Scott No: 957-959
Serial number: W3
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: May 23, 1967
Denomination: 24 fen
Designer: Liu Shuoren, Yang Baizi
Engraver: Sun Hongnian, Gao Pinzhang
Size of stamps:
52*31mm for Value 1, 3;
54*40mm for Value 2
Perforation:
11.5 for Value 1, 3;
11 for Value 2
Sheet composition:
50(5*10) for Value 1, 3;
35(15*7) for Value 2
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Issued on 23 May 1967, the set contains three stamps, produced by Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamps 1 and 3 were designed by Liu Shuoren and printed by combined photogravure and engraved recess printing, engraved respectively by Sun Hongnian and Gao Pinzhang; stamp 2 was designed by Yang Baizi and printed in photogravure. Stamps 1 and 3 measure 52mm × 31mm, perforation 11.5, with sheets of 50 (5 × 10); stamp 2 measures 54mm × 40mm, perforation 11, with sheets of 35 (5 × 7). All three stamps carry a face value of 8 fen, each with a print run of 8 million, giving a total set face value of 0.24 yuan.

Main Theme of the Set

In May 1942, Mao Zedong presided over the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art and delivered the important speeches, which clearly set out the fundamental direction of literature and art serving the workers, peasants and soldiers and set out in depth the mission of revolutionary literature and art. 1967 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the talks, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications chose the anniversary date itself for the issue of this set, thereby reaffirming the line for literature and art established by the talks and calling on literary and art workers to carry out their literary and art propaganda work along the direction of serving the workers, peasants and soldiers. The set adopts a "quotation — picture — quotation" arrangement: the first and last stamps excerpt key points of the original text, while the middle stamp presents the ranks of revolutionary literature and art in a group portrait, picture and text echoing each other. It is a representative set on the theme of literature and art among the W-series stamps.

Stamp Designs and Historical Context

Excerpt from the Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art

The design uses a pure red ground, with the main body in black Song typeface. The excerpt reads: "To make literature and art serve well as a component part of the whole revolutionary machine, as a powerful weapon for uniting and educating the people, for defeating and destroying the enemy, and for helping the people to fight the enemy with one heart and one mind." At the foot of the stamp a ring of sunflowers is used as decoration, the blossoms forming a border and symbolising literary and art workers following the spirit of the talks. This stamp is printed by combined photogravure and engraved recess printing; the strokes of the lettering are impressed by the engraved plate, clear and firm, with a raised texture to the touch, and are superimposed on the red photogravure ground, solemn and striking.

Mao Zedong Thought Literary and Art Propaganda Team

The design uses a horizontal composition, colloquially known among collectors as the "Big Flag stamp". At the centre is a literary and art propaganda team on the march, made up of workers, peasants, PLA soldiers and young literary and art workers. The members wear red armbands; some hold red flags high, some carry single-volume copies of the *Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art*, and others carry performance props such as clappers and gongs and drums. In the distance stands the Baota Hill of Yan'an, identifying the place where the talks were born. The figures are spirited and striding forward, vividly recreating the literary and art propaganda teams that were to be found in cities and countryside alike at the time, and giving direct expression to the theme of literary and art work going deep among the masses and serving the workers, peasants and soldiers.

Excerpt from the Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art

The format, size and sunflower foot border are consistent with the first stamp, and it is likewise printed by combined photogravure and engraved recess printing. The excerpt reads: "Our literature and art are for the masses of the people, and in the first place for the workers, peasants and soldiers; they are created for the workers, peasants and soldiers and are for their use." This passage states directly the object of service of revolutionary literature and art; together with the quotation in the first stamp it forms a matching pair, beginning and end, drawing together the central theme of the whole set in a balanced arrangement.

Artistic Features of the Design

The layout of the set is neat and symmetrical, with two vertical quotation stamps flanking a horizontal narrative picture in the middle, one static and one dynamic, evenly paced. The two quotation stamps rely on the expressive power of the engraved plate, the lettering sharp and solid, with the sunflower border simple and full of symbolic meaning; the middle stamp on the propaganda team uses photogravure, with richer gradations of colour, better suited to presenting a group of figures together with the distant Baota Hill. Red is the dominant tone of the whole set, with red grounds, red flags and red books echoing one another, in strong marks of the era. The two quotation stamps are precisely chosen in their texts, approaching from two levels — the combat role of literature and art, and the object of their service — while the picture in between brings the theme down to the actual propaganda teams, forming a complete expression from theory to practice. As this set was heavily consumed in postal use at the time, complete mint sets in good condition are not often seen. Authentication focuses on distinguishing the printing method: on genuine copies the engraved lettering of stamps 1 and 3 has crisp strokes and a tactile raised quality, whereas forgeries are mostly printed uniformly by offset, with the lettering blurred and lacking the unique linear quality of an engraved plate.