The Whole Country is Red

The Whole Country is Red is a Chinese postage stamp, issued on 24 November 1968,[1] which contained a problem with the design. The stamp features a map of China with the words "The Whole Country is Red" (Chinese: 全国山河一片红), with a worker, farmer, and soldier standing below with copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao, but Taiwan is not shaded red. The face value of the stamp is 8 fen.[2]

The Whole Country is Red
Country of productionPeople's Republic of China
Date of production1968
DesignerWang Weisheng
PrinterSinoMaps Press
Face value8 fen

Taiwan was not shaded red as at the time of printing, it was (and remains so today) under the control of the Republic of China instead of the PRC. The official reason given for the withdrawal of the stamp was that the Spratly and Paracel Islands were missing from the map, as well as the borders with Mongolia, Bhutan, and Myanmar being incorrectly drawn.[1] The stamp had been distributed for less than half a day when an editor at SinoMaps Press noticed the problem with Taiwan and reported it to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. As a result, all Chinese post offices had to stop selling the stamp and return all copies, with only a small quantity making it to private collectors.[2] The designer of the stamp, Wang Weisheng, said in an AFP interview, "For a long time I was really worried that I would be jailed".[3]

The stamp is today regarded as rare, with one being sold at an auction in 2009 for HK$3.68 million (US$475,000, £290,000).[3] More recent auction realisations have been lower at £31050 in December 2010 (Stanley Gibbons), HK$747,500 (£60,300) at InterAsia's September 2011 sale,[1] US$57,000 in 2014 in Germany, US$445,000 in 2014 in Hong Kong.[4]

References
  1. Far East Collector's Guide, a supplement to Gibbons Stamp Monthly, November, 2011, p. 3.
  2. Lin, Xu (27 April 2012). "#8 The Whole Country is Red（全国山河一片红）". Top 13 most valuable postage stamps in the world. China Internet Information Center. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  3. "'Red' China stamp fetches record". BBC News. 2 November 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  4. Richard Tang. How to Collect & Invest in China Stamps. Black and White Edition, 2017, p. 136
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