Scott No: 1250-54
Serial number: T13
Values in set: 5
Date of issue: December 15, 1975
Denomination: 40 fen
Designer:
Size of stamps: 40*30mm
Perforation: 11*11.5
Sheet composition: 50(5*10)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T13 "Agricultural Mechanization" special stamps were issued on December 15, 1975. The set consists of 5 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Pan Keming, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 40 mm × 30 mm, perforation gauge 11 × 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet.

Theme of the Set

Agricultural mechanization was an important direction of agricultural development at the time. This set selects key links in agricultural production such as paddy cultivation, irrigation and drainage, pest control, and grain harvesting, using five pictures to present scenes of various farm machines operating in the fields. It reflects the construction appearance of China's rural areas advancing agricultural mechanization, replacing human and animal power with machinery, and improving agricultural production efficiency, and records the exploratory practice of agricultural modernization in the 1970s.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Paddy Field Rotary Tillage

In the paddy fields of a Jiangnan water town, a machinery operator drives a rotary tiller to plow the paddy field, the water surface glistening, rape flowers blooming on the banks, and other farm machines in the distance. It presents mechanized paddy field land preparation, a scene bidding farewell to traditional ox plowing.

Mechanical Rice Transplanting

Two operators ride a rice transplanter through the paddy field, the machine planting seedlings in orderly fashion, with stretches of neat, green paddy fields. It embodies the realization of mechanized transplanting in the rice planting link, reducing the heavy labor of manual transplanting.

Powered Irrigation and Drainage

Beside mountain farmland, a water pump is running, with water gushing out and led to the fields. Relying on mechanical pumping for irrigation, it safeguards farmland water use and solves the irrigation difficulties of mountain dry land.

Cotton Field Pest Control

A woman commune member carries a motorized sprayer on her back and sprays liquid medicine in the cotton field, carrying out pest and disease control operations, using plant protection machinery to protect the cotton crop and safeguard a cotton harvest.

Mechanical Harvesting

In a golden wheat field, a combine harvester is operating, harvesting and threshing at the same time, displaying mechanized operations in the grain harvesting stage, efficiently completing the harvest work and bringing in the bountiful grain.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a realistic poster style, with bright, vivid colors and red, green, and golden yellow as the main tones, fitting the appearance of farmland through the seasons. The five stamps are arranged in the farming order of plowing, transplanting, irrigation, plant protection, and harvesting, completely linking the entire process of crop production. The farm machinery is depicted realistically. It is a classic work among special stamps on the theme of agricultural construction of the 1970s.