When I started pulling together China’s 2023 stamp program, I decided to make a few small changes this year. Occasionally, a stamp (or label) will have interesting features that are easily overlooked. For 2023, I’ll try to highlight what I think are interesting points in those stamps. To go with this, will (hopefully) be better details about the artists and designers. To further this, I’ve started a couple of spreadsheets on various designers to track their work.  A handful of Chinese artists pop up as designers with other postal authorities, like Wang Huming 王虎鸣, who works with Jersey, UN, Macau and other corporations. I thought it would be interesting to view their works from across the world and over the years. 

The new year starts off with a special stamp. Special, not just because it’s the annual Chinese New Year issue, which is always hotly anticipated, but because of the great artist who was picked to design the 2023 set. Huang Yongyu 黃永玉, one of the great Chinese artists, who’s career spans the existence of modern China was an inspired choice. Artist, writer, and (at times) a teacher, Huang has been a towering influence on generations of artists, and at the age of 99, he is looking to the future and hopes to design another Chinese New Year stamp. When the stamps were announced late 2022, I kept going back to them, and examining them because I found the art work intriguing, so much so, I explored the stamps and artist in a separate article  China’s Year of the Rabbit stamps revealed.  It was a good start to the year. 

If you’d like to receive notification when this page is updated, sign up for my newsletter. You get links to all updated programs, as well as new articles. You also get special subscriber only content and the occasional sneak looks at upcoming articles. It comes out Sunday nights (or Monday morning, depending on where you live). 

Sign up for my free NEWSLETTER!

January

Year of the Rabbit – Chinese New Year

The great, designer of China’s first Year of the Monkey stamp (1980), created this pair.  

2 stamps, 2 sheets of 16, special presentation packs

I tweaked the contrast on the stamp so you can see the exquisite background. Once you see it, the Jade Rabbit pounding medicine theme makes sense.  

The first stamp, titled “Wise Rabbit, is ready with a pen and card in hand” (.. paw?) to send you greetings. The blue colouring symbolises good wishes for the New Year. The second stamp is titled “Symbiosis in the Same Circle”. The rabbits are running in a circle, displaying the cycle of agility, vitality and warmth. It’s difficult to see the pattern on the 2nd stamps background, but it’s there. The pattern is described as 玉兔捣药”纹饰  or in a bad translation Jade Rabbit pounding medicine. This represents a wish for good health and happiness despite the pandemic. 

Read more about this issue China’s Year of the Rabbit stamps revealed | Bitter Grounds Magazine

Designer: Huang Yongyu  黄 永玉

Release date: January 5, 2023

Forbidden City 
regular issue

1 stamp + label, sheets of 12
offset

Don’t miss the artistry in the label created by Chang Shana, Zhang Panjian. 

Designer: Wang Huming 王虎鸣
Huming is the current Art Director of the Postage Stamp Printing Bureau of China Post. He has designed stamps for Jersey, China, Liechtenstein, Poland,  Kazakhstan, Macau  and the UN. 

Label designers: Chang Shana, Zhang Panjian  

Release date: January 9, 2023

February

Tiananmen
regular issue 

1 stamp + label, sheets of 12
offset

Designer: Liu Bo, Liu Minghui 刘博、刘明慧

Release date: February 2, 2023

March

14th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China

1 stamp, sheets of 12
offset

Designers:  Tsinghua University Academy of Art and Design collective creation
Design on trim: 李柳依、张月佳 |Li Liuyi, Zhang Yuejia

Release date: March 5, 2023

Anniversary of the Publication of Mao Zedong’s “Learning from Comrade Lei Feng”

2 stamps, 2 sheets of 12
offset engraving overprinting +  picture photowriting

Stamp one:  Mao Zedong inscription
Stamp two: sculpture of Lei Feng

Designers: 吴为山、史渊 | Wu Weishan and Shi Yuan

Release date: March 5, 2023

April

Northeastern University’s Centennial

1 stamp, sheet of 12
offset, engraved

Designer/engraver: 徐喆 | Xu Zhe

Release date: April 20, 2023

100th anniversary of Yunnan University

1 stamp, sheet of 12
offset, engraved

Designer: 张冬冬 | Zhang Dongdong
Engraver: 李昊 | Li Hao

Release date: April 20, 2023

Masterpieces of Chinese Classical Literature – Journey to the West

4 stamps, 1 stamp on souvenir sheet, 4 sheets of 20, souvenir sheet, 3 FDCs, cancel

The names don’t translate well, so any help will be appreciated. 

