Scott No: -
Serial number: 2019-10
Values in set: 4
Date of issue: May 19, 2019
Denomination: 400 fen
Designer: Liu Bo, Ying Xiaofei
Size of stamps: 50 * 30 mm
Perforation: 13
Sheet composition:
20 for Sheet I;
8 for Sheet II (2 Sets)
Sheet Size:
240 * 150 mm for Sheet I;
153 * 156 mm for Sheet II
Printing process: Offset + Engraving
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

China Post is scheduled to issue a set of 4 special stamps titled "Ancient Towns of China (III)" on May 19, 2019. The total face value of the complete set is 4 yuan.

Each ancient town represents a different aspect of Chinese culture, together forming a rich and colorful "encyclopedia of humanities". The "Ancient Towns of China" stamp series showcases a large number of distinctive ancient towns in China, recording the style of traditional Chinese architecture, excellent architectural art, traditional folk customs and original spatial patterns. As the third group of the "Ancient Towns of China" series, this set of stamps features Yangliuqing Town (Xiqing District, Tianjin), Guangfu Town (Yongnian District, Hebei), Nianbadu Town (Jiangshan City, Zhejiang) and Furong Town (Yongshun County, Hunan).

Yangliuqing Town is located in Xiqing District, Tianjin. It is the birthplace of Yangliuqing New Year paintings, one of China’s four major woodblock New Year painting styles. The ancient town has well preserved historical and cultural relics such as Wenchang Pavilion and Shi Family Mansion. Together with the ancient Qing Dynasty streets, the beautiful scenery of the ancient Grand Canal and the colorful folk arts in the town, these relics form a pure and beautiful picture of Yangliuqing’s customs.

Guangfu Town is situated in Yongnian District, Handan City, Hebei Province, and is home to numerous historical and cultural relics including Guangfu Ancient City and Hongji Bridge. The ancient city retains its original layout of "four main streets, eight secondary streets and seventy-two small turns". Outside the city, there is a moat, creating a water town scene. It is also the birthplace of Yang-style and Wu-style Tai Chi.

Nianbadu Town is located in Jiangshan City, Zhejiang Province. It preserves large-scale and relatively intact ancient architectural complexes from the Ming and Qing dynasties, such as ancient streets and residences. Its architectural style integrates those of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, northern Fujian (Hakka style) and Western styles. Due to historical migration, the town has a large number of surnames and dialects among its residents, earning it the title of "Ancient Town of a Hundred Surnames and Kingdom of Dialects".

Furong Town, originally named Wangcun, is located in Yongshun County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province. It is an important settlement and birthplace of the Tujia people. The ancient town is characterized by the unique Tujia style, with winding and deep streets and lanes, Tujia stilted wooden buildings built along the water, and a five-li-long street paved with blue flagstones.

The images of this set of stamps are based on real scenes, adopting a form of engraving lines combined with light colors. The overall color is elegant and beautiful. By depicting residential buildings, water scenes and vegetation, it creates an aesthetic artistic conception of ancient towns.

This set of stamps is designed by Liu Bo and Yin Xiaofei, engraved by Liu Bo, Yin Xiaofei and Liu Minghui, and printed by Beijing Stamp Factory using the offset and intaglio combination printing process.