Scott No: 1458-60
Serial number: J33
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: December 11, 1978
Denomination: 26 fen
Designer: Wang Mingzhi, Wu Zuqiang, Deng Erlong
Size of stamps:
60*27mm for Value 1;
27*60mm for Value 2, 3
Perforation: 11
Sheet composition:
35 (5*7) for Value 1;
35 (7*5) for Value 2, 3
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

J33 "20th Anniversary of the Founding of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region" commemorative stamps were issued on December 11, 1978. The set consists of 3 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Wang Mingzhi, Wu Zuqiang, and Deng Erlong, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 31 mm × 38.5 mm, perforation gauge 11, 35 stamps per sheet, with a total face value of 0.26 yuan for the set, each stamp with a face value of 8 fen and a circulation of 6 million copies.

Theme of the Set

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was established on December 11, 1958, and 1978 marked the 20th anniversary of its founding. Guangxi is an autonomous region where the Zhuang people live in concentrated communities, with beautiful mountains and rivers and abundant products, and is home to many long-settled ethnic groups such as the Zhuang, Han, Yao, Miao, and Dong. This set presents the development appearance of Guangxi over the past twenty years under the system of regional ethnic autonomy from three angles—ethnic unity and celebration, industrial construction, and landscape and pastoral agriculture—displaying the scene of people of all ethnic groups working together with one heart to develop industry, promote agriculture and various undertakings, and jointly build their homeland, and commemorating the twenty-year construction course of the autonomous region.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Celebration

In the design, young people of all ethnic groups in Guangxi wear colorful ethnic costumes and, holding colored ribbons, musical instruments, and sunflowers, sing and dance. The background is the Nanning Winter Swimming Pavilion, fireworks bloom in the air, and southern flowers and trees such as kapok and palm are dotted around. Compatriots of all ethnic groups gather joyfully and celebrate with song and dance, symbolizing the harmony, unity, and thriving prosperity of all ethnic groups.

Industry

The design presents a new industrial area of Guangxi in orange-yellow tones, with factory buildings, tower cranes, and power transmission towers standing in rows and buildings scattered about, displaying the achievements of local industrial construction. Relying on local mineral resources and geographical conditions, Guangxi gradually established a local industrial system, laying the foundation for local economic development.

Agriculture

With the karst landscape of Guilin as the base, the design shows the winding Li River, with stretches of fertile fields on both banks, supporting power transmission lines and farmland water conservancy facilities, and boats traveling on the river. Guangxi has a warm, humid climate suited to crops such as grain and sugarcane; the beautiful landscape blends with modern agricultural facilities, embodying the construction achievements of developing agriculture according to local conditions.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a vertical stamp format, with a Zhuang brocade pattern border uniformly set on the left side, arranging the stamp name and face value text within the Zhuang brocade area, rich in Zhuang ethnic characteristics. The three designs differ distinctly in style: the first is warm and festive, and the latter two lean toward scenery posters, with bright, transparent colors. The photogravure printing makes the southern scenery and the layers of mountains and waters soft and natural. There is no souvenir sheet for this set. It is a classic variety among commemorative stamps for ethnic minority autonomous regions of the JT period.