-
2013 Lunar New Year Government lottery card
Please refer to the explanation for item 20307267 (just click a few pages back) to learn about this and following cards in the sequence. Of course, substitute 2013 (Year of the Snake) for those earlier cards from 2012. All are unused. Other than designs, the only difference is that these 2013 cards have black-and-white square QR codes on the lottery ticket stub, for you to download on your Smartphone. Eight cards with this design are available. Grades: 1
-
Shenzhen 26th Summer Universiade playing cards (not postcards)
Because we got these at the same time and place as some of our postcards on the same theme, we include this item in the website. We have two decks of 52 playing cards, unused, and the photo shows one side of the carton holding the cards, as well as one of the cards as an example. Price is for one deck of cards. Reminder: these are not postcards. Grades: 1
-
Shenzhen, Lottery card (2012) – buildings
Not really Lunar New Year, but issued at the same time of year and presumably only for Shenzhen, but we’re not certain about that. The lottery is over by now. Grade: 1
-
Shenzhen, Lottery card (2012) – dancers
Not really Lunar New Year, but issued at the same time of year and presumably only for Shenzhen, but we’re not certain about that. The lottery is over by now. Grade: 1
-
Shenzhen, Lottery card (2012) – water
Not really Lunar New Year, but issued at the same time of year and presumably only for Shenzhen, but we’re not certain about that. The lottery is over by now. Grade: 1
-
Shenzhen, Lottery card (2012) – beach
Not really Lunar New Year, but issued at the same time of year and presumably only for Shenzhen, but we’re not certain about that. The lottery is over by now. Grade: 1
-
Food coupons
As the card notes, these “natingwide” grain coupons were used for food rationing during much of China’s modern history. Card mailed from Beijing in 2012 with stamp and postmark. Grade: 2
-
Creating a New Chapter Together (set)
A large item, a hardcover book measuring 10-1/2″ x 10-1/8″ x 3/8″ dedicated to the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, which exercise the legislative power of the state. Despite the size, this very colourful book has one page with a sheet of 15 stamps and se-tenant “butterfly” stubs behind a plastic sleeve; one page with a commemorative stamp sheetlet behind another sleeve; and one page with an (unstamped) postcard of the NPC–also behind a plastic sleeve. This book comes in a heavy cardboard cover as you see in the scan. (And compare this with item 20307460, following). Grade: 1
-
Building Harmony with Concerted Efforts (set)
The basic description of this is similar to that for #20307459 except that this volume is dedicated to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a patriotic united front organization. All this is explained inside the book. The stamps and card are not quite the same, but this is clearly a companion piece to #20307459. Grade: 1
-
Spiral notebook – cover
This unused item could be a school or office notebook, as it’s filled with 50+ blank (lined) pages. What makes this a postcard item is six pages on heavy stock (see our entry 20307461B), each with two calendar months of 2013 and with artwork of two joined postcards, each one of those having pre-printed postage and lottery tickets similar to those on many other of our entries. (Just imagine that the photo you see in 20307461B is two postcards, each with lottery number and printed postage; and that there are six of those pages.) There are also other pages, with Chinese text. This whole softcover notebook measures about 8-3/4″ x 11-1/4″ x 3/8″. Grade: 1
-
Spiral notebook – one page
See 20307461A for full description.
