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How to Identify Chinese Stamps

The People's Republic of China (PRC) was officially founded in 1949. Since that time, the government of China has issued more than 700 set of commemorative and special stamp collections with over 3,000 different designs. Chinese stamps often feature depictions of land, animals, pottery, images of leaders and other distinctive moments in Chinese history. Stamp enthusiasts, or philatelists, can use several techniques to identify Chinese stamps.

Instructions

- 1
  Look for themes, pictures and colors that are closely identified with China. For instance, images of the Great Wall or panda bears are Chinese in origin. Chinese stamps are also very detailed with vivid use of colors, such as red.
- 2
  Find images of Chinese stamps in books about stamp collecting, which can be found at your local bookstore or library. Images are also available online at websites for groups such as the China Philatelic Information.
- 3
  Look for logograms, which are symbols indicative of words or meanings, which are commonly used on Chinese stamps.
- 4
  Find stamps that show images of the Communist Party, usually depicted with a hammer and sickle. The Communist Party has been the ruling party of China since its inception in 1949.
- 5
  Purchase or borrow a copy of the annual Chinese stamp catalogue, which assigns a specific serial number to every stamp. You can compare the serial number on the stamp with the lists in the catalogue. Another useful resource is the Yang's Catalogue, which contains information on Chinese serial numbers, pictures and other information about Chinese stamps.

Stamp Collecting