Preservation of colonial-era postboxes has long been a topic of debate among philatelists, but only in the increasingly troubled city of Hong Kong could it cause a simmering political dispute enveloping issues of identity, independence and incompetence.
Some 18 years after Hong Kong was handed back to China from British control, the government has decided to cover up the royal insignia on the territory’s 59 remaining colonial postboxes on the grounds that they are an “inappropriate” symbol of the past.
Coming after one Chinese official reminded Hong Kongers of the limitations of self-rule and another blamed the territory’s woes on its failure to decolonise, the plan sparked a backlash.