Scott No: 612-614
Serial number: S48
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: June 10, 1962
Denomination: 38 fen
Designer: Chen Zhifo, Liu Shuoren
Size of stamps: 26.5*36mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

S48 "Red-Crowned Cranes" special stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on June 10, 1962. The set consists of 3 stamps, with original paintings by Chen Zhifo, designed by Liu Shuoren, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure. Stamp size 30 mm × 40 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet, layout 10 × 5, with a total face value of 0.38 yuan for the set.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Red-Crowned Crane

The design paints a pair of red-crowned cranes standing quietly beneath green bamboo: one crane raises its head and looks back, the other stands sideways in companionship, with slender bamboo branches and elegant green leaves. The red-crowned crane, called the immortal crane in ancient times, symbolizes noble purity and longevity in traditional Chinese culture and is also a rare migratory bird of China. In summer it breeds in the marsh wetlands of the Nen River basin in the northeast, and in autumn and winter it migrates south in flocks to overwinter in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The painter pairs bamboo with cranes, taking the meaning of the gentleman's refined elegance; the composition is quiet and gentle, focusing on expressing the red-crowned crane's serene and dignified posture.

Red-Crowned Crane

Two red-crowned cranes spread their wings and soar amid the clouds and sky, with extended postures and clearly defined wings, and drifting clouds lightly tinting the background. The picture takes a dynamic approach, expressing the immortal cranes' posture of flying through the air; the cranes' wings open and close with power, echoing each other, lively and graceful. The ancients often used flying cranes to imply transcendence and loftiness; this stamp breaks away from static sketching, capturing the natural state of red-crowned cranes migrating and soaring, and also reflecting the strong flying ability of this large wading bird.

Red-Crowned Crane

A red-crowned crane stands alone on a sea rock in the river, with an old pine slanting out and waves surging beneath its feet. The original painting is Standing Crane amid Pine Waves, a classic traditional subject of "pine and crane prolonging life." The red-crowned crane folds its wings and lowers its head, as if quietly listening to the pine wind and river waves, solitary and calm. The combination of pine, crane, and sea waves is both a traditional auspicious image and sets off the rare bird's temperament of fearing no wind and frost. When this set was issued, it also served the purpose of popularizing and publicizing the protection of rare birds among the public.

Artistic Design Features

The set uses a vertical stamp format, all taken from Mr. Chen Zhifo's original fine-brush flower-and-bird paintings. Chen Zhifo was a master of modern fine-brush flower-and-bird painting; his works inherit the refined and elegant tradition of Song dynasty academy flower-and-bird painting while absorbing Western painting's sketching and light-and-shadow techniques, with rigorous modeling and warm, restrained coloring. The three stamps are one dynamic and two static, forming contrasts in pairs: the paired cranes beneath bamboo are resting quietly, the paired cranes in the clouds are flying high, and the solitary crane on the pine rock is standing and listening—rich in rhythmic variation. The backgrounds are paired with bamboo, drifting clouds, and pine waves respectively, each different, neither repetitive nor piled up. The photogravure printing is delicate and soft, fully restoring the subtle layers of fine-brush painting lines; the feather filaments, pine needles, and bamboo leaves are all clear and pleasing to look at. This set is also a set of extremely high standing among the old Ji-te bird-themed stamps, recognized for its superb artistic level, and together with the later Special 59 "Giant Panda" and Special 60 "Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey," it is a classic among stamps of rare birds and animals.