Scott No: 3377-8
Serial number: 2004-17
Values in set: 2
Souvenir Sheet: 1
Denomination: 160 yuan
Date of issue: August 22, 2004
Designer: Hu Zhenyuan
Size of stamp:
30*40 mm for Value I;
40*30 mm for Value II
Size of S/S stamp: 50*60 mm
Size of S/S: 90*130 mm
Perforation: 12
Perforation of S/S: 13
Sheet composition: 8 (4 sets)
Printing process: gravure
Printer: Beijing Postage Stamps Printing House

Issued on August 22, 2004, the commemorative stamp set The Centenary of the Birth of Comrade Deng Xiaoping contains two stamps with a combined face value of 1.60 yuan, together with one souvenir sheet at a face value of 6.00 yuan. Designed by Ma Gang, with Shi Yuan as the responsible editor, the stamps were printed by Beijing Stamp Printing Factory using the photogravure process. Full sheets and souvenir sheets were released simultaneously. China Post, Hongkong Post and Macao Post launched commemorative philatelic products on the same theme concurrently to pay tribute to this great man of the era.

Deng Xiaoping was a great proletarian revolutionary, statesman, military strategist and diplomat, the chief architect of China’s socialist reform‑and‑opening‑up drive and modernization programme, who pioneered the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics for national development.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee

The stamp adopts a classic portrait of Deng Xiaoping striding forward in a Zhongshan suit. A warm golden gradient backdrop builds a solemn and open‑minded atmosphere, capturing his poised bearing as the core of the Party’s second‑generation central leadership collective.

Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CPC

This piece features a military portrait of Deng Xiaoping saluting in uniform, set against a minimalist background of distant mountains, conveying his firm and resolute temperament as commander‑in‑chief of the armed forces.

Chief Architect of Reform and Opening‑up and Modernization Drive (souvenir sheet)

The mini‑sheet has an elegant brown base, with a serene and tender portrait of Deng Xiaoping in his later years as the main motif. His birth‑and‑death years “1904‑1997” are printed at the top and bottom. The dignified colour scheme honours his immortal feats in spearheading China’s reform and opening‑up.

Artistic Design Features

Rendered in a realistic photographic portrait style, the images are clean and solemn with soft, delicate lighting and steady, grand colour tones. The photogravure printing faithfully reproduces rich light‑and‑shade gradations across the portraits. Multiple anti‑counterfeiting techniques are adopted, including security paper, anti‑counterfeit ink and fluorescent coding. The complete set presents the distinguished demeanour of the great leader in different periods, carrying profound historical commemorative value.

As a commemorative stamp set themed on Party and state leaders, supplemented by a souvenir sheet, this issue is highly suitable for thematic philatelic collections of great figures and red revolutionary heritage.