Special 79 Chinese Folk Tale Postage Stamps (Issue of 1971) (D079)

Stamp SN : D079
Stamp Name : Special 79 Chinese Folk Tale Postage Stamps (Issue of 1971)
Stamp Cat Standard : Special Stamps
Stamp Cat : Tales,Mammals
Issue date : 1971-09-22
Dimension of stamps(mm.) : 29x37
Printer : China Engraving & Printing Works, R.O.C.
Sheet composition : 10×10
Process : Deep etch offset
Paper : 76-lb〝郵〞(post) watermarked paper with red-blue fiber
Perforation : 14
Designer : Liao Wei-lin

Continuing its preceding 1970 series, this new series of〝Chinese Folk Tale Postage Stamps〞used another eight of the Twenty-four Folk Tales of filial piety of various dynasties which were collected and compiled into a book during the Yuan dynasty. The eight stories illustrated on the stamps are as follows： 0.10 Yu Hsun (2255 B.C.) lived a good life of filial piety to his parents and love to his brother, though his father was evil, his mother was a gossipywoman, and his brother a juvenile delinquent. Heaven was moved so much by his exemplary life that elephants were sent to help him plow his rice field and birds were sent to pull up the weeds. Upon hearing of a man of such perfect filial piety. Emperor Yao (2357 B.C.) invited Yu Hsun to be emperor. 0.10 Tsai Hsun of the Former Han dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) was caught by bandits when picking mulberries in the countryside. Being asked why he put the mulberries in two separate baskets, he answered that the black mulberries (ripe ones) were food for his mother, while the red ones (not yet ripe) were for himself. Impressed with his filial piety, the bandit leader not only freed him, but also gave him some good and valuable gifts. 0.10 Tseng Sun, a disciple of Confucius 551`479 B.C.&, was away in the mountains collecting firewood, when a guest came to see his mother. She was so anxious, while waiting for his return to entertain the guest, that she bit through her fingers, thinking such an action would send a message to Tseng Sun. Almost instantly Tseng Sun received the message and felt severe pain in his heart. He returned home immediately. 0.10 Kiang Keh of the later Han dynasty (25-220 A.D.) carried his widow mother on his back to flee from calamity. En route, he met bandits who forced him to join them. But after learning of his good conduct and his filial piety, the bandit leader set him free. Settling in a city, Kiang Keh worked both in the field and in the house to earn wages to support his mother. 0.10 Tsu Lu, a disciple of Confucius, traveled afar to find rice for his parents and carried it home on his back. After his parents' death, he left home and was appointed a high-ranking official in the state of Chu with 10,000 piculs of rice as his salary and 100 chariots at his service. Even with such riches,he still remembered his parents and said that to have his parents and suffer poverty was far better than to enjoy riches and honors without parents. 0.50 Meng Chung of the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.) lost his father in youth. One winter his aged mother was sick and wanted soup made of fresh bamboo shoots. Meng Chung went to a bamboo grove to find bamboo shoots. His mother drank the soup made from the bamboo shoots, and soon was well. 1.00 Tung Yung of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) sold himself to obtain money to bury his father. After the burying while en route to his master's house for labor, Tung Yung met a young woman who volunteered to marry him. Following their wedding, the couple went to his master's home and they worked there until they earned enough to redeem him. 1.00 Tzu Chien was a disciple of Confucius. His stepmother provided clothes of warm cotton for her own two sons, but gave him only clothes of reeds. One cold winter day, his father asked Tzu Chien to drive a cart for him. He was so cold that he did not drive well. When his father found out about his second wife's cruel treatment of his son, he decided to divorce her. But Tzu Chien said, 〝With a stepmother only one son wears clothes of reeds; without even a stepmother, three sons will suffer from the cold.〞Upon hearing the boy's kind reply, the stepmother repented and treated him as her own son.