Scott No: 960-964
Serial number: W4
Values in set: 5
Date of issue: July 1, 1967
Denomination: 142 fen
Designer: Liu Shuoren
Engraver: Sun Hongnian
Size of stamps: 27*40mm
Perforation: 11
Sheet composition: 70(10*7)
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Issued in two batches, on 1 July and 18 September 1967, the set contains five stamps, line-engraved, designed by Liu Shuoren from an original print by Shen Yaoyi, engraved by Sun Hongnian and produced by Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size: 27mm × 40mm; perforation: 11; sheet composition: 70 stamps (10 × 7); gummed on the reverse. All five stamps have the same design, differing only in colour and face value: 4 fen, 8 fen, 35 fen, 43 fen and 52 fen, with print runs of 8.4 million, 8.5 million, 3.9 million, 2.9 million and 4.9 million respectively, and a total set face value of 1.42 yuan.

Main Theme of the Set

1 July 1967 was the forty-sixth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued this set in celebration. The design was taken from a print published publicly during the Cultural Revolution, showing a profile portrait of Mao Zedong in the PLA Type 65 uniform. The original plan was one picture in four colours with four face values; a fifth value was later added, and the colours were extended accordingly to five different red tones — ochre, crimson, tea brown, orange-red and peach red — so that the five stamps, identical in design but different in colour and value, form a series with a gradation of tone.

Because the five stamps left the factory in two batches, the 4 fen and 8 fen were issued on 1 July with the anniversary, while the 35 fen, 43 fen and 52 fen did not appear until 18 September. The three high values corresponded to the postal rates of the time for airmail, registration and parcels, and were actually used in situations different from the low-value ordinary-letter stamps; among them the 43 fen, with a print run of only 2.9 million, is the scarcest of the set.

Stamp Design and Historical Context

Profile Portrait of Chairman Mao in Military Uniform (Print)

The design is a profile bust of Mao Zedong facing left, wearing a military cap with a red-star cap badge and the Type 65 uniform with red collar tabs, his expression composed. The original work is a print with bold cutting, clearly defined blocks and strong contrasts of light and dark; the hair, collar and facial structure are all rendered with engraved lines, carrying the distinctive force of a woodcut. The stamp reproduces the effect of the print by line engraving: the lines are impressed from an engraved recess plate, raised on the paper surface and perceptible to the fingertip.

The five stamps differ only in ground colour and ink tone. The ochre tone is comparatively dark, the crimson the truest, the tea brown subdued, the orange-red warmer, and the peach red the lightest; placed side by side, the five show a transition from deep to light. The design itself does not change with the colour, so completing the five depends on distinguishing fine differences of ink tone and the face values. The total face value of 1.42 yuan makes this, among the W-series stamps, a set with a comparatively complete face-value structure: the low values for ordinary letters, the high values for airmail and parcels, reflecting the tiers of postal rates at the time.

Artistic Features of the Design

The set is line-engraved, one of the few W-series issues printed entirely by engraving. Sun Hongnian's engraving has fine, even lines; the layers of hair, drapery of the uniform and the cap badge are all expressed by hatching, countable strand by strand under a magnifier, quite unlike the flat washes of photogravure ink. Sheets of 70, arranged 10 × 7, give a regular layout. The stamp bears a secret mark: at the temple, on the hairline above and to the left of Mao Zedong's ear contour, a "人" character is engraved, an important basis for distinguishing genuine from forged copies; on offset forgeries only coarse halftone dots remain at that spot and the secret mark disappears.

Because the print runs were comparatively small — especially the 43 fen and 35 fen, each under 4 million — and because large numbers were affixed at the time to parcels and airmail, complete mint sets are of limited survival, and the market often offers offset forgeries made by re-photographing and re-plating the design at full size, on coated paper, with fake gum applied and rough, uneven perforations. Genuine copies have firm paper, an even gum surface, rounded perforations and engraved lines with a raised quality, and under an ultraviolet lamp the red appears pure and bright, clearly distinguishable from forgeries. This treatment of one design in different colours is relatively unusual among the W-series stamps and is often used as a sample for studying ink-colour control and the design of series stamps of the period.