• 狮驼岭降魔 
• 比丘国伏怪
• 填平无底洞
• 天竺收玉兔 – Tianzhu received jade rabbit 
• 小型张五圣成正果  – Miniature sheet Five Sacred Fruits

This set of stamps is based on the Chinese classical fiction series about Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602–664)  travels to India in search of sacred texts. Derived from existing folk tales, the story follows Xuanzang’s 81 adventures that involve gods, magic and myths. During his travels, the monk takes on 3 disciples:

But Tang Monk is ill-equipped for such perilous travel on his own. Weak and timid, he is no match for the evil creatures seeking to kill and eat him (his flesh, after all, is said to impart immortality). And so the goddess Guanyin arranges for an eclectic group to become his disciples and protect him: the valiant but impetuous Monkey King (also known as Sun Wukong), the lustful Pigsy, the taciturn Sand Monk, and the White Dragon Horse. All had been banished to the human world for sins in the heavens. Out of mercy, Guanyin gives them one more chance to return to their celestial home: They can convert to Buddhism and protect the monk Tang on his pilgrimage.  Shen Yun Performing Arts | Journey to the West – Stories from Classic Chinese Literature | Shen Yun 

The Shen Yun Performing Arts page has a fun account of the story. 

The series has long been credited to Wu Cheng’en (1506-1582), a Ming Dynasty scholar and poet but there is some academic disagreement over the author.

Designers: 李云中  Li Yunzhong 
Layout two-sided design by: 夏竞秋  Xia Jingqiu

Release date: April 27, 2023

May

50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and the West
Joint issue with Spain
Topics: diplomacy | joint issues | birds 

2 stamps, 2 sheets of 12. 2, FDC, cancel

• Hengshui Lake China
• Fuente Piedra Lake Spain

Designer: 马立航 Ma Lihang

Release date: May 10, 2023

National Art Museum of China
Topics: history | art |architecture

1 stamp, sheets of 12, FDC, cancel

Designer: 于秋艳  | Yu Qiuyan

Release date: May 23, 2023

June

Animation – Nine-Coloured Deer
Topics: animation

5 stamps, sheet of 10, 5 FDCs, cancel
offseet

These stamps celebrate the animated film The Nine Coloured Deer by Shanghai Art Film Studio in 1981. It was a cartoon that ran on Chinese TV during the 80s. The 24 minute film employed a team of 5 animators who created 20,000 images, of which 200 were used.

Adapted from an artwork from the cave murals in Dunhuang, Gansu province, the film tells the story of a spiritual nine-colored deer that saves a Persian merchant from drowning in a river. Shanghai studio sets the scene for nation to join international film stage – Chinadaily.com.cn

You can watch the original cartoon on YouTube The Nine-Colored Deer (1981 Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio) with English Subtitles – YouTube 

Designer: 原艺珊 | Hara Yishan 

Release date: June 6, 2023

货郎图 – Picture of the Merchant

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 sheets of 12
offset engraving overprinting

The artwork was done by Song Dynasty artist Li Song 李嵩 (1166–1243) and is currently held by the National Palace Museum. The painting translates roughly to Picture of the Merchant or Picture of the Shopkeeper.  It is part of what is called the Li Song Lang Scroll. It is made of silk and is 25.5 cm long, 70.4 cm wide. This site has an interesting biography on Li Song 李嵩_百度百科 (baidu.com). You’ll need to use a translator to read it, but worth the effort. 

… showing the merchant carrying the burden of groceries, bending over overwhelmed, and the joy of the cheering children running to tell each other. The cargo carries a wide range of items, from pots and plates and children’s toys to fruit and melon pastries. In the Southern Song Dynasty, when the circulation of goods was not yet developed, the merchants walked the streets and alleys, a pair of goods was a small department store, the merchants not only brought the goods needed for the remote countryside, but also brought a variety of novel news, the arrival of the merchants was often as lively as a festival, Li Song depicted such a scene in the picture. The painter used the theme of the goods … to express an aspect of the life of the Southern Song Dynasty, and those dazzling objects, although many of them have unknown uses today, but they truly record the lifestyle of the people of the Southern Song Dynasty and are rare and precious historical materials for folklorists. Li Song Lang Scroll – Palace Museum (dpm.org.cn) (translated from the original)