-
Guangdong Travel Tickets postcard(s) book
Measuring 4-1/8″ x 8-5/8″ x 1″ in a heavy cardboard jacket, this sleeve itself contains two items. Everything is in Chinese. One of the items in the sleeve is a folder containing two small booklets about the size of credit cards but each with many thin pages designed to look like stamps and explaining different travel attractions in Guangdong Province. The other item in each sleeve is a bigger, much heavier book of 30 postcards with pre-printed postage, detailing the wide variety of different tourist attractions. (Imagine travel brochures as postcards.) It’s all about discounts and special offers–and very colourful. Grade: 1
-
Beijing, National Aquatics Center
The water sports stadium built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on a card mailed from Beijing in 2012 with stamp, full postmark, and red “Par Avion” chops. Captioned in seven languages, this is about as good an example of contemporary Chinese postcards as you can find. Grade: 1
-
Lijiang at night
A brilliant, evocative postcard, mailed in 2012 with stamp, postmark, and red bilingual Par Avion chop. Grade: 1
-
Dalian, Zhongshan Plaza
Dalian is an attractive city in northern China, one of many that few outsiders ever get to know. The card has one pre-printed stamp and one real stamp, with full postmark, and red “Surface” chop (unusual) as well. There is a small, inconspicuous postal tear on the bottom edge. Grade: 3
-
China 2008 Astronauts (set)
This is a booklet of several (5 or 6, they defy counting) postcards of individual Chinese astronauts, alternating with stamp sheetlets of those same astronauts, and flimsy divider sheets. Issued by China National Philatelic Corporation in 2008 or 2009, with a taped original price sticker on the front–we have deleted the Yuan price in the photo. We cannot guarantee that all the original pages are there–we think so, but aren’t sure–and some of the pages are beginning to detach, as they were not well-bound. The upper photo in the scan is the cover; the lower photo is one postcard. Very hard to grade, so we will just say “3”. If you want more information, please ask.
-
Guangdong Travel Book (set)
We are looking for different ways to display these sets, and this scan best represents it. You might want to compare with our items 20307261 and 20307462, but this one (measuring 8-1/2″ x 3-1/8″ x 1/4″) is not as elaborate as the others and not quite as heavy. The unused booklet of 28 pages starts with a “VIP” card the size of a credit card, in a slot, followed by many pages of postcards with pre-printed postage and stubs, each detailing a travel attraction, discounts, and so on. The whole thing is encased in the bottom 75% in an opaque plastic cover. Note also that the booklet is held together by a metal post on the upper left. Grade: 1
-
Ming and Qing Dynasty Furniture (set with stamps)
Another specialty set from the Guangdong office of China Post, issued in 2012. Together with entries 20307468B and C, we describe it here. The entire item is encased in a cardboard cover (8-1/2″ x 11-1/4″ x 1/2″) as you see in 20307468A (The other side of the cover looks similar but without the cut-out window.) Including the inside front and back covers, the book itself has 12 page facings of which some are mint stamps, some are postcards, and some are envelopes–stamped in “Maximum Card” style, but without postmarks (see 20307468B and C). Interior text is all in Chinese, and each individual page is exceptionally rigid and sturdy. Note the elaborate decorations. Grade: 1
-
Melody of the Olympic Sports – cover (not postcards)
Please note carefully: these are stamp cards, not postcards. The cover measures about 8-3/4″ x 11-5/8″ and the four cards themselves (see 20307469B) just slightly smaller. The cards represent Basketball, Fencing, Sailing, and Artistic Gymnastics. About half of the reverse of each card (which, you’ll see, are designed as Maximum Cards) is taken up with captions in Chinese and English about the history of this 2006 stamp issue, and of the individual sport. You may also see two small parallel red lines on the top part of the cover. That is the original price sticker with the RMB price deleted. We don’t want to disturb the cover by trying to remove the sticker, but you might. Hard to grade, but to be safe we will call these Grade: 2.
