Scott No: 998
Serial number: W12
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: August 1, 1968
Denomination: 8 fen
Designer: Liu Chunhua, Sun Chuanzhe, Wan Weisheng, Li Dawei
Size of stamps: 40*60mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Sheet composition:
Sheet I: 25(5*5);
Sheet II: 28(7*4)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Issued on 1 August 1968, the set consists of a single stamp, printed in photogravure. The original oil painting was created by Liu Chunhua, and the stamp was designed by Sun Chuanzhe and printed by Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size: 40mm × 60mm; perforation: 11.5; sheet composition: 25 stamps; face value: 8 fen; print run: 50 million.

Main Theme of the Stamp

In the autumn of 1921, entrusted by the Hunan Branch of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong travelled to the Anyuan Mines and Railway in Jiangxi Province to conduct investigations. He went deep into the mining area to learn about the sufferings of the workers, disseminated Marxism and sowed the revolutionary seeds of the workers’ movement. Thereafter, the Anyuan Mines and Railway Workers’ Movement flourished. The Anyuan Mines and Railway Workers’ Great Strike broke out in 1922, one of the most influential struggles in China’s early workers’ movement. The oil painting Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan was completed in 1967 and gained widespread popularity immediately after its release. The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications adapted this oil painting into a stamp to reproduce the historical scene of the young Mao Zedong travelling to Anyuan to open up a front for the workers’ movement.

Stamp Design and Historical Context

Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan

The design faithfully reproduces the original oil painting. The young Mao Zedong wears a long gown and cloth shoes, with an oil-paper umbrella tucked under his right arm, walking along a mountain path. He strides forward with his head held high and a resolute expression. Rolling mountains stretch in the distance, while dark clouds gather heavily in the sky; the threatening atmosphere of an impending storm underscores the hardships of the revolutionary road. This painted image freezes the classic moment when Mao Zedong travelled alone to Anyuan to carry out revolutionary work among the working masses. In the early period after the stamp was issued, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a special notice requiring postmarks not to be stamped on the stamp design, but only on the blank space of the envelope. Later, because some people reused the unstamped stamps, the normal postmarking practice was restored.

Artistic Features of the Design

The stamp faithfully preserves the composition, colour palette and figure modelling of the oil painting, with no extra decorative elements added. The colours are rich and steady, and the main subject stands out prominently. It is one of the most famous W-series stamps and a rare example where an original oil painting was directly adopted for a stamp, occupying an important position among Cultural Revolution stamps.