Scott No: -
Serial number: 2013-30
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: November 16, 2013
Denomination: 480 fen
Size of stamps:
57 * 38 mm for Value 1, 2, 4;
38 * 57 mm for Value 3
Perforation:
13.5 for Value 1, 2, 4;
13 for for Value 3
Sheet composition:
10 for Sheet I;
8 for Sheet II (2 sets)
Size of sheet:
164 * 235 mm for Sheet I;
219 * 155 mm for Sheet II
Designer: Ma Gang
Printing process: Offset
Printing House: Liaoning Provincal Postage Stamp Printing Works

On November 16, 2013, China Post officially issued the commemorative stamp set The 120th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong with the serial number 2013-30. The release date fell exactly on the 120th birth anniversary of Mao Zedong, synchronizing with a series of grand commemorative events held nationwide. The complete set contains four stamps, each with a face value of 1.20 yuan, bringing the total face value to 4.80 yuan. The set was designed by renowned stamp designer Ma Gang, who also created the 2003 commemorative stamps The 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong and the Year of the Tiger Chinese zodiac stamps. He currently serves as a professor at the School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts. Produced with multi-color offset printing technology, the stamps faithfully reproduce the layers and hues of the four original large oil paintings in meticulous detail.

All four stamps feature four classic large oil paintings collected by the National Museum of China and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution as their core motifs, corresponding precisely to four pivotal historical periods in Comrade Mao Zedong’s life. The multi-color offset printing technique restores the profound texture and magnificent momentum of the original canvases:

Stamp 1: Who Rules the World Vast and Boundless

This design adapts the eponymous oil painting by Chen Yining, depicting Mao Zedong in his youth. The artwork portrays the young Mao Zedong standing at Orange Island Head, his gaze sharp and his bearing youthful and high-spirited, with the vast Xiangjiang River stretching far behind him. Drawing inspiration from the bold rhetorical question "Who rules the world vast and boundless?" from Mao Zedong’s 1925 ci poem Spring in a Pleasure Garden · Changsha, the stamp embodies his lofty aspiration to embrace the whole nation and shoulder its destiny from an early age.

Stamp 2: Scenes of the Northern Land

Based on the oil painting of the same title by Jin Shangyi, this stamp captures Mao Zedong during the Agrarian Revolutionary War. Set against the snow-covered northern wilderness with an expansive, all-embracing backdrop, the work reflects his revolutionary optimism and iron will amid arduous years, as voiced in his line "For truly great men, look to this age alone." Leveraging profound realistic painting skills, Jin Shangyi integrates Mao Zedong’s calm resolve with the imposing grandeur of the northern winter landscape.

Stamp 3: Mao Zedong at the December Conference

This piece is another oil painting by Jin Shangyi, portraying Mao Zedong during the Liberation War. In December 1947, the CPC Central Committee convened a key conference at Yangjiagou in Mizhi County, northern Shaanxi, where Mao Zedong delivered the report The Present Situation and Our Tasks, charting the course for the total victory of the Liberation War. The stamp recreates the statesman’s commanding presence as he mapped out strategies to secure victory from a thousand miles away, with the glow of cave dwelling lamps in the background forming a striking contrast against his contemplative demeanor.

Stamp 4: Surging Thoughts

Adapted from Gao Quan’s oil painting of the same name, this stamp shows Mao Zedong after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. His gaze deep and expression solemn, he appears to survey the grand blueprint for New China’s construction while pondering the future fate of the country and nation. The title "Surging Thoughts" perfectly conveys the great leader’s profound concern for the people and the nation amid the era of peaceful national development.
Chronologically arranged around Mao Zedong’s youth, revolutionary struggles, the founding of New China, and national construction, the four stamps trace his magnificent life journey. Grand and solemn in composition, they fully capture the great man’s spiritual temperament and deliver a powerful intuitive emotional impact to viewers.

This set marks the fourth national commemorative stamp series themed on Mao Zedong’s birth anniversary, following the 1983 The 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong, the 1993 The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong, and the 2003 The 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong, carrying forward a nearly 30-year tradition of serial stamp releases. Unlike the previous three sets, which mostly took photographic portraits as prototypes, this edition is the first to adopt full-length large oil paintings from the National Museum of China as all its source materials, achieving remarkable improvements in artistic expressiveness and historical profundity.

Dating back to 1944, when the Shandong War Post issued the first stamp bearing Mao Zedong’s portrait, postal services across China’s liberated areas and the People’s Republic of China have released more than 80 stamp sets featuring Mao Zedong’s image. The 2013 set takes four time-honored oil paintings as its carrier and follows a timeline spanning Mao Zedong’s youth through the founding of New China, condensing his revolutionary journey and spiritual essence onto tiny stamp surfaces. It stands as the most solemn tribute to the great leader, as well as a landmark creation integrating oil painting into stamp art in China’s philatelic history, exerting far-reaching and lasting influence among collectors and the general public alike.