The earliest donation stamp in China was 1920, the stamp of "Donation for Disaster Relief" in the first edition of Sailing Boat in Beijing. The donation was used to help the victims in the breach area of the Yellow River. After the founding of New China, stamps with donations were issued many times. Two sets of stamps, "Children of China" issued in February 1984 and "Disabled People in China" issued in March 1985, are attached stamps issued after the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC). Each stamp consists of 8 cents postage and 2 cents donation at that time, and the donation was uniformly allocated to the Children's Welfare and Disabled Welfare Foundation by the post and telecommunications departments.
The world's earliest stamps with donations were issued in New South Wales (now Australia), a former British colony in Oceania, on June 1897, with a face value of L pence and a price of 1 shilling. The excess is used for donation. After the First World War, the number of countries issuing donated stamps increased greatly, most of which were issued to raise funds for the relief of refugees and wounded soldiers. Later, it was expanded to raise funds for social welfare undertakings, so it was also called welfare stamps and charity stamps. Some countries think that the price of complimentary stamps includes the donation amount, which is a non-postal factor, so they order semi-postal stamps and quasi-postal stamps. Some countries issue special stamps with donations to form a series, such as health stamps in New Zealand, red cross stamps in France, tuberculosis stamps in Finland and child welfare stamps in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Donation stamps refer to stamps that raise funds for welfare, health, disaster relief, charity and other undertakings, and have a donation amount except postage. Also known as welfare stamps, charity stamps and semi-postal stamps. The difference between it and ordinary stamps is that besides the face value of stamps, donations are added. Part of the donation is used for welfare.
According to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union, the face value of donated stamps is written in the front and the added value is written in the back, and the font is smaller than the latter.
The earliest stamps in the world were issued by British New South Wales (now a state in Australia) on 1897.
Many countries have their own tradition of issuing donated stamps. Western European countries issue the largest number of species each year. Since 19 10, Belgium has issued more than 1000. Some countries have a set every spring and autumn, and it is their own series. Finland has issued "Red Cross Stamps" every year since 1930, and each stamp is printed with a bright red cross. Starting from 1930, New Zealand issues donation stamps with the word health every year, which are called "health stamps".