Scott No: 618-619
Serial number: S52
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: July 10, 1962
Denomination: 30 fen
Designer: Sun Chuanzhe
Size of stamps: 26*36mm
Perforation: 11.5*11
Sheet composition: 50(10*5)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

S52 "Support the Algerian National Liberation Struggle" special stamps were issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on July 10, 1962. The set consists of 2 stamps, designed by Sun Chuanzhe, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory by photogravure. Stamp size 26 mm × 36 mm, perforation gauge 11.5 × 11, 50 stamps per sheet, layout 10 × 5, with a total face value of 0.30 yuan for the set.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Torch and Map of Algeria

The background color is dark brown, with the red outline of Algeria's national territory in the center and a torch blazing in the upper left corner, its flame rising vigorously. Within the map outline are printed the words in white: Support the Algerian National Liberation Struggle. The torch is the core symbolic symbol of this stamp, representing the spark of national independence. Algeria had suffered under French colonial rule since the 19th century; in 1954 the National Liberation Front launched an armed uprising in the Aurès Mountains, beginning a war against France lasting more than seven years. China firmly supported the struggle morally from its early days and was the first to establish diplomatic relations with the Algerian provisional government in 1958. On the eve of the stamp's issuance, Algeria decided through a national referendum to become independent; this set was launched precisely at this historical juncture, expressing the Chinese people's support for the African national liberation movement.

Algerian National Liberation Struggle

With a pale yellow-brown base, the background is the crescent and five-pointed star of the Algerian national flag. The main subject is an armed fighter charging sideways, wearing a cloth cap and gripping a rifle with a resolute expression; behind him are silhouettes of other guerrilla fighters, recreating the scene of Algeria's armed struggle. Algeria's independence was a landmark victory in the 1960s wave of African anti-colonialism, greatly inspiring the movement for self-determination across the entire African continent. This stamp focuses on depicting the subject of the struggle, displaying the heroic appearance of the local people fearing no strong enemy and rising in resistance.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a vertical composition with a distinct propaganda printmaking style; the colors are generalized and intense, without superfluous scenery rendering, and the theme is direct and powerful. The two stamps—one symbolic, one realistic—complement each other: the torch and map focus on ideals and calls to action, the fighter image on the struggle itself. The color contrasts are weighty and steady, with red, black, and earth yellow paired together, full of a sense of power. The photogravure printing expresses the layers of blocks and silhouettes cleanly and crisply, with concise, generalized lines. Among the old Ji-te stamps, this is a rare special set themed on "supporting another country's national liberation struggle," and it is a very important set in China's external propaganda and the Asian-African unity theme of the 1960s; the second stamp has a circulation of only one million copies, making it scarcer within the set.