Scott No: -
Serial number: 2016-3
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: March 16, 2016
Denomination: 390 fen
Designer: Shi Yuan
Size of stamps: 40 * 54 mm
Perforation: 13
Sheet composition:
16 for Sheet I;
4 for Sheet II
Sheet Size:
290 * 246 mm for sheet I;
125 * 160 mm for Sheet II
Printing process:
Offset for Value I;
Photogravure for Value II;
Offset and Engraving for Value III
Printing House:
Value I: Liaoning Provinal Shenyang Post Printing Works;
Value II: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works;
Value III: Henan Provinal Post Printing Works

The Special Stamps featuring Selected Works of Liu Haisu are a set of commemorative stamps issued by China Post on March 16, 2016. The full set consists of 3 stamps with a total face value of 3.90 yuan.

Liu Haisu (1896-1994), a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, was an outstanding art educator and master artist of the 20th century, as well as a trailblazer of China’s new art movement. He devoted his entire life to art education and creation, and made profound attainments in traditional Chinese painting, oil painting, calligraphy and art theory. In traditional Chinese painting, he excelled at landscapes, flowers, birds and animals, and was fond of the splash-ink and splash-color technique. In his later years, he mostly took Huangshan Mountain as his creative theme, with a bold, unrestrained, vigorous and varied painting style that established a unique artistic school of his own, earning him a high reputation both at home and abroad.

This stamp set selects three classic paintings by Liu Haisu collected by the Shanghai Liu Haisu Art Museum, namely The Rivers and Mountains Are So Majestic, Ink Lotus and Renzi Waterfall on Huangshan Mountain. It follows the thematic and stylistic features of the stamp series featuring selected works by renowned Chinese artists.

According to the artistic characteristics of each painting, three printing processes were adopted respectively: offset printing, gravure printing, and combination of offset and intaglio printing. The stamps were produced by three printing enterprises, namely Shenyang Post and Telecommunications Printing House in Liaoning Province, Beijing Stamp Printing House and Henan Post and Telecommunications Printing House. This marked the first time in the history of Chinese stamp printing that such a practice was implemented.

Issued to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Liu Haisu’s birth, the stamp set continues the series of selected works by renowned Chinese artists. Its first-day launch ceremony was held at the Shanghai Liu Haisu Art Museum.