China Post is to issue a set of 3 special stamps entitled Taiji on August 8, 2023. The designs of the stamps are named “quanshu” (fist martial arts), “qixie” (taiji performed with weapons) and “tuishou” (hand-pushing skills performed with a counterpart) respectively. The face value of this set of stamps is 3.60 yuan. The planned circulation is 7.1 million sets.

Taiji (also called taijiquan) is one of the most distinctive traditional Chinese sports. It is a traditional Chinese boxing that features internal and external cultivation and mixes slow and flexible movements with quick and hard attacks. It is formed by taking the dialectical concepts of taiji as well as yin and yang in traditional Chinese philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism as the core idea, integrating various functions such as nurturing good temperament, maintaining physical fitness and practicing martial arts, and combining theories of the Book of Changes, the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine and ancient Chinese “daoyin practice” (the art of promoting internal circulation) and “tuna practice” (the art of exhaling turbid air and inhaling clean air). Taiji has an immense audience and is passed on from generation to generation.

The stamps adopt the art form of fine brushwork figure painting, and take black, white and gray as the main colors. The background of the stamps is presented with hollow strokes effect in Chinese ink and wash painting to reflect such philosophies of taiji as placidity, inclusiveness and simplicity. The first stamp depicts an old man with white hair and a long beard, who is calmly performing the single whip movement, reflecting the traditional style of taiji and its role in prolonging people’s lives. Its background is presented with uninhibited brushstrokes and textures of Chinese ink and wash painting, producing an intangible charm along with movements of the old man. The second stamp depicts a bright and brave woman who is doing a sword dance, with the shadow-like air current looming in the background, presenting the free-flowing characteristics of taiji sword dance. On the third stamp, a young man and a young woman are performing tuishou. There they are, a man and a woman, in black and white, symbolizing the coupling of yin and yang, and combination of reality and fantasy in taiji.

This set of stamps is designed by Wang Yaping and Zhang Fan, printed by Beijing Stamp Printing House Company Limited with photogravure technology.

The stamps will be available for six months at designated postal outlets nationwide, online mall of China Philately (https://jiyou.11185.cn), the mobile app of China Post, the WeChat Mall for philatelic products in the official WeChat account and the WeChat mini program of China Post Group. To present more information about the stamp, China Post will release their digital contents through the WeChat mini program “Encyclopedia of China Philately and Stamps”, where philatelists can learn more about the stamps via its AR function.