Scott No: 810-817
Serial number: S69
Values in set: 8
Date of issue: December 30, 1964
Denomination: 64 fen
Designer: Sun Chuanzhe
Engraver: Kong Shaohui, Tang Linshen, Gao Pinzhang, Sun Hongnian
Size of stamps: 48.5*27mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 50(5*10)
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

S69 "Chemical Industry" special stamps were issued on December 30, 1964. The set consists of 8 stamps, printed by photogravure combined with engraving, designed by Sun Chuanzhe, engraved by Gao Pinzhang, Kong Shaohui, and Tang Linkun, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 52 mm × 31 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet (5 × 10), with a total face value of 0.64 yuan for the set, each stamp with a face value of 8 fen, and a circulation of 5 million copies each.

Theme of the Set

The chemical industry is a basic industrial category supporting industry and agriculture, medicine, light industry, and national defense. In the early years of the founding of New China, the country's chemical foundation was weak; after more than a decade of construction, an independent chemical system of nitrogen fertilizer, acids and alkalis, synthetic materials, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals was gradually built. This set systematically selects eight core categories of chemical products, covering agricultural support, livelihood and medical care, basic raw materials, and new synthetic materials, displaying the achievements of China's chemical industry in building from nothing through self-reliance, and embodying the all-around supporting role of chemicals in increasing grain production, national life, and industrial manufacturing. It is a classic set on the heavy industry theme among the old Ji-te stamps.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Fertilizer

The main subject of the design is a nitrogen fertilizer plant unit complex, with tall synthesis towers, heat exchange equipment, and crisscrossing pipelines arranged in picturesque disorder. Chemical fertilizer is a key material for increasing agricultural production; at the time the nitrogen fertilizer industry was vigorously developed to raise farmland fertility and safeguard grain production. With a full view of the plant area, the picture presents the fertilizer industry serving agriculture, and it is the stamp in the set most closely linked to farming production.

Plastics

The design depicts a modern plastics production workshop, with reaction kettles and conveying pipelines, and molded plastic products placed in the foreground. As an emerging polymer material, plastics gradually replaced some metals, wood, and rubber in the 1960s and were widely used in industry and daily necessities, representing the development direction of emerging synthetic chemicals.

Medicine

The design shows pharmaceutical plant production equipment, paired with images of medicine bottles and injections. New China's independent antibiotic and chemical synthetic drug industry got its start, breaking away from the situation of relying heavily on imported medicines, safeguarding domestic medical and health needs, lowering drug costs, and protecting public health.

Rubber

The design presents a rubber processing workshop, with large rubber-mixing equipment and transmission machinery, and rubber products drawn beside them. With limited supplies of natural rubber, the development of the synthetic rubber industry provided raw materials for tires, seals, and industrial consumables, serving the transportation and machinery manufacturing industries.

Pesticides

The design shows pesticide chemical production equipment, with farmland seedlings in the background. Highly effective chemical pesticides were used to prevent and control crop diseases and pests and reduce grain losses; together with chemical fertilizers, they safeguarded stable agricultural production. It is an important chemical branch serving rural production.

Acids

The main subject is basic acid chemical equipment such as sulfuric acid and nitric acid, with tall absorption towers and rows of pipelines. The three acids are the most basic raw materials of the entire chemical system; metallurgy, printing and dyeing, explosives, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizer production all cannot do without acids—they are the cornerstone of the chemical industry.

Alkalis

The design shows large equipment of an alkali plant, presenting the production process of soda ash and caustic soda. Alkali is likewise a basic chemical raw material, heavily consumed in papermaking, textiles, glass, detergents, and smelting, and it is a landmark category measuring a country's basic chemical strength.

Synthetic Fibers

The design shows a chemical fiber spinning workshop, with spinning units drawing out fine synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers made up for the insufficient output of natural fibers such as cotton, hemp, and silk and were used to weave cloth, enriching the people's clothing materials; it was a very important emerging chemical achievement in the light industry field at the time.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal stamp format and the photogravure-plus-engraving process: the engraved plates solidly depict the hard outlines and structural lines of towers, pipelines, and machinery, while the photogravure plates set off the plant environment, smoke, and light-and-shadow layers, fully expressing the weighty industrial texture of chemical equipment. The eight stamps are arranged in sequence by agricultural-support chemicals, livelihood chemicals, basic raw materials, and polymer new materials, with clear logic, completely outlining the industrial map of the chemical industry.

The style is the typical industrial decorative style of the 1960s: steady compositions, restrained and weighty colors, without overly intense color blocks, highlighting the rigorous and grand characteristics of the chemical industry. All eight stamps have the same face value and circulation, with no key stamp in the traditional sense; however, the set has many stamps, and they were used separately for postage at the time, so it is still not easy to collect a complete set with uniform condition and original gum. Together with Special 67 "Petroleum Industry" and Special 68 "Xin'an River Hydropower Station," this set forms a series on the theme of industrial construction and holds a very high place among the old Ji-te industrial stamps.