Scott No: 1329-32
Serial number: T22
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: April 9, 1977
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

T22 "Popularize Dazhai-Type Counties" special stamps were issued on April 9, 1977. 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 (5 × 10), with a total face value of 0.32 yuan for the set, all four stamps at 8 fen, and a circulation of 8 million copies for each stamp.

Theme of the Set

In 1975 the National Conference on Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture put forward the task of popularizing Dazhai-type counties, and at the end of 1976 the Second National Conference on Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture further promoted this work. This set presents, from four angles—cadres taking the lead, mechanized production, harvest and storage, and winter farmland construction—the rural appearance of learning from Dazhai's spirit of self-reliance and hard, practical work, calling on all places to transform low-yield fields, advance agricultural mechanization, improve farmland water conservancy, develop the collective economy, and speed up agricultural production and construction.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Revolutionized County Party Committee

The background is tiered terraced fields, power transmission towers, and blooming mountain flowers. County Party committee cadres leave their offices, hold high the red flag of "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture," carry farm tools on their shoulders, and go deep into the fields to labor and investigate together with the masses, embodying the work style of the leadership taking root on the frontline and leading by practical example.

Thriving Prosperity

The picture shows mountain terraced fields, with tractors and rice transplanters operating in the fields, power transmission lines running through the mountains and fields, and the large slogan "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture" written on the mountain rock faces. It displays the gradual popularization of agricultural mechanization, the improvement of farmland irrigation and cultivation conditions, and the vigorous development of agricultural production.

Fighting the "Four Pests" and Celebrating the Harvest

In the picture, tall grain bins are neatly arranged, farmers are busy drying and selling grain, and red leaves on the branches set off the harvest scene. A bumper grain harvest stored in the granary represents the rich fruits won by hard work, and it is the intuitive embodiment of the actual results achieved in agricultural construction.

Working Hard for Socialism

The design depicts a farmland construction site in the winter slack season, with red flags fluttering and the masses concentrated on opening mountains, building canals, and leveling land for farmland capital construction, transforming mountains and waters and building stable, high-yield farmland, embodying the struggling scene of vigorously carrying out farmland capital construction.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal stamp format, and the four pictures are presented in a poster style, with bright, passionate tones and sharp contrasts between the main colors of red and green. The narrative is coherent, from cadres going down to the countryside, field production, harvest and grain collection to winter capital construction, completely linking the cycle of agricultural production and construction. The photogravure printing has transparent colors, and the layers of pastoral and construction sites are clear. There is no souvenir sheet for this set. It is a classic special stamp set on the theme of learning from Dazhai in agriculture of the JT period.