Scott No: 525-526
Serial number: C82
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: August 15, 1960
Denomination: 16 fen
Designer: Lu Tianjiao
Size of stamps: 26*36mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

C82 "Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Liberation of Korea" commemorative stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on August 15, 1960. The set consists of 2 stamps, designed by Lu Tianjiao, printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure, with gum applied to the back of the entire set. The uniform stamp size is 26 mm × 36 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet, layout 10 × 5, with a total face value of 0.16 yuan for the set. Circulations: China-Korea Friendship 8 fen, 5.4 million copies; Thousand-Li Horse 8 fen, 5.4 million copies. On August 15, 1945, Korea threw off Japanese colonial rule and achieved liberation; this set commemorates this historic moment and expresses the Chinese people's friendly wishes toward the Korean people.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

China-Korea Friendship

At the top of the design hang side by side the national flag of the People's Republic of China and the national flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; below the two national flags cluster peonies, azaleas, and other flowers, with rising flame patterns set beneath the flower clusters, and the years "1945–1960" printed on the stamp. Azalea is a representative flower of Korea, and the peony symbolizes prosperity and friendship; the two flags placed side by side and the flowers embracing each other directly make clear the close, interdependent friendship between China and Korea.

Thousand-Li Horse

With a blue background, the design shows a worker riding on the back of a winged thousand-li horse, holding high a red flag and galloping forward; in the distance are factory buildings and chimneys, representing Korea's industrial construction. The thousand-li horse is the symbol of Korea's "Chollima Movement," a nationwide construction movement that called on the people to advance socialist construction at high speed and to carry forward the spirit of striving vigorously and accelerating the building of the motherland; the Kangson Steel Plant was precisely the birthplace of the Chollima Movement. With a romantic mythological image, the picture carries the Korean people's lofty aspiration to build their homeland and advance bravely.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a vertical format, with the two stamps having a clear division of labor: one freezes the friendly relations between the two countries, the other expresses the vigorous socialist construction under way in Korea itself, echoing each other internally and externally, with a complete narrative. The style is decorative, with intense, bright colors and a distinctive style of the era's propaganda posters. The photogravure colors are transparent, with soft layers; the forms of the abundant flowers, the flying horse, and the factory buildings are concise and generalized, with strong visual impact.