Scott No: 422
Serial number: C65
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: August 15, 1959
Denomination: 8 fen
Designer: Sun Chuanzhe
Engraver: Kong Shaohui
Size of stamps: 36*25.5mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Sheet composition: 50(5*10)
Printing process: Engraving
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

C65 "China-Czechoslovakia Postal and Telecommunications Technical Cooperation" commemorative stamp was issued on August 15, 1959. The set consists of 1 stamp, printed by engraving, designed by Sun Chuanzhe, engraved by Kong Shaohui, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 36 mm × 25.5 mm, perforation gauge 11 × 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet (5 × 10), with a total face value of 0.08 yuan for the set; Exterior of the Beijing Stamp Factory 8 fen, circulation 7 million copies.

Theme of the Set

In the early years of the founding of New China, the country lacked a modern stamp-printing factory. With technical assistance from Czechoslovakia, the Beijing Stamp Factory was successfully built and put into operation, becoming China's first professional stamp-printing factory with a complete automated production capacity. This stamp commemorates this international technical cooperation in the postal and telecommunications field, bearing witness to the friendly collaboration between China and Czechoslovakia, and at the same time marking China's entry into a new stage of independent modernization in stamp production. Czechoslovakia also issued a stamp on the same theme at the same time, making it a witness to early China-Czechoslovakia postal friendship.

Stamp Design and Historical Background

Exterior of the Beijing Stamp Factory

The main subject of the design is the exterior of the factory buildings of the Beijing Stamp Factory, with a simple, expansive modern factory facade; above is printed the text "China-Czechoslovakia Postal and Telecommunications Technical Cooperation," and below is marked the factory name. The factory was equipped with the advanced automatic printing, drying, perforating, and gumming equipment of the time; after going into production, large numbers of old Ji-te stamps were printed here, greatly raising China's stamp-printing level. The stamp's background color uses the postal service's signature dark green.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal format and engraving; the lines are clean and crisp, and the architectural form is concise and realistic, without superfluous decoration. The dark green background sets off the white architectural outline, and the tones are steady and elegant. The composition is balanced and restrained, with the factory building itself as the core, directly making clear the dual themes of postal and telecommunications industrial construction and international technical cooperation; it is also a commemorative stamp printed at the Beijing Stamp Factory itself.