T27 - Learn from Dazhai in Animal Husbandry and Build New Pastoral Area

Animal husbandry requires vast grassland.  China's grassland mainly distributed in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Tibet.  At the founding of the Peoples' Republic of China, animal husbandry was still very much under-developed and primitivistic.  After the implementation of scientific breed selection, breeding, management and other technique, animal husbandry developed in leaps and bounds.

In 1975, the slogan building Daizhai-type counties through the nation was proposed in the national congress of "Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture".  To commemorate and showcase the development in animal husbandry, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of PRC released a set of three stamps on June 30, 1978.

(3-1) 8 fen, Building artificial pastures on a large scale  大搞草库伦建设
(3-2) 8 fen, Raising livestock scientifically  科学养畜
(3-3) 8 fen, Mechanization in animal husbandry  牧业机械化

(3-1)【Building artificial pastures on a large scale】Grass Cullen (草库伦) is a form of pasture fence or enclosed grassland.  "草库伦" is Mongolian, meaning "grass circle."  Enclosed pasture lands are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, etc.   The stamp depicted a Grass Cullen in Inner Mongolia.  Near the end of cultural revolutionary era, the "gang of four" came out with some rubbish simplification of the chinese characters, which were removed from use nowadays.  In this stamp, there is one of such word.  The character "寨" in the slogan on the red flag "牧业学大寨" ("Learning from Dazhai in Animal Husbandry") was a rubbish simplified character.

(3-2)【Raising livestock scientifically】The stamp depicted a scene at Xinjiang, with high mountains, forest, flowing river, electricity transmission tower in the background; and flock of sheeps in the foreground.  The stamp showed Uighurs and Kazakh people selecting livestock for scientific breeding to improve the breed.

(3-3)【Mechanization in animal husbandary】The stamp depicted a scene at Tibet, with undulating mountains and vast pasture lands in the background.  The stamp showed mechanization that are being used there.

T27 – Learn from Dazhai in Animal Husbandry and Build New Pastoral Area              牧业学大寨，建设新牧区 Issue Date: 1978.6.30
Serial Number:	T27
Scott Number:	1412-1414
Michel Number:	1422-1424
Number of stamps in Set:	3
Denomination:	8 fen for stamp 1, 2, 3
Quantity of Issue:	12,000,000 for stamp 1, 2, 3
Perforation:	P11½
Sheet Composition:	40 (10 X 4) for stamp 1, 2, 3
Size of stamps:	31 X 52 mm for stamp 1, 2, 3
Designer:	Cheng Chuanli 程传理
Printing Process:	Photogravure
Printing House:	Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T26 - Iron and Steel Industry

China is one of the earliest countries in the world that invented and started iron working.  At the founding of the Peoples' Republic of China, the Iron and Steel Industry was still very much under-developed.

With assistance from Soviet Union, Anshan Iron and Steel (鞍钢), Wuhan Iron & Steel (武钢), Baotou Iron and Steel (包钢), etc, were built and after that the Iron and Steel Industry in China grown by leaps and bounds.  The annual steel production volumes increased from 18th in the world in 1952 to 9th in the world in 1957.

In the 1960's and 70's, the standard of China's Iron and Steel Industry continued improving, with many new products developed for the modernization of agricultural, industrial, national defence and scientific fields. 

To reflect the importance of iron and steel industry to the whole national economy of China, a set of five stamps depicting the five essential stages of iron and steel industry production process was issued on July 22, 1978.

(5-1) 8 fen, Coking  炼焦
(5-2) 8 fen, Iron making  炼铁
(5-3) 8 fen, Steel making  炼钢
(5-4) 8 fen, Steel rolling  轧钢
(5-5) 8 fen, Finished products  成品

(5-1)【Coking】The coking process consists of heating coking coal to around 1000-1100ºC in the absence of oxygen to drive off the volatile compounds (pyrolysis).  This process results in a hard porous material - coke.  Coke is produced in a coke battery which is composed of many coke ovens stacked in rows into which coal is loaded.  The coking process takes place over long periods of time between 12-36 hours in the coke ovens.  Once pushed out of the vessel the hot coke is then quenched with either water or air to cool it before storage or is transferred directly to the blast furnace for use in iron making.  The stamp depicted the coking operating scene in Capital Iron and Steel Company (首都钢铁厂).

