Scott No: 1593-96
Serial number: T49
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: March 20, 1980
Denomination: 24 fen
Designer: Li Yinqing
Size of stamps: 54*20mm
Perforation: 11
Sheet composition: 60(4*15)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T49 "Postal Transport" special stamps were issued on March 20, 1980. The set consists of 4 stamps, printed by photogravure with added phosphorescent bars, designed by Li Yinqing, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 54 mm × 20 mm, perforation gauge 11, 60 stamps per sheet. This is China's first set of phosphorescent stamps; the phosphorescent bars are used for identification by automatic letter-sorting equipment, improving postal sorting efficiency.

Theme of the Set

Postal transport is an important link in the communications network, relying on water, road, rail, and air transport to deliver letters and parcels to all places. This set presents the four main types of postal transport in China at the time, records the exploration of postal mechanization, and embodies the postal function of "transmitting mail ten thousand li."

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Waterway Postal Transport

The main subject of the design is the postal ship "Hongyan No. 1," emerald green in hull color, sailing on the water. The wild goose has been a symbol of letters since ancient times; this postal ship undertakes the water transport of mail on inland rivers and along the coast, and is a representative of waterway postal transport.

Automobile Postal Transport

The image shows a green postal bus, with the postal logo printed on its body, traveling on a highway. Road postal transport is flexible and convenient, reaching cities and villages and branch lines, and is the postal transport mode with the widest coverage.

Railway Postal Transport

The image shows a postal car attached to the rear of a passenger train, the car being entirely green. Railways have large capacity and stable speed and undertake the long-distance transfer of large volumes of mail; they are the main force of trunk-line postal transport.

Air Postal Transport

The main subject of the design is a civil aviation Trident passenger aircraft, speeding through the air, with a civil aviation logo on its tail. Air postal transport is the fastest, used for urgent and long-distance mail delivery, and is a modern high-speed postal transport mode.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a long horizontal strip composition, suited to expressing the dynamism of vehicles moving forward. The four designs share a unified style, with diagonal speed lines in the background to set off the sense of speeding. The colors are concise and generalized, and cool tones such as green and blue fit the visual symbols of the postal industry. As phosphorescent stamps, the phosphorescent bars on the stamp face glow under ultraviolet light, serving automated postal sorting. Combining practical function with commemorative significance, it is a highly distinctive set on the postal theme.