COVER N.188 - CHINA

Postmark: 江苏苏州 (Suzhou, Jiangsu) and 干将西路 (Ganjiang West Road)  21.11.22

Posted on the 21st November?; Received on the 16th December 2022

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On receiving this beautiful cover, the first thought that came to my mind was "I have seen this before". And yes, I had. Not exactly the same, but the very colourful and interesting  stamps  that Xu so carefully arranged on this envelope mirror to a great extent those that were issued by the Portuguese Post in a set dedicated precisely to the same theme: protected natural areas. So Thanks a lot Xu, it really is a most interesting addition to my collection.

On  the 11th October 2021, the first day of the United Nations Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity China - COP 15 (part 1) chaired by China and held virtually from the city of Kunming in China, the host country officially designated its first five national parks.

The decision, in a country that has the third highest number of animal species and is home to 34,000 plant species, and which in later years has become synonymous with massive pollution issues generated by  an outstanding industrial growth, can only be regarded as a welcome effort to ensure that all this biodiversity is preserved and fostered in the future.

In the wake of this decision  China's Postal Administration issued on 05NOV2022 the stamp set used on the cover, comprising 5 stamps of the same face value, highlighting the new 5 National Parks.

Each of the stamps, with a face value of  1.20 Chinese renminbi yuan,  is illustrated with a photo of the National Park it celebrates, as well as with a "medallion" with a photo of a fauna species that I presume is emblematic of it.

Left to right; top to bottom:

Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park

The park is located in the South China’s island province of Hainan  and its numbers, just like those of its companions, are staggering, for it extends over a total area of 4,269 square kilometers, of which more than 95% is occupied with the largest rain-forest of the country.

A biodiversity haven with 3,653 species of wild vascular plants registered the park  it is also the sole place in the world where the Hainan gibbon, considered to be the world’s most critically endangered primate can be found (30 surviving in the wild).

The Gibbon is featured on the stamp's medallion, along with what I presume to be Hainan Eld's deer, another of the rare species that call the park home. 

Wuyishan National Park

Located in the southeast China's Fujian Province, the park occupies a total area of about 1,000 square Km, which includes the Wuyi Mountain Nature Reserve, established in 1979, these mountains having been classified by the UNESCO as a World heritage Site since 1999, for their cultural, scenic and biodiversity importance.

The medallion on the stamp is illustrated with a female Elliot's pheasant, endemic and under protection in China;  the Wuyi subspecies of the  golden-spotted beaked phoenix butterfly, apparently the rarest butterfly in the world, endemic to China, and a frog I couldn't not positively identify.

Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park 

Again the numbers speak for themselves: covering an area of 14,065 square km, covered in 93+% by forest, the park located in both the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, is home to the largest population of Siberian tigers and leopards which both feature on the stamp's medallion, along with one of its preys,  probably a Sika deer.

Sanjiangyuan National Park

Located in the Tibetan Plateau, in the  Qinghai Province,  this is Chinas's largest National Park, occupying a staggering 123,000 square kilometers and the birthplace of three of the most important rivers of Asia: the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Mekong.

Immensely rich and diverse in terms of fauna, the park is also home to the Chiru, or Tibetan antelope, which features in the stamps medallion.

Giant Panda National Nark

Ask anyone to name an animal associated with China and I'm sure the Panda will be the unanimous answer.

The majority of the population (73%) of this cute little giant, which now numbers more than 1,800 individuals after almost having gone for good from the face of the blue planet, inhabits reserves located in this National Park, located in  Central China in the Sichuan, Ningxia, and Shaanxi provinces.

It is thus no surprise that the animal chosen to illustrate the stamp's medallion would be the Giant Panda, and If I am not mistaken, on the background there are also images of  its unrelated "cousin", the Red Panda.

Just for the sake on comparison, here's a peek at the stamps on Portuguese protected areas I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Left to right, top to bottom:

Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela and the Lagartixa-de-montanha (Iberolacera monticola);

Parque Natural de Montesinho and the Veado-Vermelho (red deer -  Cervus elaphu);

Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros and a fossil of a bivalve mollusc from the jurassic period;

Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana and a Francelho (Lesser Kestrel - Falco naumanni);

Parque Natural da Ria Formosa and a Caimão (Porphyrio porphyrio)

image credits: CTT