Scott No: 711-712
Serial number: C99
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: September 10, 1963
Denomination: 16 fen
Designer: Liu Shuoren
Engraver: Gao Pinzhang, Sun Hongnian
Size of stamps: 27.5*48mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

C99 "The 27th World Table Tennis Championships" commemorative stamps were issued on September 10, 1963. The set consists of 2 stamps, printed by engraving, designed by Liu Shuoren, engraved by Sun Hongnian and Gao Pinzhang, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 27.5 mm × 48 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet (10 × 5), with a total face value of 0.16 yuan for the set; both stamps at 8 fen, with a circulation of 5 million copies each.

Theme of the Set

The 27th World Table Tennis Championships were held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in April 1963. The Chinese table tennis team fought bravely and won three championships at one stroke—the men's team Swaythling Cup, the men's singles St. Bride Vase, and the men's doubles Iran Cup—while also taking a number of runner-up and third-place finishes, achieving new outstanding results in the international table tennis world. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued this engraved commemorative set after the event, freezing the competitive elegance of the table tennis athletes, displaying the three championship trophies won, and praising the national table tennis team's sports spirit of fearing no strong opponents and fighting tenaciously. It is also an important sports-themed stamp from the 1960s ping-pong diplomacy boom.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Athlete

The design shows a penhold attacking table tennis player, with the body turned sideways, holding the racket in the right hand and poised for a forehand attack, highly dynamic, accurately restoring the mainstream playing style of Chinese table tennis at the time. The background is covered with fine wavy patterns, setting off the tense competitive atmosphere of the arena; below the stamp are marked the event name and year, shaping the high-spirited, striving competitive image of the Chinese table tennis athletes.

Trophies

The design uses the outline of a table tennis racket as the base, within which are placed the three championship trophies won by the Chinese team at this event: from left to right, the Iran Cup, the Swaythling Cup, and the St. Bride Vase. The trophies are realistic in form and compactly arranged, with ribbons drawn below the racket symbolizing glory. The stamp likewise bears the event name, concentrating on displaying the brilliant results achieved at this championships.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a vertical long stamp format. The engraved lines are solid and crisp, with clean, neat outlines; the variations of light and dark lines shape the athletes' muscle dynamics and the three-dimensional outlines of the trophies, and the fine, neat ground patterns give a unique printmaking texture. One stamp shows the athletes in competition, the other the trophies of honor—one dynamic and one static, echoing each other, with a concise and powerful narrative.