In Asia the Ottoman Empire produced its first stamp issue in 1863 as Balkan nationalism and competing European interests forced its decline. Persia, Japan, Afghanistan (as the Kingdom of Kabul) and China, who had fallen under the influence of European and U.S. interests, began issuance in the 1870s. Within a decade, Thailand, Korea, and Nepal issued their first stamps.
Mary H. Lawson, National Postal Museum