(5-2)【Iron making】Iron ore is mined in around 50 countries – the largest producers are Australia, Brazil and China. Around 98% of iron ore is used in steel-making.  During the iron-making process, a blast furnace is fed with the iron ore, coke and small quantities of fluxes (minerals, such as limestone, which are used to collect impurities).  Air which is heated to about 1200°C is blown into the furnace through nozzles in the lower section.  The air causes the coke to burn, producing carbon monoxide which reacts with the iron ore, as well as heat to melt the iron.  Finally, the tap hole at the bottom of the furnace is opened and molten iron and slag (impurities) are drained off.  The stamp depicted the iron making scene in Maanshan Iron and Steel Company (马鞍山钢铁厂).

(5-3)【Steel making】The most commonly applied process for steel-making is the integrated steel-making process via the Blast Furnace – Basic Oxygen Furnace.  In the basic oxygen furnace, the iron is combined with varying amounts of steel scrap (less than 30%) and small amounts of flux.  A lance is introduced in the vessel and blows 99% pure oxygen causing a temperature rise to 1700°C.  The scrap melts, impurities are oxidised, and the carbon content is reduced by 90%, resulting in liquid steel.  The stamp depicted the Oxygen Furnace in Shanghai Iron and Steel Company (上海钢铁厂).
 
(5-4)【Steel rolling】In steel making, rolling is a metal forming process in which steel stock is passed through a pair of rolls.  Rolling is classified according to the temperature of the steel rolled.  If the temperature of the steel is above its recrystallization temperature, then the process is termed as hot rolling.  If the temperature of the steel is below its recrystallization temperature, the process is termed as cold rolling.  The stamp depicted the steel rolling scene in Wuhan Iron & Steel Company (武汉钢铁厂).

(5-5)【Finished products】After steels are made into final products, they are shipped, mainly by trains, to other factories or places where there are demand for steel.  The stamp depicted the busy finished products shipping scene at Shanghai Iron and Steel Company (上海钢铁厂).

T26 – Iron and Steel Industry  钢铁工业 Issue Date: 1978.7.22
Serial Number:	T26
Scott Number:	1415-1419
Michel Number:	1425-1429
Number of stamps in Set:	5
Denomination:	8 fen for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Quantity of Issue:	14,000,000 for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Perforation:	P11½
Sheet Composition:	35 (5 X 7) for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Size of stamps:	62 X 26 mm for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Designer:	Sun Chuanzhe 孙传哲
Printing Process:	Photogravure
Printing House:	Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T25 - Chemical Fabrics

Chemical fiber is a general designation of fiber which was made through chemical and physical ways using crude or man-made macromolecule compound as materials.  According to the different material sources, chemical fiber is classified into man-made fiber and synthetic fiber.  

Generally speaking, the solution of macromolecule compound is extruded through very small holes of spinnert to form fibres.  The production can be continuous filament yarn, multifilament bundle uncut or discontinuous fiber.

To showcase the different stages in the production of chemical fiber, a set of five stamps was released on June 15,1978.  This stamp set of five was also the first time that a stamp set was printed in continuous strip format together.  

(5-1) 8 fen, Material feeder  原料
(5-2) 8 fen, Drawing out threads  抽丝
(5-3) 8 fen, Weaving  纺织
(5-4) 8 fen, Dyeing and printing  印染
(5-5) 8 fen, Finished products  成品

(5-1)【Material feeder】 Polymerization is the formation of macromolecules through repetition of basic units.  Initially, the various components are solids and first must be converted to a liquid state to be extruded into fibers.  The materials are chemically converted, dissolved, or melted, turning into a thick liquid.  The stamp showed a material feeder with factory facility in the background.

(5-2)【Drawing out threads】 A spinning process produces the fiber by passing the thick liquid through a spinneret.  A spinneret is a device with hundreds of holes of a specified diameter.  The liquid is forced through the spinneret holes and comes out a string liquid filament.  The hole in the spinneret determines the diameter of the filament, which is set by the application.  The stamp showed the extruded fiber collecting on rollers and drawing out threads.
 
(5-3)【Weaving】Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric.

(5-4)【Dyeing and printing】The stamp showed red, yellow and blue as primary colours, which can be combined through dyeing to make a useful range of colors for the fabrics.

(5-5)【Finished products】The stamp showed the multi-colors and beautiful finished fabric products. 

T25 – Chemical Fabrics  化学纤维 Issue Date: 1978.6.15
Serial Number:	T25
Scott Number:	1405-1409
Michel Number:	1415-1419
Number of stamps in Set:	5
Denomination:	8 fen for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Quantity of Issue:	15,000,000 for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Perforation:	P11 X 11½
Sheet Composition:	50 (5 X 10) for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Size of stamps:	40 X 30 mm for stamp 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Designer:	Wu Jiankun  吴建坤
Printing Process:	Photogravure
Printing House:	Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works