China has appeared more and more in postage stamps issued by United Nations since China began to open to the world in the 1980s. In my collection are dozens of UN stamps that feature China.
In a period of 21 years starting in 1980, the UN issued a complete set of stamps featuring the national flags of all its member countries. The stamp that features China's five-star red flag was released on September 23, 1983. A special postcard and a postmark were also released to go with the stamp. On October 5, 2006, the UN released a series of stamps, the first set of which highlighted China's national flag and the lotus pattern from the 50-cent coin of China's Renminbi. It was the first international postage stamp that featured a design of the Chinese currency. The Chinese language is one of the UN's six official languages. Many UN stamps highlight the name of UN in Chinese calligraphy, adding a sense of art to the stamps.
The Chinese symbols have appeared on UN postage stamps. On March 24th, 1995, UN released a set of 12 stamps featuring endangered species across the world and one of them was Panda,which was elected as the best image of the series in a public survey before the launch. On January 20th, 1992, the Great Wall of China appeared in a stamp of a series that featured the world heritages. On November 19, 1997, the terracotta warriors and horses unearthed in China appeared in a set of six stamps in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. On September 14th, 1995, UN released a set of six stamps in celebration of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. The first one presents Xihuangbanna, a tropic scenic zone in China's southwestern Yunnan Province.\"Galloping Horse Treading on a Flaying Swallow\", a bronze sculpture made in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) and logo which stands for China's tourism, appeared on a UN stamp released on February 2nd, 1996.
Nature's Wisdom was the theme of the 2005 World Expo held in Aichi, Japan. To celebrate the 6-month-long event, the UN launched a series of stamps to highlight the theme. The photographs on the stamps show major geographical wonders across the world. A photograph by a Chinese photographer presents a magnificent view of a Chinese desert.
Although most of the UN postage stamps are designed by famed artists of various countries, UN sometimes adopts unique designs by little known young artists. The six stamps released by the UN on September 17th, 1996 in the theme of \"We Love Peace\" were designed separately by six Chinese children artists whose average age was 10.
On October 24th, 1995, UN released a special miniature stamp sheet featuring 34 faces of ordinary people of different ethnics in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UN Charter. One of the faces was farmer Gong Laifa, a man of longevity in China's southwestern Guizhou Province. Born in 1848, Gong farmed all his life and passed away on March 12, 1996. The 147-year-old man was designated the oldest man in China in 1993.