Scott No: 949-956
Serial number: W2
Values in set: 8
Date of issue: May 1, 1967
Denomination: 62 fen
Designer: Xia Zhendong, Chen Xiaocun, Shao Bolin, Sun Chuanzhe, Zhang Kerang, Wan Weisheng
Engraver: Kong Shaohui
Size of stamps:
40*60mm for Value 1, 2, 3, 4;
40*54mm for Value 5, 6;
54*40mm for Value 7, 8
Perforation:
11*11.5 for Value 1, 2, 3, 4;
11 for Value 5, 6, 7, 8
Sheet composition:
25(5*5) for Value 1, 2, 3, 4;
28(7*4) for Value 5, 6;
28(4*7) for Value 7, 8
Printing process:
Engraving and photogravure for Value 1;
Photogravure for Value 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Issued in two batches, on 1 May and in September 1967, the set contains eight stamps, designed by Xia Zhongdong, Chen Xiaocong, Shao Bolin, Sun Chuanzhe and Zhang Kerang, with stamp 1 engraved by Kong Shaohui and the set produced by Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamps 1 to 4 measure 40mm × 60mm, perforation 11 × 11.5, with sheets of 25 (5 × 5); stamps 5 and 6 measure 40mm × 54mm, with sheets of 28 (7 × 4); stamps 7 and 8 measure 54mm × 40mm, with sheets of 28 (4 × 7); the last four stamps all have a perforation of 11. Stamp 1 is printed by combined photogravure and engraved recess printing, the other seven by photogravure. Stamp 1 has a face value of 4 fen and a print run of 7 million; stamps 2 to 7 have a face value of 8 fen and print runs of 10 million each; stamp 8 has a face value of 10 fen and a print run of 7 million, with a total set face value of 0.62 yuan.

Main Theme of the Set

On International Labour Day 1967, to publicise Mao Zedong Thought and the Cultural Revolution, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued this set. It left the factory in two batches: the first five stamps were issued on 1 May, and the last three did not appear until September. The artwork for the first four came from workers at Beijing Stamp Factory; finding it difficult to complete the designs on their own, the worker-designers cut and pasted together the propaganda posters of the time into artwork, so that these pictures carry a strong flavour of the propaganda poster. The last four were designed by the stamp issuing bureau, using photographs published by Xinhua News Agency and *China Pictorial*, cropped as needed, their subject being Mao Zedong and Lin Biao receiving the Red Guards on the Tiananmen Gate tower. The two parts differ greatly in design method and in the orientation of their content, so that two quite distinct appearances occur within one set — something not often seen among the W-series stamps. The set's total face value of 0.62 yuan, pairing two low values with a high value, reflects the postal rate structure of the time.

Stamp Designs and Historical Context

A Passage from the Communiqué of the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

This is the only stamp in the set printed by combined photogravure and engraved recess printing, and also the one with the lowest face value. The design takes an excerpt from the communiqué as its main text: "Comrade Mao Zedong is the greatest Marxist-Leninist of the present era. Comrade Mao Zedong has with genius, creatively and comprehensively inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism, and has raised Marxism-Leninism to a completely new stage. Mao Zedong Thought is Marxism-Leninism in the era when imperialism is heading for total collapse and socialism is advancing to worldwide victory; Mao Zedong Thought is the guiding principle for all the work of the whole Party and the whole country." Below is the silhouette of Tiananmen, identifying that the plenary session was held in Beijing. The engraver was Kong Shaohui; the characters and the lines of Tiananmen are impressed by the engraved recess plate and can be felt as raised, while the photogravure part provides the ground colour and the postal inscription. This stamp bears a secret mark: at the National Emblem on the Tiananmen Gate tower three "Shi" characters are engraved in the shape of "Sa (San Shi)", an important basis for distinguishing genuine from forged copies.

The Four Seas Are Rising, Clouds and Waters Raging; the Five Continents Are Rocking, Wind and Thunder Roaring

Above is the portrait of Mao Zedong; below is his own calligraphy of the lines "The four seas are rising, clouds and waters raging; the five continents are rocking, wind and thunder roaring", taken from *The River All Red — Reply to Comrade Guo Moruo*. Against a background of red clouds and waters churning, red flags appear faintly among the billows, the lines of the poem and the picture setting each other off to express the reading of the world revolutionary situation at the time. Handwritten verse and leader's portrait placed one above the other is a typical arrangement of picture and text among W-series stamps.

