The original Chinese stamps were disseminated in 1878 following the opium wars permitting Europeans to come into the country. China was utilizing a postal scheme for thousands of years prior to that; however, 1878 is the time of the earliest recognized bona fide Chinese stamps.
While it was forbidden to collect stamps under the rule of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, following his demise in 1976, an explosion in stamp collection has emerged. There are 20 million stamp collectors in China, with 50,000 bureaucratic funded philatelic-societies.
Most valuable Chinese stamps and their History
The Whole Country is Red
This stamp shows a team of workers clutching Mao’s “Little Red Book,” including a red-map of China in the backdrop. It was taken out of circulation the same day it was distributed mainly due to the absence of Nansha and Xisha Islands, and Taiwan. This stamp was issued in 1968.
Tian An Men Shines Brightly
This stamp was issued in 1956 by the Ministry of the Posts and Telecommunications. The values in set was five, the designs included Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Temple of Heaven, Tian An Men, BeiHai Park, and Summer Palace. The shimmering sunlight looked appeared distasteful and objections were voiced ahead of the issue. Collectors view this Chinese stamp as one of the most valuable, and very few lucky collectors have them.
Scientist of Ancient China
In 1962 several scientist were introduced in ancient China. In the stamps were the dates of birth, death, and dynasties the scientist were living beneath each name. Tsai Lun was a well-known scientist who invented the paper-making technique. The date of Lun’s birth is unidentified so the stamp should have read “Tasi Lun ? 121.”
However, the stamp-creator wrote in the painting of the stamp “Tsai Lun BC? 121.” The error was discovered late and the print workers had to remove the word “BC” by hand from the ink. Through a mistake, one was left out; the mistake stayed behind in the No.16 stamp in all post office sheets. While the sale was taking place, stamp collectors discovered the mishap by chance. The Stamp-Issuing Department took the mistakes back; however, several thousand of these stamps were not given back and are now deemed very valuable.
Regular-Stamps of Tian’anmen
These stamps were issued in 1951 on April 18. They have the highest face value ever to be issued in China since 1949. Because they were primarily utilized on remittance and parcels, there is only a minute amount of stamps in the hands of stamp collectors. They are famous for their high-face values and their very restricted number. Consequently, both new and old stamps of this depiction are very valuable.
Military Post Stamps
In February of 1953, to give special recognition to their soldiers, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication distributed a collection of “Military Post” stamps. A few armies felt that minus the code-named post boxes, the utilization of military post stamps may create an escaping of secrets and the scope and users of the stamps might not be supervised. Hence, the authorities determined to put off the implementation and forbid the usage of it. Afterward, all undelivered stamps were ordered to be decimated. Due to the milieu surrounding this stamp, they have become very valuable.
Summary
Other valuable Chinese Stamps are just as stunning with a very rich history. With a lot of digging and meticulous research, a determined Chinese stamp collector could deservedly hit the jackpot.