Scott No: 1103
Serial number: N45
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: December 25, 1972
Denomination: 8
Designer: Sun Hongnian
Engraver: Sun Hongnian
Size of stamps: 30*40mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Numbered Stamp 44 "Wang Jinxi, the Iron Man — Vanguard Fighter of the Chinese Working Class" numbered stamp was issued on December 25, 1972. The set consists of 1 stamp, printed by photogravure combined with engraving, designed and engraved by Sun Hongnian, with the original painting created jointly by Daqing workers and the Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 30 mm × 40 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet.

Theme of the Set

Wang Jinxi was an outstanding representative of Daqing's oil workers and is honored as the Iron Man. In the arduous environment of the Daqing oil campaign, he led the drilling team in self-reliance and arduous struggle, overcame numerous difficulties to develop the oilfield, and rendered immortal service to the development of China's petroleum industry. This stamp is issued to honor the advanced deeds of the Iron Man Wang Jinxi, carry forward the Iron Man spirit, call on the national industrial front to learn from Daqing and from the Iron Man, and inspire the broad masses of workers to devote themselves to socialist industrial construction.

Stamp Design and Historical Background

The Iron Man Wang Jinxi at Work

The design shows Wang Jinxi on a well platform in the depths of winter. Wearing a sheepskin hat and thick work clothes, he grips the brake handle of the drilling rig and stands proudly before the drilling platform. A book shows from his jacket pocket, and the background is the oilfield derrick and drilling equipment. It freezes his classic image commanding drilling operations on the campaign frontline, embodying the Daqing workers' struggling posture of "starting from the Two On" and battling heaven and earth.

Artistic Design Features

The stamp adopts the photogravure-plus-engraving process, with solid, weighty engraved lines and vivid depiction of the figure's facial expression, and a harmonious pairing of warm and cool tones. It is a single-stamp set with a composition focused on the main figure, plain and dignified. It is a representative work among the industrial model worker-themed numbered stamps of the 1970s.