Scott No: 527-528
Serial number: C42
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: August 30, 1960
Denomination: 18 fen
Designer: Liu Shuoren
Size of stamps: 48*26.5mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 50(5*10)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

S42 "Beijing Railway Station" special stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on August 30, 1960. The set consists of 2 stamps, designed by Liu Shuoren, printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure, with gum applied to the back of the entire set. The uniform stamp size is 52 mm × 31 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet, layout 5 × 10, with a total face value of 0.18 yuan for the set. Circulations: Front Panorama of the Station 8 fen, 5 million copies; Platform 10 fen, 2 million copies. The issue date coincided with the first anniversary of the completion and opening of Beijing Railway Station. Beijing Station is one of the Ten Great Buildings of the capital for the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic, designed and constructed by China itself, and was the largest modern railway passenger transport hub in China at the time.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Front Panorama of the Station

The design presents the complete facade of the main building of Beijing Station: the towers on both sides of the building have Chinese-style double-eaved roofs, making it a model of the combination of national style and modern architecture, with a pale blue sky set off by spreading white clouds. Beijing Station began construction in 1959 and was completed the same year; it is grand in scale, equipped with new-style facilities such as a waiting hall, overpasses, and underground passages, and is a landmark project of New China's railway construction. This stamp freezes the building's exterior, highlighting the dignified and expansive image of the capital's transport gateway.

Platform

The design shows the scene of the station's platforms: the platform canopies are arranged in rows, a steam locomotive enters the platform with white smoke rising from its front, and the station's waiting building appears in the distance. The railway platform is the core space for the gathering and dispersal of passengers and the stopping and operation of trains, and the steam locomotive was the representative of railway transport of that era. With the dynamic train, the picture expresses the station's transport function of handling passenger traffic and connecting the whole country.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal format, with an external and an internal view forming a contrast: the first is a static panorama of the building, displaying the architectural appearance and the construction achievements of the era; the second captures a moment of operation inside the station, giving the scene a flowing, everyday vitality—stillness and motion complementing each other. The photogravure colors are clean and transparent, with blue and cyan background colors distinguishing the pictures, and the lines are concise and generalized; it is a decorative realistic painting style, without piling up complicated details, giving a fresh and imposing visual effect.