Scott No: 490-493
Serial number: C76
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: March 8, 1960
Denomination: 44 fen
Designer: Wan Weisheng
Size of stamps: 23*32.5mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

C76 "50th Anniversary of March 8 International Working Women's Day" commemorative stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on March 8, 1960. The set consists of 4 stamps, designed by Wan Weisheng, printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure, with gum applied to the back of the entire set. The uniform stamp size is 23 mm × 32.5 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet, layout 10 × 5, with a total face value of 0.44 yuan for the set. Circulations: Portrait of Clara Zetkin, Founder of March 8 International Working Women's Day 4 fen, 4 million copies; Protect Mothers, Protect Children 8 fen, 8 million copies; Women Participate in Socialist Construction 10 fen, 3 million copies; Great Unity of Women of the World 22 fen, 2.5 million copies. The issue date was chosen as March 8, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Women's Day in 1910.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Portrait of Clara Zetkin, Founder of March 8 International Working Women's Day

The design is a half-length portrait of Clara Zetkin, with a calm, kindly expression, on a plain light gray background. Zetkin was a German proletarian revolutionary and a leader of the international women's movement; it was on her initiative that the International Conference of Socialist Women established March 8 International Working Women's Day, to promote women's struggle for equal rights and their own liberation throughout the world. This stamp traces the origin of the holiday and pays tribute to the pioneer of the women's liberation movement.

Protect Mothers, Protect Children

In the design a young mother carries a child on her back and holds up a dove of peace with both hands, with soft, warm tones. Mother and child represent family, life, and the future, and the dove of peace carries the wish to oppose war and safeguard peace, expressing that only in a peaceful environment can the happiness of women and children be guaranteed.

Women Participate in Socialist Construction

The design shows a woman tractor driver holding the tractor's steering wheel, with a small red flag fluttering at her shoulder and a high-spirited expression. New China vigorously advocated that women step out of the home and devote themselves to industrial and agricultural production, contributing on the frontlines of farmland and factories; this image vividly displays the appearance of Chinese women as a force of construction participating in national production and construction.

Great Unity of Women of the World

The design places side by side three women of different skin colors, representing Asia, Africa, and Europe respectively, standing shoulder to shoulder with confident, cheerful expressions. It implies that women of all countries transcend geographical and racial boundaries, join hands, and strive together for women's liberation, national independence, and world peace. It is also one of the earlier New China stamps to feature the image of an African woman.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a vertical format, with a coherent and orderly narrative thread: tracing the pioneer, safeguarding the peaceful home, devoting oneself to national construction, and women of the world joining hands—progressing layer by layer, completely interpreting the era's meaning of Women's Day. The style leans toward decorative printmaking, with concise, clean outlines and bright, soft colors; each stamp has a fine gray border, like a small illustration, plain and friendly, without elaborate light-and-shadow rendering.