In 1877, China's first match factory, Zilai Fire Bureau, was established in Shanghai, and China's first spark "Ma Pai" was born. Subsequently, the Qiaoming Match Factory in Foshan, Guangdong Province, which was founded in 1879, and its "Dragon Dance" sparks also occupied an important position in the early spark collection.

In the past, matches were called matches, and sparks were the trademark pattern of matchboxes, which was once the second largest collection in the world (after stamps). Spark content is generally historical figures, places of interest, folk customs and so on.

The birth of the world's first spark (made in Britain) was 13 years earlier than the birth of the world's first stamp "Black Penny" in 184.

Origin

Matches were first imported into China from foreign countries. In order to carry out economic aggression against China, British imperialism set up Jardine Matheson in Guangzhou as early as the 193s. While dumping a large amount of opium into China, matches and other commodities became another means of economic plunder. In the works of literati in the late Qing Dynasty, there were also some brief records about the input of matches.

The earliest official record of foreign matches imported into China was found in the Tianjin Customs Report in 1865, and only in the following three years did it appear in other customs reports. Since 1867, there has been a report on the total number of imported matches in China. Some reports have to be presented to Li Hongzhang, who cares about and runs the Westernization Movement.