Scott No: 2049-62
Serial number: R23
Values in set: 14
Date of issue: April 1, 1986
Denomination: 470 fen
Designer: Chen Hanmin, Li Zhongfa, Huan Jianxin
Size of stamps: 25*30mm
Perforation:
12.5*13 for Value 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13
11*11.5 for Value 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14
11.5*11.5 for Value 7
Sheet composition:
60(10*6) for Value 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13
100(10*10) for Value 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14
60(10*6) for Value 7
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Pu 23 "Folk Dwellings" ordinary stamps were issued successively from April 1986. The set consists of 14 stamps, printed by photogravure, with a stamp size of 25 × 30 mm. The perforation gauges fall into two types: 12.5 × 13 and 11 × 11.5, and the sheets fall into two types: 60 stamps and 100 stamps. Designed by Chen Hanmin, Li Zhongfa, and Hua Jianxin, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory.

Theme of the Set

This ordinary stamp set selects 14 representative traditional folk dwellings from different regions of China. These vernacular buildings, shaped by local climate, geography, and folk customs, showcase the diversity of Chinese dwelling architecture. The set also meets the needs of daily postal rates, recording folk building wisdom within the square inch of stamps. It is a classic and widely known ordinary stamp series.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

Inner Mongolia Folk Dwelling (1 fen): The image shows a yurt, a detachable felt tent dwelling of the grassland nomadic peoples, suited to a production and life style of moving in search of water and grass.

Tibet Folk Dwelling (1.5 fen): The image shows a Tibetan stone tower house, with thick, solid stone walls adapted to the cold, windy plateau environment.

Northeast Folk Dwelling (2 fen): The image shows a Northeast courtyard dwelling, including the main house and storehouses, with thick walls against the cold—a typical dwelling of the cold northern regions.

Hunan Folk Dwelling (3 fen): The image shows a Hunan-style dwelling with tall horse-head walls (fire walls) for fire prevention and staggered courtyards—a southern courtyard-house style with a light well.

Jiangsu Folk Dwelling (4 fen): The image shows a Jiangnan water-town dwelling, built by the water, with white walls and dark tiles and small bridges over flowing water, with a distinctly Jiangnan water-town character.

Shandong Folk Dwelling (5 fen): The image shows a seaweed-roofed house in the Jiaodong area, roofed with seaweed for insulation and rot resistance—a distinctive dwelling of the Jiaodong coast.

Beijing Folk Dwelling (8 fen): The image shows a siheyuan courtyard house, with axial symmetry and clear distinctions between inner and outer quarters—a representative of traditional northern courtyard dwellings.

Yunnan Folk Dwelling (10 fen): The image shows a Dai bamboo house, a stilt-style ganlan building that resists moisture and insects, suited to the hot and humid climate of the southwest.

Shanghai Folk Dwelling (20 fen): The image shows a shikumen, a modern dwelling combining Chinese and Western elements and a landmark style of modern urban housing in Shanghai.

Anhui Folk Dwelling (30 fen): The image shows a Huizhou-style dwelling, with white walls, dark tiles, horse-head walls, and elegant carvings—Huizhou architecture is famous throughout the world.

Northern Shaanxi Folk Dwelling (40 fen): The image shows a northern Shaanxi cave dwelling, carved into the loess layer, warm in winter and cool in summer—a dwelling unique to the Loess Plateau.

Sichuan Folk Dwelling (50 fen): The image shows a southern Sichuan stilt house, built against hills and by water, flexible and staggered, adapted to the mountainous terrain of the southwest.

Taiwan Folk Dwelling (90 fen): The image shows a traditional Taiwan dwelling, continuing the style of southern Fujian dwellings, with orderly courtyards and upturned eaves.

Fujian Folk Dwelling (1 yuan): The image shows a Fujian tulou, a circular rammed-earth enclosed building for clan living with strong defensive capability—a World Cultural Heritage site.

Zhejiang Folk Dwelling (1.1 yuan): The image shows a water-town dwelling in eastern Zhejiang, with a wooden through-tenon frame construction and connected eaves corridors, light and elegant.

Artistic Design Features

The set adopts a simple decorative painting style of line drawing with light color, with generalized forms and elegant colors, highlighting the structural characteristics of the buildings themselves. The unified layout gives high recognizability. It balances the attributes of a practical postal item with the beauty of vernacular architecture, and combines popular accessibility with cultural value. It is one of the best-known ordinary stamp sets of New China.