Scott No: 1415-1419
Serial number: T26
Values in set: 5
Date of issue: July 22, 1978
Denomination: 40 fen
Designer: Sun Chuanzhe
Size of stamps: 62*26mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 35(5*7)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T26 "Iron and Steel Industry" special stamps were issued on July 22, 1978. The set consists of 5 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Sun Chuanzhe, 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 0.40 yuan for the set and a circulation of 14 million copies for each stamp.

Theme of the Set

Iron and steel are the basic raw materials of industry, and the development level of the ferrous metallurgical industry directly determines the foundation of national economic construction. In modern times China's steel foundation was weak; after the founding of New China, a number of large integrated steel enterprises were successively built, gradually establishing an independent steel production system. This set arranges its pictures according to the complete process flow of steel production, selecting actual production scenes from several key steel plants in China and successively presenting the entire chain of coking, ironmaking, steelmaking, steel rolling, and finished product shipment. It records the bustling construction scene of China's iron and steel industry in the 1970s, displays the production scenes of steelworkers' arduous struggle, and provides basic material support for the four modernizations.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Coking

The picture is taken from the coke ovens of the Capital Iron and Steel Plant, with coke oven buildings neatly arranged, fiery red smoke rising, and locomotives operating beside the ovens. Coke is the core fuel for blast furnace ironmaking; coking is the starting process of steel production, in which coal is subjected to high-temperature dry distillation in the absence of air to obtain metallurgical coke, preparing raw materials for the subsequent ironmaking process.

Ironmaking

The picture is taken from the blast furnace tapping scene at the Maanshan Iron and Steel Plant, with molten iron rushing out, two steelworkers operating in front of the furnace with tools in hand, and firelight illuminating the plant building. Blast furnace ironmaking relies on coke to reduce iron ore to obtain pig iron; it is the key conversion link from ore to metallic iron.

Steelmaking

The picture is taken from the oxygen converter steelmaking workshop of the Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant, with the converter tilted and workers cooperating with the equipment to pour molten iron into the furnace. Oxygen converter steelmaking was an advanced steelmaking process at the time; it decarburizes pig iron and adjusts its composition to smelt molten steel of different specifications, and it is the core process determining steel quality.

Steel Rolling

The picture is taken from the steel rolling workshop of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant, with steel rolling workers at the control console, watching the instruments closely and controlling the rolling rhythm. The red-hot steel billet is repeatedly pressed by the rolling mill and shaped into steel plates, section steel, and other profiles, processing steel ingots into steel billets usable by all sectors.

Finished Products

The picture is taken from the finished product yard of the Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant, with cranes hoisting steel, railway freight cars stopped at the platform, and steel stacked neatly, ready for shipment. The inspected finished steel products are loaded and sent to all parts of the country, supplying infrastructure, machinery manufacturing, transportation, and other sectors; it is the concluding link of steel production flowing into all fields of the national economy.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal stamp format, and the five pictures connect in sequence to form a steel production assembly line. It uses a realistic poster style, with fiery red and orange-yellow as the main tones, setting off the hot, blazing on-site atmosphere of the metallurgical workshop. The pictures balance large metallurgical equipment with the images of frontline workers, highlighting the principal role of people in industrial production, with grand scenes and a strong sense of power. The photogravure printing well expresses the light-and-shade layers of firelight and molten steel, with intense, weighty colors. There is no souvenir sheet for this set. It is a classic special stamp set on the heavy industry theme of the JT period.