Scott No: 1218-21
Serial number: T9
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: March 8, 1975
Denomination: 32 fen
Designer: Wan Weisheng
Size of stamps: 40*30mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Sheet composition: 50(5*10)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T9 "Rural Women Teachers" special stamps were issued on March 8, 1975. The set consists of 4 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Wan Weisheng, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 40 mm × 30 mm, perforation gauge 11 × 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet.

Theme of the Set

This set was issued on International Women's Day and is New China's first special stamp set specifically devoted to rural teachers. In the 1970s, large numbers of rural women teachers took root in remote pastoral areas, water towns, and fields, overcame difficulties such as inconvenient transportation and crude conditions, and carried out education suited to local conditions, giving school-age children at the grassroots the opportunity to study. With four different scenes, the stamps record the working appearance of rural women teachers studying diligently on their own, giving itinerant instruction, and running schools on the spot, praising the spirit of grassroots educators who are willing to dedicate themselves and take root in the countryside to teach and educate people, and displaying the distinctive feature of rural education at the time of running schools suited to local conditions.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Studying Seriously

The rural woman teacher in the design sits at a desk, reading newspapers, periodicals, and theoretical reading materials while holding a pen to record her reflections. The slogan "Loyal to the Party's educational cause" is posted on the wall, and a globe is placed on the desk. It expresses that the teacher persists in studying and enriching herself, continuously improving herself in order to do a good job in teaching.

Itinerant Teaching

The background is the vast grassland, a small river, and yurts. The woman teacher rides a horse deep into the pastoral area and gives lessons on the grassland to children tending livestock. Pastoral areas have scattered settlements and inconvenient transportation; horseback itinerant teaching was an important way to popularize education there, embodying the teacher traveling over mountains and rivers to bring schooling to the door.

Open-Door Schooling

The scene is set at a rural threshing ground. The woman teacher, in the courtyard, leads the students in practicing the abacus; grain and a scale are visible in the background. It combines the classroom with productive labor, carrying out teaching on the spot and embodying the school-running form that integrates teaching with production practice.

Floating School

The picture uses river and lake fishing boats as the classroom: the woman teacher gives lessons to fishermen's children on the boat deck, and the blackboard on the boat bears the teaching content. Water-town fishermen live by the water and are scattered in residence; relying on boats to set up floating classrooms makes it convenient for fishermen's children to attend school nearby—a school-running form unique to water towns.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a realistic poster style, with soft, plain colors and friendly, natural figures. The four stamps correspond respectively to self-study, teaching in pastoral areas, running schools in the fields, and boat schools in water towns. The four scenes differ in regional environment and together form a complete picture of rural education. The pictures are full of the flavor of daily life. It is a classic work among education-themed stamps of the 1970s.