Serial number: 2009-28
Scott Number: -
Values in set: 3
Denomination: 360 fen
Date of issue: November 16, 2009
Size of stamp: 50 * 30 mm
Perforation: 13 * 12.5
Sheet composition: 12 for Sheet I
Size of sheet: 176 * 190 mm for Sheet I
Printing process: Offset
Designer of stamp: Wang Huming
Printer: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing House

On November 16, 2009, the special stamp "Guangji Bridge" (catalog number 2009-29) was officially issued. The set consists of three stamps, each with a face value of 1.20 yuan, for a total face value of 3.60 yuan. The stamps were designed by Wang Huming, based on the traditional Chinese painting "Guangji Bridge in Chaozhou" by Liu Daming, and printed by Beijing Stamp Printing Works using offset printing.

Guangji Bridge, commonly known as Xiangzi Bridge, spans the Han River in Chaozhou, Guangdong. It was first built in the Southern Song Dynasty and is a key national cultural heritage site. Along with the Zhaozhou, Luoyang, and Lugou bridges, it is known as one of the four great ancient bridges of China. The bridge combines a beam bridge and a pontoon bridge, with a unique opening and closing mechanism for navigation. Liang Sicheng praised it as the world's earliest movable bridge. Its distinctive structure, "eighteen shuttle boats and twenty-four piers," is world-renowned. The stamp set presents a panoramic view of Guangji Bridge in a three-stamp continuous format, showcasing the classical architecture of the Lingnan region and the thousand-year cultural heritage of Chaoshan. It is also the first special stamp set by China Post to feature a Chaoshan landmark.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background:

Guangji Bridge (West Section)

Image: The west section of the bridge, featuring a city gate tower, stone beam pavilions, and ancient merchant ships on the river, with distant mountains in the background.
Significance: The west city gate tower serves as the visual focal point, presenting the west bank buildings of the bridge and recreating the ancient Chaozhou ferry scene.

Guangji Bridge (Middle Pontoon Section)

Image: The middle section of the bridge, featuring the core pontoon section with shuttle boats connected across the river, and the modern Hanjiang Bridge in the distance.
Significance: This section vividly demonstrates the unique opening and closing mechanism of the bridge, representing the most technically distinctive part of the structure.

Guangji Bridge (East Section)

Image: The east section of the bridge, featuring stone beam pavilions with various roof styles and kapok flowers on the riverbank.
Significance: The diverse pavilion styles correspond to the folk saying "twenty-four pavilions, twenty-four shapes," showcasing the refined architectural aesthetics of the ancient bridge.

Artistic and Design Features:

The set features a horizontal three-stamp continuous format, forming a complete panoramic view of Guangji Bridge. The traditional Chinese painting style, with its elegant and antique color palette, captures the ancient atmosphere of the bridge. The addition of regional elements such as light ink landscapes, Han River boats, and kapok flowers adds to the Lingnan character. The stamps feature fluorescent ink, revealing glowing bridge structures and starry night skies under ultraviolet light, creating different day and night effects. The oval-shaped perforations in the center are a distinctive feature of this set.

This stamp set is a landmark issue featuring the iconic ancient bridge of the Chaoshan region in Guangdong. The three-stamp continuous format offers a highly visual presentation. It is often collected together with other famous ancient bridge stamps, such as the Zhaozhou, Luoyang, and Lugou bridges, making it an important modern issue for thematic collections on ancient bridge architecture and Lingnan regional culture.