On this day 185 years ago, on May 6, 1840 (April 5, 1840 lunar calendar), the world's first postage stamps were born. The first postage stamps in the world began to be used on May 6, 1840. The British inventor of stamps was Roland Hill. Hill turned out to be a teacher and later became the British Postal Minister. Legend has it that one day, when Hill was taking a walk, he saw a mail carrier handing a letter to a girl. The girl took the letter and looked at it, then returned it to the mail carrier. Hill was surprised and asked the girl why she refused to accept the letter. The girl said that the postage was too expensive, and she could not afford it. It turned out that the letter was from the girl's fiancé, although she did not open it. But as long as she saw the password made by the fiancé on the envelope, she could see if he was safe. Postage was very expensive in the UK at that time, and postage was not paid by the sender, but by the recipient. Hill felt that this was unreasonable, so he proposed to reform the postal system, reduce postage, and change the fare to be borne by the sender, and affix stamps as proof of payment. The British government accepted Hill's suggestion. In this way, the world's first stamps were born. The face of this first batch of stamps was black, and it was printed with a relief of Queen Victoria of England. Each face value was one penny, and people called it "penny black stamps".