Chairman Mao Is the Red Sun in the Hearts of the People of the World

Above is a portrait of Mao Zedong in PLA uniform, the red-star cap badge and collar tabs especially striking against the red background; below is a mighty parade, in which people of different skin colours hold high Mao Zedong's works and advance under the guidance of red flags. The composition is dominated throughout by the leader's portrait, and the parade converges from below upward, creating visually a relation of looking up from the masses to the leader, signifying the connection between the Chinese revolution and the world revolution.

Chairman Mao with the Red Guards

The design shows Mao Zedong surrounded by Red Guards. He wears a grass-green military uniform and smiles as he waves in greeting to the Red Guards, who around him wave the red *Quotations from Chairman Mao* and cheer joyfully; the figures are densely packed and the atmosphere warm. Above, printed in red characters, is the quotation: "You should concern yourselves with the affairs of the state and carry the great proletarian Cultural Revolution through to the end!" This is the only design among the first four to depict the leader interacting directly with the Red Guards, and it has the strongest flavour of the propaganda poster.

Chairman Mao and Lin Biao Together

The design shows Mao Zedong and Lin Biao on the Tiananmen Gate tower receiving Red Guards and school teachers and students from all parts of the country and from the capital. Mao Zedong rests his hand on the balustrade and smiles in greeting to the crowds passing through the square, with Lin Biao beside him. From this stamp onward, a line of lettering begins to be printed on the stamp margins: "Long Live Our Great Teacher, Great Leader, Great Supreme Commander and Great Helmsman Chairman Mao", and all four later stamps bear this slogan uniformly, while the format also changes from vertical to horizontal.

Chairman Mao Reviews the Red Guards on Tiananmen

The photograph was taken by Qian Sijie. It shows Mao Zedong standing on the Tiananmen Gate tower, holding a cigarette in his left hand and raising his right hand, smiling in greeting to the parade passing through the square. The figure is framed from above the waist, with considerable blank space given to the balustrade and the sky behind, making this the picture with the strongest everyday atmosphere among the last four. The next stamp on the same theme uses another photograph, differing in composition and expression; the two placed together show how the same scene was selected several times at the time.

Chairman Mao Reviews the Red Guards on Tiananmen

On the same theme as the previous stamp, this uses a different photograph. Mao Zedong leans on the balustrade of the gate tower, smiling in greeting to the crowds passing through Tiananmen Square; his posture is more relaxed than in the previous stamp, and the picture gives more attention to the spatial relationship among the figure, the balustrade and the square. Both stamps show the review of the Red Guards — one with a raised hand, one leaning on the balustrade, one vertical and one horizontal — forming a contrast, and constituting a rare pair of designs on the same theme within this set.

Chairman Mao and Lin Biao Together

Closing the set and carrying the highest face value, this stamp is known among collectors as the "seated portrait of Mao and Lin". It shows Mao Zedong and Lin Biao studying documents together in the reception room of the Tiananmen Gate tower, taken from a photograph made during the National Day gathering of 1 October 1966: Mao Zedong turns sideways, pointing at the text, while Lin Biao looks on beside him. Because the face value is 10 fen, the print run 7 million, and the stamp was mainly used at the time for airmail and international mail, consumption was heavy and mint copies are markedly scarcer than those of the other stamps, making this the key item of the set.

Artistic Features of the Design

The eight stamps show a clear division into two phases. The first four are all vertical, 40mm × 60mm, with full compositions, intense colours, figures and text overlapping, and a strong flat, poster-like quality. The last four change to a horizontal format, in two sizes, 40mm × 54mm and 54mm × 40mm, according to content, and are cropped from photographs, with a strong realistic quality, while the "Four Greats" slogan is printed uniformly on the margins. Stamp 1 uses combined photogravure and engraved recess printing, with clear, sharp lettering; the other seven are photogravure, with substantial ink and pure reds. Because the two batches were designed by different parties and issued at different times, the set is not uniform in format, perforation or margin decoration — a trace of the rush printing of the time that also leaves clues for authentication today. Genuine copies have even, smooth perforations, 11 × 11.5 on the first four and 11 on the last four; forgeries are multi-colour offset printing on coated paper, with uneven perforations, coloured halftone dots everywhere under magnification, and the lettering and Tiananmen of stamp 1 appearing blurry, entirely lacking the raised feel of an engraved plate. The print runs of this set were not large to begin with, and after postal consumption and the interruption of philatelic activity mint copies are scarcer still; complete mint sets have long commanded high prices among W-series stamps on the market.