The commemorative stamps for the 80th anniversary of the founding of Xinhua News Agency were released on November 7, 2011.
Selling method: Starting from the issuing date, the stamps will sold in designated post offices around China and on www.cpi.net.cn for six months.
The special issue stamp set Good New Homeland, reflecting the new look of areas hit by the May 12, 2008 earthquake in China's southwestern Sichuan Province was released on October 13.
The Good New Homeland special issue comprises a set of four stamps named "New City after Quake," "New Look of the Old City," "Reconstruction for the People," and "New Village Households," and one sheet of miniature stamps named "Good New Life." Two first-day envelopes of one set and another for the miniature stamps also issued.
The Scroll of Eighty-Seven Immortals, measuring 30 centimeters vertically and 292 centimeters horizontally, is an anonymous silk scroll depicting 87 Taoist immortals paying homage to the supreme deity. The portrayed images, whether the supreme god, deities, divine generals, or celestial maidens, all come alive with vivid facial expressions, and their dresses and ornaments add a vibrant touch to the painting's artistic appeal. The picture is considered a representative of China's best achievements in line drawing techniques of classical portraits. After including the scroll into his collection, Xu Beihong (1895-1953), an outstanding Chinese artist, attributed it to Tang Dynasty painter Wu Daozi and even stamped a seal on it reading "Beihong's Life." The scroll is now collected by Xu Beihong Museum.
China National Philatelic Corporation will issue a silk first-day cover and a commemorative cancellation respectively.
In 1911, a revolution launched by Chinese bourgeois revolutionaries against the feudal monarchy of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) broke out and swept across the country. Because 1911 was a Xinhai Year in the sexagenary circle of Chinese calendar, the struggle is commonly called Xinhai Revolution or the 1911 Revolution. It has gone down in Chinese history as an epoch-making event, which ended the autocratic monarchy that had reigned in China for more than 2,000 years and established a democratic republic in the country.
China National Philatelic Corporation will issue two FDCs, a souvenir sheet cover and a commemorative cancellation respectively.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Guan Yu was honored the title of "Great Lord of Harmonious Heaven," and memorials enshrining his image, usually by the name of Temple of Lord Guan, sprung up. According to historical records, the earliest temple of Guan Yu was Yuquan Temple, erected in the 6th century in Dangyang, Hubei Province, which is considered the apparition site of Lord Guan. Extensive construction of such temples began in the mid Northern Song (960-1127), and throughout the following Southern Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Guan Yu temples spread all across the country to the point that it was said that "Every county has a Confucius temple and every village, a Guan Yu temple." The immigration wave during the Qing period (1644-1911) even spread Guan Yu worship beyond the Chinese territory; hence the saying, "Where there are Chinese, there are temples of Guan Yu." In the late Ming period, Guan Yu worship was designated as a national sacrificial rite. Although most of the memorials of Guan Yu are small, the Lord Guan's tomb in Dangyang, Hubei Province, Lord Guan's forest in Luoyang, Henan Province, and Lord Guan's temple in Xiezhou, Shanxi Province, were constructed in a magnificent manner equivalent to the standards of the temple, cemetery, and family mansion of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong Province.
China National Philatelic Corporation will issue two FDCs, a souvenir sheet cover and a commemorative cancellation respectively.