Scott No: -
Serial number: 2017-25
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: October 15, 2017
Denomination: 390 fen
Designer: Zhang Wang
Size of stamps: 30 * 40 mm
Perforation: 13.5
Sheet composition: 16
Sheet Size: 150 * 240 mm
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Works

Cantonese Opera, a traditional Chinese opera genre popular in southern China, is also known as Guangfu Opera or Guangdong Grand Opera. It originated in Foshan, Guangdong Province during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

With "Banghuang" as its fundamental vocal style, Cantonese Opera retains some arias from the Yihuang, Yiyang and Kunshan opera tunes, as well as local folk melodies and popular tunes of Guangdong. Renowned for its elaborate stage movements and postures, the opera has absorbed strengths from diverse art forms and accumulated a rich and unique set of performance conventions and techniques, earning it the reputation of "The Red Bean of the South".

In 1960, with the assistance of many veteran artists, Foshan Cantonese Opera Troupe rearranged four traditional ceremonial plays: Birthday Celebration at Xianghua Mountain, Enfeoffment of Lords of the Six States, The Jade Emperor Ascends the Throne and The Heavenly Princess Sends Her Son. Compiled and preserved by the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Culture, these four plays are collectively hailed as the "Four Treasures of Cantonese Opera".

In 2006, Cantonese Opera was included in China’s first batch of national intangible cultural heritage items. In 2009, it was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Starting from 2015, Foshan Cantonese Opera Troupe launched a preservation and inheritance project for the "Four Treasures". In March 2017, the successful restaging and public performance of Birthday Celebration at Xianghua Mountain caused a sensation across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, becoming a key rescue project for Cantonese Opera intangible cultural heritage with direct participation from the Guangdong Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center.

On October 15, 2017, upon approval by the State Post Bureau, China Post issued a set of 3 special stamps themed on Cantonese Opera.

The Cantonese Opera special stamps are crafted using the Chinese fine brushwork with heavy colors technique. The lines integrate the traditional Chinese painting line drawing styles of "Ancient Silk Thread Strokes" and "Nail-head and Rat-tail Strokes", boasting high aesthetic value. In terms of color application, based on the stage costumes of Cantonese Opera, appropriate elements of heavy colors from traditional Chinese paintings are incorporated, endowing the entire artwork with a distinctive traditional aesthetic charm.

The three stamps feature scenes from three traditional ceremonial plays of Cantonese Opera that embody strong Lingnan characteristics: Birthday Celebration at Xianghua Mountain, Enfeoffment of Lords of the Six States and The Jade Emperor Ascends the Throne. Meanwhile, the three artworks are unified under the distinctive, vibrant and exquisite color style unique to Cantonese Opera.

The most distinctive feature of the Cantonese Opera special stamps lies in the border design of the full sheet, which depicts scenes from the classic Cantonese Opera play The Heavenly Princess Sends Her Son. This design perfectly presents the complete "Four Treasures of Cantonese Opera" within the tiny space of the stamp sheet.