Designer: Wang Huming 王虎鸣

Release date: June 18, 2023

Bridge Construction
Topics: construction | bridges

3 stamps, 1 stamp on souvenir sheet, 3 sheets of 12
offset, photocopying

• Shanghai-Sutong Yangtze River Railway Bridge
• Oujiang Beikou Bridge
• Pingnan Three Bridges
• Zhang Beipanjiang First Bridge (souvenir sheet)

Designer: 郭振山、杨睿 | Guo Zhenshan, Yang Rui

Release date: June 30, 2023

July

Idioms and Allusions 成语典故（三）
3rd in series
Topics: history | literature | art

4 stamps, 4 sheets of 16
photography

• 铁杵成针 iron pestle into needle
• 程门立雪 Chengmen Lixue
• 韦编三绝 Wei weaving three absolute 
• 孺子可教 Children can be taught children can be taught

This series is explored by on the Sohu website. They also offer the original design work and good explanations of each story and it’s origins. It’s a not a long article, but well worth the effort. A translator is needed, and yes, the wording can be a bit wonky, but it will still be clear. 

Previous sets from this series were released in 2004 and 2010.

Designer: 刘金贵 | Liu Jingui
Liu also designed the 16 Solar Terms series.

Release date: July 15, 2023

7th Summer Universidad in Chengdu

2 stamps, 2 souvenir sheets of  12

Designer: 沈嘉宏 Shen Jiahong

Release date: July 28, 2023

August

Tai Chi Quan

3 stamps, 3 sheets of 12

Designers: 王亚平、张帆  Wang Yaping, Zhang Fan

Release date: August 8, 2023

Insects II

4 stamps, 4 sheets of 12
offset

• Alas moth (Attacus atlas) ADW: Attacus atlas: INFORMATION (animaldiversity.org)
• Spiny horn serpentine dragon fly (Ophiogomphus spinicornis)
• pronghorn bug (nymph) (Eocanthecona furcellata)
• long-armed scarabs (Cheirotonus jansoni)

Designers: Yin Huili and Han Lu 会利, 韩璐

Release date: August 8, 2023

Taihang Mountain 太行山

6 stamps, strips of 9, 3 souvenir sheets, 3 sheets of 16 

• Xiongguan
• Shiraishi 
• Chuguan Valley
• Wang Mangqifeng
• Guo Liang Tianlu
• Wang Wu Dongtian

Taihang Mountain was submitted to the World Heritage List in 2017. 

The special relics of geology, stratum, rock, structure, sedimentation, ancient extinct life fossil and hydrology, as well as the unique Zhangshiyan landform of Taihang Mountain have recorded the long geological history and profound changes (several movements of crustal rising, destructive activities, and fault block activities) of the Loess Plateau and step zone of Bohai Bay Basin in eastern Asia for over 2.5 billion years. It is a typical example of mountain range geological evolution in the hinterland of ancient continent (craton). Taihang Mountain – UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Designer: 李德福 Li Defu

Release date: September 3, 2023

10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative

1 stamp, souvenir sheet, sheets of 12

Designer: 董琪 Dong Qi

Release date: September 7, 2023

Kites
third in series

4 stamps, 2 sheets of 16

The kites are:  Golden Jade, Rui Shi Ruyi, Fairy Crane Child, and Gourd Wandai. (Very rough translation)
邮票图案名称为金玉满堂、瑞狮如意、仙鹤童子、葫芦万代。 

Designer: 沈嘉宏 Shen Jiahong

Release date: September 9, 2023

Commemorative stamp of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 sheet of 12

Designer: 邵立辰 Shao Lichen

Release date: September 23, 2023

Medicinal Plants 
Third in series

6 stamps, 2 sheets of 12

• sweet wormwood – artemisia annua L.
• Japanese honeysuckle – Lonicera japonica
• Chinese ginseng – panax notoginsent (Burk)
• atractylodes macrocephal Koidz – best name I could find was báizhú. 
• Forsythia – f orsythia suspensa (thunb)
• Safflower – carthamus tinctorius

