Editing Hongkong Post (section)

==History==
[[Image:HKGPO1911.jpg|thumb|[[General Post Office, Hong Kong|General Post Office]] circa 1911.]]
Merchants traded in [[Hong Kong]] on the two sides of [[Victoria Harbour]] as early as before the [[British Empire|British]] [[Treaty of Nanking|possession]] in 1842. They complained about the absence of proper postal services and therefore the Postal Department was established.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

The department was founded on 28 August 1841, but the first post office (known as 書信館 at that time), situated near the current site of [[St. John's Cathedral, Hong Kong|St. John's Cathedral]], opened on 12 November 1841. At first, its right to operation belonged to the [[Royal Mail]], until its transfer to the Postmaster General on 1 May 1860.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

On 8 December 1862, the office issued the first set of Hong Kong [[postal stamp]]s. Before this time, only British troops in Hong Kong could use British stamps, while other local residents did not have access to British stamps. Until the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, mail for British forces serving in the then-colony used the [[British Forces Post Office]] number, BFPO 1.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ziwdAQAAMAAJ&q=%22BFPO+1%22++ ''The Asian Press and Media Directory''], Press Foundation of Asia., 1980, page 80</ref>

The office introduced automated mail sorting in 1989, and machines were installed in the General Post Office.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nec.co.jp/control/en/product/postal/solution_inte.html |title=Postal Automation (Hong Kong)|publisher=NEC|access-date=23 May 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070416143154/http://www.nec.co.jp/control/en/product/postal/solution_inte.html |archive-date = 16 April 2007}}</ref>

There is no post code system in Hong Kong, although one has been under consideration since 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200001/12/0112212.htm|title=Postal coding system in Hong Kong |publisher=NEC|access-date=7 September 2007}}</ref>

Since August 1995, the office has operated as a trading fund and the full title of the head of the Office became "Postmaster General and general manager of the Post Office Trading Fund" ({{zh|t=香港郵政署長兼郵政署營運基金總經理}}).{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}