Scott No: 2005-06
Serial number: J118
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: September 8, 1985
Denomination: 28 fen
Designers: Zou Jianjun
Size of stamps: 40*30mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

J118 "The Second National Workers' Games" commemorative stamps were issued on September 8, 1985. The set consists of 2 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Zou Jianjun, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory.

Theme of the Set

The National Workers' Games are aimed at the broad masses of workers and staff and are a sports gala belonging to laborers. After a gap of thirty years, the Second National Workers' Games were held. This set takes this occasion to showcase the mass character of workers' sports, advocate that workers actively participate in physical exercise and build strong bodies, display the high-spirited and striving outlook of workers in the new era, and promote the development of workers' sports undertakings.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Forging Ahead

The main subject of the design is a cyclist riding forward, with the background dotted with a group portrait of worker-athletes in various sports such as football, volleyball, and swimming. It embodies the characteristics of workers' sports—rich in events and broad in participation—and implies that laborers strive forward and keep advancing.

Soaring

The main subject of the design is a woman hurdler leaping over a hurdle, with the background likewise paired with silhouettes of athletes in various sports. It symbolizes workers constantly breaking through themselves and striving toward higher goals, carrying the beautiful wish that careers and sports soar together.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a highly dynamic modern sports painting style, with full compositions and vivid capture of moments of movement. The two stamps use warm yellow and emerald green as their respective background colors, with bright and vivid colors and clear primary and secondary emphasis. The main events stand out, and the background group portraits set off the mass character. Differing from stamps for professional competitive events, it focuses on embodying the popular and mass nature of workers' sports, full of vitality.