Why is Ki 118 the last commemorative stamp with the prefix "Ki" to be issued?
Li Houlu
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Figure 2
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The commemorative stamps with the prefix "Ji" are the earliest stamps issued by China Post, with a total of 124 sets issued. The stamp "Celebrating the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" (Figure 1) was issued on October 8, 1949, and the stamp "Learning from the 32111 Heroic Drilling Team" (Figure 2) was issued on March 10, 1967. The latest commemorative stamp with the prefix "Ji" was issued on April 15, 1967, Ji 118 "Hold High the Great Red Flag of Mao Zedong Thought and Strive for the Realization of the Third Five-Year Plan" (Fig. 3). Why is this happening?
The History of Chinese Stamps (Volume 8) describes the new Chinese stamps issued from May 1966 to December 1978, and describes in more detail the issuance of the 118 stamps. In 1966, the mainland began to implement the third five-year plan, in order to call on the people of the whole country to strive to realize the third five-year plan, the issuance of relevant commemorative stamps included in the 1966 stamp selection plan, in the middle of August 1966, Ji 118 has been printed.
Due to the development of the "Cultural Revolution", some people accused the stamps issued in the past for not highlighting proletarian politics, so the leaders of the stamp issuing bureau were more cautious when issuing new stamps, lest political problems arise. Therefore, the Ji 118 stamps that have been printed have been announced to the bureau twice to solicit opinions.
On August 16, the first comprehensive 4 opinions were: (1) The female militia is not heroic enough, and the hat is like a basin; (2) The direction of the red flag of the two stamps is inconsistent; (3) The worker's wearing red bib pants does not match the reality; (4) The lower body of Daqing people and Dazhai people is too hard and looks uncomfortable. On August 25, he put forward four points for the second time: (1) a full set of two stamps cannot reflect the main spirit of the third five-year plan, and two or three more stamps should be added; (2) The people in Figure 1 are dressed in different seasons; (3) The color of the military uniform does not match the reality; (4) The person on the screen is larger from a distance.
Nearly 100 cadres and workers of all departments and offices participated in the discussion of this set of stamps, and whether the stamps can be issued for a global vote, for a while there are different opinions, so that the stamp issuance plan that has been determined can not be carried out normally. On September 12, the Stamp Issuing Bureau submitted to the General Post Office the "Request for Instructions on Whether to Issue the Third Five-Year Plan Commemorative Stamps".
Su Younong, deputy director of the General Post Office, put forward his views: (1) The composition of the stamp is basically to highlight Mao Zedong Thought, and it can be studied enough; (2) The color tone is mainly red and yellow, which is still bright and festive; (3) The red flags on the two stamps are in two directions for the sake of symmetry, as is the case in the general auditorium and conference layout; (4) Stamps are inevitably somewhat symbolic and patterned; (5) 80,000 yuan is not a decimal number (refers to the economic loss of scrapping 13 million stamps), the political account and the economic account should be linked, and the personal opinion is that in addition to learning lessons from them, these two stamps should be retained, or according to the opinions of the masses to paint a few more. This opinion was not adopted, and the question of whether or not the issue of this set of stamps remained in hold.
On March 16, 1967, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission jointly issued the "Notice on the Protection of National Property and the Economy of the Revolution". The issuance of this set of stamps will play a certain role in promoting the expansion of propaganda, encouraging people to hold high the great red flag of Mao Zedong Thought, and working hard for the realization of the Third Five-Year Plan. Economically, it can also avoid a loss of more than 80,000 yuan, which is in line with the spirit of 'grasping the revolution and promoting production' and 'saving and making a revolution', so it should be issued. After this opinion was submitted to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, it was discussed by the Party Committee of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and approved for issuance.
Ji 118 This set of stamps highlights the theme of "Mao Zedong Thought Great Red Flag", the large stamp width is mainly in red tones, and the pattern promotes the study of Mao Zedong Thought and highlights the workers, peasants and soldiers...... Why did its release take such a big turn? The answer is found in Volume 7 of the book, which deals with the New China stamps issued from October 1949 to May 1966.
Figure 4
In the fourth section of Chapter 7 of Volume 7, "Stamp Issuance on the Eve of the Cultural Revolution", "Stamp Issuance Moves from Order to Disorder", and the third section of "The Influence of 'Left' Ideas in Stamp Design and Sales", it is mentioned that the oil painting "Walking in Qingshan People Are Not Old", which was originally used in the stamp of the 30th Anniversary of the Zunyi Conference in Ji 109, was replaced by "On the Eve of the Decisive Battle" (Fig. 4) due to the author's family background. After learning of this incident, the Central Propaganda Department once again issued instructions to the stamp issuing department: "In the future, we must understand the author's situation for the use of modern works, especially in the current literary and artistic rectification, many problems have been found, which require our good attention." ”
In particular, he pointed out: "In 1966, this materialist approach was even more extreme, and the 118 'Struggle for the Realization of the Third Five-Year Plan' stamps were criticized in every way because the designer had been wrongly classified as a rightist, so that this set of stamps was put on hold for a year after the design was completed in April 1966 before being issued on April 15, 1967, and this set of stamps became the last set of stamps issued in 124 sets of stamps." ”