Balancing Use and Abuse: Personal Letters and Official Postal Delivery in Mid-imperial China

During the transformative eleventh to twelfth centuries in Song China, government officials regularly corresponded with each other and their families. This paper examines the postal system’s regulations and the challenge of enforcing them in this dynamic historical context of the 11-12th centuries, characterized by the consolidation of literati culture, the advent of print technology, and significant political turmoil. Officials of Song China depended on the state courier system for transmitting “personal letters” (sishu), which were distinct from bureaucratic documents, despite serving no administrative purpose. They relied on the government’s courier transport system to transmit written messages to their colleagues and family from afar, especially since they had to rotate between posts in local offices. This research delves into the tension between official and personal use of the postal network, revealing how early Song concessions created irreducible conflicts in communication privacy and security. The paper analyses the state’s rationale behind permitting private correspondence within an official framework (sishu fu di), the reactions to the misuse of resources, and the broader implications for the Song government’s regulatory strategies. Utilizing Song-era regulations and contemporary literary sources, this study not only revisits scholarship by historians Peter J. Golas and Cao Jiaqi, but also seeks to bridge research on government postal policy and letter-writing customs. In essence, this presentation aims to contribute to the history of epistolary practices and postal institutions in China, offering insights for comparative and global postal history research.