Scott No: -
Serial number: 2013-5
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: March 13, 2013
Denomination: 120 fen
Designer: Dong Qi
Size of stamps: 40 * 30 mm
Perforation: 13
Sheet composition: 12
Size of sheet: 200 * 125 mm
Printing process: Offset
Printing House: Henan Provincial Postage Stamp Printing Works

To mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, China Post issued the commemorative stamp set The 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee on March 13, 2013. The set contains one single stamp with a face value of 1.20 yuan and dimensions of 40 mm × 30 mm. Its designer is Dong Qi, who previously created the commemorative stamps for The 12th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.

Designed around landmark buildings reflecting the school’s historical evolution, the stamp features the main building of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee as its core visual element. Set against the backdrop are the school motto "Seek Truth from Facts", the cave-style auditorium of the Party School in Yan’an, and the grand auditorium of the school from the Yan’an era. The Party emblem highlights the core theme, showcasing the distinctive features and glorious journey of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The Party School of the CPC Central Committee is China’s highest institution for rotational training and education of senior and middle-ranking Party leading cadres as well as Marxist theoretical cadres. A key department directly under the CPC Central Committee, it serves as an important platform for studying, researching and disseminating Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, a melting pot for cadres to strengthen their Party spirit, and a Party research institute for philosophy and social sciences.

Centered on studies of the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, the Party School sets the basic requirement of improving cadres’ theoretical attainment, global vision, strategic thinking and Party spirit cultivation. It offers courses including Basic Issues of Marxism-Leninism, Basic Issues of Mao Zedong Thought, The Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, as well as Contemporary World Economy, Contemporary Science and Technology Worldwide, Global Legal Systems Today, Contemporary Military Affairs Worldwide, Trends of Contemporary Global Ideologies, and Ethnic Groups and Religions in the Modern World. The school guides participants to research and discuss major realistic and strategic domestic and international issues, integrates requirements for enhancing Party spirit throughout the entire teaching process, and carries out education on Party spirit and conduct.

The predecessor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee was the Marxist Communist School, founded on March 13, 1933 in Ruijin City, Jiangxi Province, the Central Revolutionary Base Area. In 1935, after following the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army on the Long March to northern Shaanxi, it was renamed the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. It moved to Yan’an in 1937, and Mao Zedong concurrently served as its president starting from 1942. The school evacuated Yan’an in 1947. In 1948, the CPC Central Committee resolved to establish an advanced Party school named the Marxism-Leninism College, with Liu Shaoqi acting as its president concurrently. Following the liberation of Beiping (now Beijing), the college relocated there. It was renamed the Advanced Party School Directly under the CPC Central Committee in 1955. Its operations were suspended during the Cultural Revolution after 1966, and it resumed operation in 1977 under its current official name. Around the time of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee, when Hu Yaobang presided over the work of the Party School, the school spearheaded the well-known nationwide Great Discussion on the Criterion for Truth, which played a pivotal role in restoring the Party’s ideological line of seeking truth from facts and shifting the focus of the whole Party’s work.