical use, but about a consistent message being transferred
Figure 3. Detailed components of a stamp
The key components in stamps
A postage stamp is made up of many different elements: paper and ink, adhesive gum and perforations. Collectors look closely at all of these elements when they study stamps, or when they consider adding a stamp to their collection.
Most importantly, the design is often the first thing anyone notices about a postage stamp. It includes the image, perforations, denominations, and country name.
Given the limited space of a stamp, only symbolic and representative images were selected and portraited. The images, together with other elements, constitute to transfer of the ideas of French colonialists region-wide and impose a Western gaze on colonized civilians.
A Message of Power and Control? Stamps with Classical Elements
Figure 4
Figure 5
France began issuing stamps printed with the territory name in 1849 as part of the Navigation and Commerce issue, which was common for (nearly) all French colonies. A series of common postage due stamps were issued beginning in 1884, with the last one appearing in 1906. The two first stamps appeared in 1863 in the Indochina, and later on were edited as the postage stamps of French Indochina on May 16, 1886, but for the main use in Cochinchina - the headquarter of French administration. Annam and Tonkin did not have stamps produced by the French since it was protectorate by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The Navigation and Commerce issue is a series of key type stamps issued for the colonial territories of France. It was designed by Louis-Eugène Mouchon. The issue uses a standard design featuring allegorical representations of navigation and commerce. The territory name is imprinted in a rectangular cartouche centered at the bottom of the stamp. In French colonies, it is the first series of territory-specific postal releases. Adding the territory name helped reduce revenue loss incurred when stamps were purchased in colonies with low-value currencies, then sold or used in colonies with high-valued currencies
1890s - 1900s
From the onset, we find the classical elements serve as the main theme in stamps. Coming to the first stamp in the Navigation and Commerce collection, you can see how they intertwine classical images with the denomination.
The leftmost figure, a female was pictured holding the tiller of a ship and represented "Navigation". Opposing her was a male figure holding an overflowing cornucopia. The male represented "Commerce". The two are joined holding a staff in the center of the composition.
Figure 5. The Navigation and Commerce stamp
1900s - 1910s
Marianne is a symbol of Republican France. Marianne is a bust of a proud and strong woman wearing a Phrygian cap. She symbolizes the attachment of the common citizens of the revolution to the Republic - Marianne is liberty, equality, and fraternity. Marianne has been used on most definitive stamps issued since the 1990s. The below stamp portray another version of Marianne. The appearance of Marianne in Indochina stamps can be understood as an attempt to promote the value of liberty and the promise to the civilization of the French to the colonies.
Figure 6. Stamp of Marianne
1930s - 1950s
Nike was a goddess in Greek mythology. Nike is also depicted in literature as a goddess who judges the excellence of gods and mortals in competition. This role of assessing the greatness of skill of a god or mortal is most evident in war, where Nike is often depicted on the side of the victor granting them the victory.
Goddess Nike was visualized in a flying position, rather than standing as usual. Putting in the context of 1946 when the French escalate the arms race in North Vietnam, this stamp signifies the belief in the upcoming victory, that the French will win over the Vietminh on the battlefield.
Figure 7. Stamps of Goddess Nike in 1940s
Figure 8. Vietnamese figures on stamp
To this end, what do the stamps represent?
First of all, it serves as a means for French colonialists to propagate their values and culture. According to the assimilation policy, the French featured the symbol of French to Indochina's civilians with a view to assimilating the French culture with Vietnamese culture.
Secondly, the act of visualizing Indochinese on stamps connotates the superior gaze of the French on the colonies. As can be seen, the Vietnamese were portrayed on stamps with backward and unattractive images. It implies the perspectives of French colonialists on the Vietnamese.
Most importantly, stamps turn out as an attempt to justify the French's "civilizing mission" in Indochina. By spreading the ideas of victory & modernization to Indochinese, the French positioned themselves as civilizers to the Indochinese.
To conclude, stamps produced during the Indochina period were a medium of demonstrating and transferring the French ideologies as well as its superior perspective on non-Westerners. The Indochina stamps were circulated until the Vietminh won over the French in 1954, which marked a new era for the development of Vietnam stamps.