COVER N.32 - China

Postmark:  - 06AGO21 Tianjin(?)
Posted on the  the  6th August; received on the 4th September. (from 23AUG till 4SEP I was away, so the date of reception could be any day within that interval)
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Upon returning from a fortnight of communion with nature in the Pyrenees, in Spain, Andorra and France, I eagerly opened my letterbox to find this nice cover full of stamps, sent from China. Thanks a lot Zhang.

Judging from the mail I've received from China since I've started my blog, it seems that Chinese collectors do always their best to include lots of stamps on their covers and postcards, and this was no exception, with no fewer than 5 large stamps adorning the nice airmail envelope. 

Stamps, left to right:

Honouring 2017 Journalist’s day, the 1,20 Yuan stamp was issued on 01NOV2017 as a single stamp set. With a fountain pen – the writer’s  master tool – taking centre stage,  other media and communication symbols  associated with journalism fill its background.

The next two 1,20 Yuan stamps were issued on 15MAY2020,as part of a 6 even priced stamp set, dedicated to Ancient Asian civilisations. The first one shows a jade artefact from the Liangzhu culture, that once occupied the Yuhang county in East China’s Zhejiang province. Quoting from Chinadaly “The Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Taihu Basin of the Yangtze river delta. The culture dates back 4,300 to 5,300 years, roughly contemporaneous with the old kingdom period in ancient Egypt and the Summer civilization in Mesopotamia”.

Mohenjo-Darno, (mound of the dead men), an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, is the subject of the second stamp. Wikipedia tells me that  this site was “built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico”.

The last 2 1,20 Yuan stamps were issued on 05NOV2018, as part of a  2 even priced set commemorating the 2018 International Import Exposition, organised by the China International Import Expo Bureau ans the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (shanghai) Co. Ltd.,held in the National Exhibition and Convention Centre of Shanghai, from 5-10 November, 2018. The 2 stamps of this issue were also issued included in a 8 stamp (4 of each) minisheet.