Exhibition to feature over 4,700 stamps

More than 4,000 stamps issued in China over the past 70 years will be exhibited at the China 2019 World Stamp Exhibition in Wuhan, Hubei province, from June 11 to 17, said the State Post Bureau at a news conference on Tuesday.

The World Stamp Exhibition is managed and promoted by the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie, which has 97 member federations. China had successfully organized the exhibition in Beijing and Luoyang, Henan province, in 1999 and 2009 respectively since joining the FIP in 1983.

The theme of this year's exhibition is "Mutual prosperity of the industry, Mutual trust in peaceful development, Mutual learning between cultures and Mutual benefits for ecology", said Dai Yingjun, deputy director of the State Post Bureau.

"The purpose of this exhibition is to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and demonstrate the brilliant achievements of China since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in a unique philatelic way," said Dai.

For the first time, Dai said a new category of home letters, meaning letters among family members, is added to the exhibition to reflect the characteristics of Chinese culture.

To date, 87 countries and regions have signed up to participate in the exhibition with 4,700 exhibits, including 2,500 exhibits from other countries. It could be the exhibition of the largest scale among world stamp exhibitions. Famous philatelists and museums from home and abroad will display dozens of rare stamps.

Kang Ning, deputy manager of the China Post Group Corporation, explained that several treasured and unique stamps will be available for public viewing at the exhibition, including the earliest stamp manuscript in existence from the China National Post and Postage Stamp Museum.