Scott No: 1293-98
Serial number: T17
Values in set: 6
Date of issue: December 22, 1976
Denomination: 58 fen
Designer: Ye Wulin
Size of stamps:
31*38.5mm for Value 1, 3, 5;
38.5*31mm for Value 2, 4, 6
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition:
50(10*5) for Value 1, 3, 5;
50(5*10) for Value 2, 4, 6
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T17 "In the Vast World" special stamps were issued on December 22, 1976. The set consists of 6 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Ye Wulin, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. (6-1)(6-3)(6-5) measure 31 mm × 38.5 mm; (6-2)(6-4)(6-6) measure 38.5 mm × 31 mm; perforation gauge 11.5, 50 stamps per sheet. The total face value of the set is 0.58 yuan: (6-1) 4 fen, (6-2) 8 fen, (6-3) 8 fen, (6-4) 8 fen, (6-5) 10 fen, (6-6) 20 fen; the first 5 stamps each have a circulation of 10 million copies, and (6-6) has a circulation of 5 million copies.

Theme of the Set

This set takes the theme of educated urban youth going to the countryside and mountains, displaying the life of urban educated youth who went to rural areas, pastoral areas, and the frontier, took root at the grassroots, participated in production labor, studied theory, and devoted themselves to farmland and border defense construction. The stamps select scenes of educated youth in different regions and different posts, from carrying on the Nanniwan spirit, theoretical study, farmland capital construction, agricultural scientific research, and grassland animal husbandry to garrisoning and defending the border, presenting in panorama the appearance of educated youth being tempered in the vast world and building the countryside and the frontier. It is a representative JT special stamp set recording the history of going to the countryside and mountains.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Taking Over the Old Hoe of Nanniwan

With the Pagoda Hill of Yan'an and blooming mountain flowers as the background, an old peasant of the old revolutionary base hands a hoe to an educated youth. The hoe is the symbol of the Nanniwan Great Production Movement, implying that the educated youth inherit the Nanniwan spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle, take root in the countryside, open wasteland and plant crops, and devote themselves to agricultural construction.

Reading and Studying

The picture shows a Dai village in the south, where a young woman educated youth, during a break from labor, sits with a Dai elderly woman and reads the newspaper to her and explains theoretical content. The picture integrates the ethnic minority masses of the frontier, embodying that the educated youth study while laboring, communicate and help each other with the local masses.

A New Generation Transforming Heaven and Earth

With tiered mountain terraced fields as the background, two educated youths hold high the red flag of the "Youth Assault Team" and stride forward carrying hoes. They devote themselves to farmland capital construction, opening mountains and improving soil, leveling land, and transforming mountains and rivers, displaying the high-spirited posture of the younger generation working hard in agriculture and building Dazhai-type farmland.

Dedicating Knowledge to Agriculture

The picture shows a golden rice field, where an educated youth wearing a straw hat bends down to observe rice ears and record their growth, carrying out rice improved-breed cultivation and field scientific experiments. It represents educated youth applying book knowledge to agricultural production and using science and technology to help increase grain yields.

New Herdsmen of the Grasslands

The picture shows a grassland covered with wildflowers, where a Mongolian young woman educated youth holds a lamb in her arms and carefully feeds and tends it, with sheep scattered on the emerald pasture. It displays educated youth coming to the Inner Mongolia grasslands, learning animal husbandry techniques, participating in grassland animal husbandry production, and building the pastoral areas.

Garrisoning and Cultivating the Frontier, Defending the Motherland

The picture shows the northern frontier, where educated youth of the Production and Construction Corps, carrying guns and shouldering tools, march in formation with red flags fluttering in the wind. The educated youth both reclaim wasteland for production and develop frontier agriculture and animal husbandry, and shoulder the task of guarding the border, embodying the mission of garrisoning and cultivating the frontier and consolidating the motherland's border defense.

Artistic Design Features

Vertical and horizontal stamp formats alternate. All stamps use a color poster style, with bright, saturated colors and a strong rustic flavor. The six pictures are rich in regional scenes: the old revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi, the Dai village in the southwest, the southern mountains, the farmland experimental field, the Inner Mongolia grasslands, and the northern frontier border defense. Spatially they extend from the interior to the frontier, and the narrative sequence is coherent, from carrying on the spirit, theoretical study, farmland capital construction, agricultural scientific research, pastoral production all the way to border defense guarding, unfolding layer by layer. The figures are plain and vivid, balancing multi-ethnic elements, with distinctive characteristics of the times. The photogravure printing has transparent color blocks and clear, bright outlines of figures and scenery.