Back in the 80s, I wanted to learn more about other countries and one of the best ways of doing so was collecting stamps especially first day covers as there’d usually be some information about the stamps behind the envelope and back then, China first day covers were really cheap, averaging 80 sen to less than RM5. There was this stamp shop in Sungei Wang Plaza I used to visit on weekends as they had a lot of China first day covers, that shop closed down decades ago.
At that time, I was fascinated by “Journey To The West” and I was reading the stories in the form of comic books. So when I saw this wonderful set of “Journey To The West” first day covers, I just had to have them.
This colourful set of stamps commemorates the 30th anniversary of PRC.
I love Chinese lanterns, who doesn’t? There’s something very “Dream of the Red Chamber” about Chinese lanterns.
I may not understand Chinese opera but I think their costumes are magnificent. I only wish I had the 1962 set of Mei Lan-Fang (the most celebrated and famous Peking Opera singer who played female roles) stamps which are worth a lot!