 Designer: 余天一 Yu Tianyi

Release date: September 23, 2023

October

National Archaeological Site Park

4 stamps, 4 sheets of 12, 4 FDCs
 

• Liangzhu National Archaeological Site Park (3,300-2,300 BCE) – UNESCO World Heritage site. “These ruins are an outstanding example of early urban civilization expressed in earthen monuments, urban planning, a water conservation system and a social hierarchy expressed in differentiated burials in cemeteries within the property.”  Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  Script on stamp: The trident-shaped vessel is a headdress insert worn by leaders during the Liangzhu Culture period. Most of the vessels are plain. Divine symbols are engraved on the surface of the vessel, with a mouth in the middle and human faces with feather crowns on the left and right. It is exquisitely made.
• Taosi National Archaeological Site Park (c. 3000-2000 BC) – UNESCO Intangible Heritage – Astronomy.  “At the Taosi site, a small walled-town of the Early Taosi Period (23rd and 22nd centuries BC) was superseded by two walled-towns of the Middle Period (21st century BC), the larger of which occupied 2.8km² and is the largest known walled-town in prehistoric China.” UNESCO Astronomy and World Heritage Webportal – Show entity (astronomicalheritage.net)
  Script on the stamp: Zhu Shuju’s instrument check list is written with two characters in rice silicon, one is “wen” and the other is “yao” or “yi” and “pa”, which has important reference value for exploring the origin and form of Chinese characters.
• Shiyuan National Archaeological Site Park – site of a number of Neolithic to Bronze Age settlements
  Script on stamp: The stone carvings of the pillars with divine faces are embossed with a divine face on both sides of the column. They are quiet and vivid in expression. They provide a rare object for understanding the artistic attainments and spiritual beliefs of early Chinese civilization.
• Erlitou National Archaeological Site Park  (1750 to 1530 BCE) – Bronze age culture from the Yellow River area. Image shows an ornamental bronze plaque with inlaid  turquoise  from the Xia dynasty, 21st Century-16th Century BC
  Script on stamp: The bronze medal inlaid with turquoise has a blue steel frame with symmetrical ring slaves on both sides. It has jade as the sun and hundreds of pieces of turquoise inlaid into an animal face pattern. It is a composite craft and is exquisitely made.

Designer: Wang Huming 王虎鸣

Release date: October 17, 2023

50th Anniversary of the Successful Cultivation of the World’s First Hybrid Rice

1 stamp, sheet of 12
rubber engraving overprint (with local embossing process)

Designer: Chen Nan 陈楠 
Sculptor: Yang Zhiying 杨志英

Release date: October 25, 2023

Science and Technology Innovation
4th in series

5 stamps, 5 sheets of 12

• synthetic starch
• perennial rice
• “Zhurong” Mars rover
• Kuafu No. 1 
• High Altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory

Designer: Du Yukai 杜钰凯

Release date: October 25, 2023

November

Ancient Chinese Writers
5th in series

5 stamps, 5 sheets of 12
 

• Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072)
• Su Shi (1037-1101)
• Li Qingzhao (1084 – about 1155)
• Lu You (1125-1210)
• Xin Qiji (1140-1207)

Designer: Ma Zhensheng 马振声

Release date: November 11, 2023

December 

Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta

4 stamps, 4 sheets of 12

• integrated development of science and technology innovation industry
• Ecological environment co-protection and joint governance
• public service convenience sharing
• high-level collaborative opening

Designer: Song Jian 宋鉴

Release date: December 1, 2023

World Cultural Heritage – Pingyao Ancient City

3 stamps, souvenir sheet, 3 sheets of 12

The Ancient City of Ping Yao is a well-preserved ancient county-level city in China. Located in Ping Yao County, central Shanxi Province, the property includes three parts: the entire area within the walls of Ping Yao, Shuanglin Temple 6 kilometers southwest of the county seat, and Zhenguo Temple 12 kilometers northeast of the county seat. The Ancient City of Ping Yao well retains the historic form of the county-level cities of the Han people in Central China from the 14th to 20th century.  Ancient City of Ping Yao – UNESCO World Heritage Centre 

Designer: Yan Bingwu, Rong Tie 阎炳武、容铁

Release date:  December 3, 2023

Commemorating the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Comrade Mao Zedong

4 stamps, souvenir sheet, 4 sheets of 12
digital painting

Designers: Ma Gang, Jin Jun 马刚、靳军

Release date: December 26, 2023