Scott No: 1312-14
Serial number: T10
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: March 8, 1977
Denomination: 24 fen
Designer: Liu Shuoren
Size of stamps: 53*31mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 40(4*10)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T10 "Women Militia" special stamps were issued on March 8, 1977. The set consists of 3 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Liu Shuoren, with the original paintings by Zhao Shuqin, Yang Gang, and Liu Sanduo and Wu Zhengquan respectively, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 52 mm × 31 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, 40 stamps per sheet (4 × 10), with a total face value of 0.24 yuan for the set, each stamp with a face value of 8 fen and a circulation of 5 million copies each.

Theme of the Set

This set was issued on International Women's Day, selecting three scenes—an island, grasslands, and an air-defense works—to display the dashing and heroic bearing of women militia training hard and guarding the frontier territory. The militia is a component of national defense strength, and women militia, together with men militia, shoulder the tasks of combat readiness duty and territorial defense. With three oil paintings, the stamps praise women's sense of responsibility in devoting themselves to national defense and defending the motherland, embodying the era's theme of all the people being soldiers and consolidating coastal and border defense.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

We Are All Marksmen

The picture shows women militia on an island, sitting together on the seaside tidal flats, carefully wiping and inspecting firearms, with sea target boards floating on the sea and the vast ocean in the background. Island women militia carry out shooting training by the sea all year round, training hard in marksmanship and guarding the coastal defense.

Returning from Target Practice

The design depicts grassland women militia galloping on horseback, with red flags fluttering in the wind; several women militia ride together, returning against the rosy clouds after target practice. The vast grasslands are a northern border defense zone, and grassland women militia patrol and train on horseback, guarding the peace of the frontier.

Underground Great Wall

The design presents the interior of an air-defense tunnel, where women militia direct the passage of vehicles, with the tunnel works extending into the depth. Underground air-defense works are a wartime protective barrier, commonly called the "Underground Great Wall," embodying the militia's participation in air-defense construction and their work based on urban combat readiness.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal long stamp format. The three original oil paintings are realistic and weighty in style, with a strong atmospheric feeling in the pictures; the scenes of the island's emerald sea, galloping horses on the grasslands, and the tunnel works are distinctly distinguished. The figures are vigorous and heroic, and the colors are intense and saturated. The photogravure printing has rich layers of light and shadow, restoring the oil painting texture in place. There is no souvenir sheet for this set. It is a classic special stamp set on the militia and national defense theme of the JT period.