-
Ci of the Song Dynasty (set of stamp cards, not postcards)
Note that these are stamp cards, not postcards, and in Maximum Card style. Scan 20307470A shows the cover for six different cards, each measuring about 7-1/4″ x 10-1/4″. The set was issued in 2012 by China National Philatelic Corporation. Each card is fully captioned on the reverse, in Chinese and English, explaining Ci (a kind of classical Chinese poetry during the Song Dynasty 960-1279 A.D.) and the particular work portrayed on each card. As an example, the card you see in 20307470B illustrates “Pozhenzi – A Poem to Chen Tongfu in a Heroic Vein,” by Xin Qiji. It’s said to be a patriotic poem full of heroism, and the caption is remarkably colloquial and colourful–almost but not quite enough for us to want to look further into the history. It’s a nice set, and we have two of them. Grades: 1
-
Cinema lottery card
This long, unused card (3-1/16″ x 9-7/8″) issued by China Post comes in three connected parts: the card itself, with pre-printed postage, a QR code, and a lottery number; a middle section with what looks like instructions and another serial number; and the orange stub. The reverse refers to two websites and it looks like you can also download Apps for your own use there. Complicated, and entirely in Chinese. There’s a bit of creasing, not serious. Grade: 2
-
Happy Every Day (set)
This is a set of eight unused cards with pre-printed postage (sample on bottom of scan) in a red cardboard cover (top half of scan). All say “Happy Every Day” but they celebrate various joyous occasions: love, wooden soldiers, cake with starfruit on top, snowman, and some cards with just words (in Chinese). The set was produced in 2009. Grade: 1
-
Lei Feng Spirit (booklet)
We continue to face the challenge of how to describe these China Post products–as you will keep seeing–and this one should be easy, but it’s not. It is a soft booklet measuring about 4-1/4″ x 5-5/8″ and though it came from China Post, the first thing on the first inner page is “Bank of China”. But let’s start with the cover, about the selfless and modest soldier/hero, Lei Feng. The title translates something like this: Strive for being the follower of Lei Feng’s spirit. Promote the new spirit of social civilization. Once inside, the booklet is a mix of text and drawings (see 20307473B), which look like they should fold out accordion-style, but they don’t.
The second half of the booklet has similar drawings, but each page (in this case, they do fold out) is a flimsy postcard with pre-printed postage. There appear to be six of these pages of postcards. It is an unusual item, to be sure, and of course unused. Grade: 1
-
Lei Feng Spirit (booklet) – sample pages
See our entry 20307473A for the overall description. These are two samples from the many pages. On the left, “One’s life is limited, yet service for the people is unlimited. I want to devote my limited life to unlimited service for the people,” and on the right, “A piece of wood has no hole in it. How can a man put a nail into it? This all depends on pressure to push the nail in, and glue onto it.” … (do promote the spirit of becoming good at pressing and gluing.) One does need to know the real importance of Lei Feng to appreciate this fully.
-
Taikang Life Insurance (not a postcard)
Although the right size and shape to be a postcard, this is not. It’s something to do with Life Insurance. We list it because we thought it was unusual to find anything in China with a serial number of 0000001. Fully printed on both sides. Grade: 1
-
Bright moon
Printed in 2009 and issued by China Post with pre-printed postage, this card translates as “Bright moon sends my thinking of you and gives you my true love across thousands of miles.” (Who knew that China Post had it in them?) Three of these unused cards are available. Grades: 1
-
Teaching
Similar in style to our entry 20307475, this unused card, issued by China Post with pre-printed stamp, says “your meticulous teaching helps me go through life and come back with triumph.” Grade: 1
-
Cloisonne (Maximum cards) (set of six)
Set of six maximum cards, issued in April 2013, each captioned in Chinese and English. We were lucky to get the last few sets available at the post office. Grades: 1
-
Sun Tzu’s Art of War – boxed set including postcard
This is one of the finest items we have ever seen from China Post, and it was a localised product from Shenzhen Senruiqiao Culture Development Co. We will describe it briefly, but see several photos (20307478B through G) as more descriptive aids.
The entire item comes in a hardwood box measuring 5-5/8″ x 8″ x 2-1/2″. (Some very minor dings in the wood can be treated with a good furniture polish.) Open the hinged lid to see, inside the top cover, a book containing a mint stamp set and a serially numbered certificate that is also a postcard with a pre-printed stamp.
Yes, that’s a little magnifying glass in the middle, and you would need it to read these bamboo scrolls that each unroll to reveal chapters of Sun Tzu’s work. A search engine will tell you all about him, and we will now let the other photos speak for themselves. If you want more information that we can provide, please ask. Special postage rate (at cost) will apply. To be fair, because of those very very minor marks on the box, we will call the entire product as Grade 2, though it is reasonably Grade: 1
-
2012 Lunar New Year Lottery card
Jumbo (4″ x 10-5/8″) unused card with pre-printed postage and a lottery number. Though the lottery itself is long finished, the card is still visually impressive. Grade: 1
