Scott No: 590-591
Serial number: C90
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: October 10, 1961
Denomination: 18 fen
Designer: Wan Weisheng
Size of stamps:
35*25mm for Value 1;
23*35.5mm for Value 2
Perforation:
11.5*11 for Value 1;
11*11.5 for Value 2
Sheet composition:
40(4*10) for Value 1;
40(10*4) for Value 2
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

C90 "50th Anniversary of the Revolution of 1911" commemorative stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on October 10, 1961. The set consists of 2 stamps, designed by Wan Weisheng, printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure, with gum applied to the back of the entire set. The first stamp measures 35 mm × 25 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 40 stamps per sheet, layout 4 × 10; the second stamp measures 23 mm × 35.5 mm, perforation gauge 11 × 11.5, 40 stamps per sheet, layout 10 × 4. The total face value of the set is 0.18 yuan. Circulations: Wuchang Uprising 8 fen, 8 million copies; Portrait of Sun Yat-sen 10 fen, 3 million copies. The issue date was chosen as October 10, the anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising; this is also New China's first commemorative stamp set themed on the Revolution of 1911.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Wuchang Uprising

The design is taken from the white marble relief "Wuchang Uprising" on the Monument to the People's Heroes, using black, white, and gray layers to restore the charging group scene. New Army soldiers hold rifles and bravely charge toward the Hubei-Guangdong Viceroy's office, the crowd's postures impassioned, and broken plaques lie scattered on the steps, symbolizing the violent shock to the ruling order of the Qing dynasty.

On the night of October 10, 1911, revolutionary party members in the Hubei New Army launched an armed uprising, quickly occupying Wuchang City, and the Hubei-Guangdong Viceroy fled in panic. The Wuchang Uprising opened the prelude to the Revolution of 1911; within a few short months, provinces successively declared independence, ultimately overthrowing the feudal autocratic monarchy that had lasted more than two thousand years. The relief concisely freezes the moment of the first uprising, representing the beginning of the revolutionary tide.

Portrait of Sun Yat-sen

The design is a half-length portrait of Sun Yat-sen, wearing a Zhongshan suit, with a calm and resolute expression, set against a light brown background, with the years "1911–1961" marked at the top of the stamp.

Sun Yat-sen was the great forerunner of the Chinese democratic revolution; he long traveled at home and abroad, organized revolutionary groups, proposed the program of the Three Principles of the People, continuously led the anti-Qing struggle, and gathered the revolutionary forces of the whole country—he was the core leader of the Revolution of 1911. The Revolution of 1911 ended the monarchy and opened the course of modern China's democratic transformation. This stamp uses the leader's portrait to commemorate the initiator of this great transformation.

Artistic Design Features

The two stamps, one horizontal and one vertical, have a well-varied composition, with the narrative connecting front and back: the horizontal stamp recreates the grand historical scene of the uprising's charge, the vertical stamp freezes the image of the revolutionary leader—one dynamic and one static, event and figure echoing each other. The first faithfully reproduces the texture of the relief, with rich light-and-shadow layers, relying on the delicate grayscale of photogravure to restore the weighty three-dimensionality of the stone carving; the second has a steady, plain tone and a clean picture, placing the visual focus entirely on the figure's portrait, dignified and restrained.