Scott No: 1349-53
Serial number: J20
Values in set: 5
Date of issue: August 1, 1977
Denomination: 40 fen
Designer: Li Yinqing, Zhang Kerang
Size of stamps: 31*38.5mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

J20 "50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" commemorative stamps were issued on August 1, 1977. The set consists of 5 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Li Yinqing and Zhang Kerang, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 30 mm × 40 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet (10 × 5), with a total face value of 0.40 yuan for the set, each stamp at 8 fen, and a circulation of 10 million copies each.

Theme of the Set

The Chinese People's Liberation Army was born from the August 1 Nanchang Uprising in 1927, and 1977 marked the 50th anniversary of its founding. This set was issued on the day of Army Day, unfolding its pictures in sequence along the historical thread of the people's army. Through five chapters—the goal of modernization, the early days at Jinggangshan, guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, the decisive Yangtze River crossing, and frontier defense—it looks back on the people's army's glorious fighting course through the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation, displaying the army's mission and responsibility in different periods, calling on the whole army to inherit the red tradition, accelerate revolutionary and modern construction, and build an impregnable steel Great Wall defending the motherland.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Accelerate the Revolutionary and Modern Construction of Our Army

At the top of the design is a huge red flag bearing Chairman Mao's portrait; in the foreground, soldiers of the army, navy, and air force stand side by side, and behind them are arranged modern equipment such as tanks, fighter aircraft, and rockets, with the ranks marching forward in a mighty procession. It symbolizes that the people's army, under the leadership of the Party, bravely advances toward the goal of national defense modernization; it is the overarching theme of the entire set.

Red Army Flag over Jinggangshan

With the continuous mountains of Jinggangshan as the background, Red Army soldiers stand in ranks, and the "August 1" army flag flies high. Jinggangshan was the people's army's first rural revolutionary base area and witnessed the meeting of Zhu and Mao; it represents the revolutionary foundation of the early period of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

Guerrilla Fighters Are Brave

With the green sorghum fields as the background, the design depicts anti-Japanese guerrilla fighters behind enemy lines during the War of Resistance, weapons in hand and high in spirits. Guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines was an important form of combat during the War of Resistance; the guerrillas relied on the rural environment to harass the enemy, highlighting the strength of people's war.

The Mighty Army Crosses the Great River

The design recreates the grand scene of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign: PLA soldiers cross the Yangtze in wooden boats, artillery fire reddens the river surface, and the soldiers bravely land on the shore. The million-strong mighty army crossing the great river was a decisive campaign of the War of Liberation, breaking through the Kuomintang's Yangtze River defense line in one stroke and liberating the vast areas south of the Yangtze.

Steel Great Wall

The design presents the northern border, with wind and snow filling the sky, and PLA soldiers and militia patrolling together along the border defense line. Joint military-civilian defense and vigilant guarding of the frontier imply that the people's army is the impregnable steel Great Wall safeguarding the peace of the motherland.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a vertical stamp format and a poster style, with firm and heroic figures and strong pictorial tension. The five pictures are coherent in chronological sequence, from the early founding, the War of Resistance, and the War of Liberation all the way to frontier defense and the four modernizations in the new period, with a complete narrative. The colors are intense and weighty, with sharp contrasts of warm and cool tones among red flags, artillery fire, and snowy plains. The photogravure printing gives full layers to figures and scenery. There is no souvenir sheet for this set. It is a classic commemorative stamp on the theme of Army Day of the JT period.