Scott No: -
Serial number: 2017-23
Values in set: 5
Date of issue: Sept 17, 2017
Denomination: 6.60 fen
Designer: Du Yukai
Size of stamps: 40 * 30 mm
Perforation: 13
Sheet composition: 20
Sheet Size: 240 * 150 mm
Printing process: Offset
Printing House: Liaoning Provincal Shenuang Postage Stamp Printing Works

When science and technology thrive, the nation prospers; when science and technology are strong, the country is powerful. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made important arrangements for implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, propelling the development of science and technology into a fast lane. On May 30, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the "Three Science and Technology Conferences" (the National Conference on Science and Technology Innovation, the Congress of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Ninth National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology), calling on the whole Party and the nation to build a world leader in science and technology. China's scientific and technological development thus ushered in a new peak. In the future, technological innovation, as a new engine for development, will surely converge stronger sources of motivation and create more "Chinese miracles".

Technological Innovation is a set of commemorative stamps issued by China Post on September 11, 2017, with the catalog number 2017-23, to commemorate five major scientific and technological achievements of China. The full set has a total face value of 6.60 yuan. The stamps are themed on "500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)", "Micius Quantum Science Experiment Satellite", "Exploration No.1 Scientific Research Vessel", "Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project", and "Sunway TaihuLight Supercomputer", with a total issuance quantity of 15.5316 million sets.

The First Stamp: 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)

The stamp takes the main structure of the telescope as the core element, depicting three major independent technological innovations: active reflector technology, lightweight cable-driven feed support technology, and the use of natural landforms to construct the giant telescope. The background features scientific symbols such as neutral hydrogen, pulsars, and celestial bodies, demonstrating the telescope's powerful function as a multidisciplinary basic research platform. When viewed under ultraviolet light, it simulates the scientific principle of the radio telescope receiving signals from the sky and reflecting them from the mirror surface to the feed source.

The Second Stamp: Micius Quantum Science Experiment Satellite

The satellite has two main scientific objectives. Firstly, it conducts high-speed satellite-ground quantum key distribution experiments and builds a wide-area quantum key network based on this. Secondly, it carries out quantum entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation experiments on a spatial scale, conducting research to test the completeness of quantum mechanics at the spatial level. The stamp's design centers on the satellite in cosmic space and the Earth, with five points on the Earth representing four quantum communication ground stations (Nanshan, Delingha, Xinglong, and Lijiang) and the quantum teleportation experiment station in Ali. Under ultraviolet light, two beams of light directly shine on Xinglong Station in Beijing and Nanshan Station in Xinjiang, depicting the satellite's core scientific experiments.

The Third Stamp: Exploration No.1 Scientific Research Vessel

The main subject of the stamp is Exploration No.1, a mothership for the 4,500-meter manned submersible and a general platform for deep-sea scientific research. It also features the onboard equipment: the Haidou unmanned submersible, the Tianya lander, and the Haiyi underwater glider. Under ultraviolet light, it shows the maximum diving depths of these three pieces of equipment on the seabed.

The Fourth Stamp: Bohai Granary Science and Technology Demonstration Project

The stamp presents a harvest scene, reflecting the remarkable effects of transforming medium and low-yield fields and saline-alkali wastelands on increasing agricultural production and farmers' income. In addition, new technologies such as drones and field detectors in the picture embody the transformation of traditional agricultural technologies under the background of modern agricultural science and technology. Under ultraviolet light, the increasing salt content from top to bottom illustrates the downward movement of salt during the improvement of saline-alkali land.

The Fifth Stamp: Sunway TaihuLight Supercomputer

The stamp takes the supercomputer cabinets at the National Supercomputing Wuxi Center in Jiangsu Province as the main element. The background shows the supercomputer's wide applications in national high-tech fields and cutting-edge technology research, including aerospace, weather and climate, bioinformatics, materials science, and computational chemistry. Under ultraviolet light, the binary "0" and "1" emitted by the computer visualize its invisible supercomputing power.