Was the “Country Is Red” 1968 Chinese error stamp without Taiwan really a design mistake?

Nov 3, 2009   More articles: Asian stamps (1); China stamps (1); East Asia stamps (1); Stamps (1); Taiwan stamps (1)

"The Whole Country Is Red", says the stamp in Chinese. Indeed, the background of the 1968 issue has a map of China all filled in red. Except, glaringly, the island of Taiwan, which is shown but merely outlined with a thin red line, rather than filled in solid red. (Surrounding countries are not shown at all.) So what is the point? Taiwan is not red... and thus not part of the country? Scandalous!

The designer, Wang Wei Shang, claimed it was a mistake, and for several years feared jail time for his transgression. Taiwan has long claimed independence from China, which considers Taiwan (formerly called "Formosa") part of its country. The issue is so touchy that Chinese authorities have been known to confiscate tourists' guide books if the books show Taiwan as a separate state.

The stamp was issued for a single day in 1968, then immediately withdrawn several hours later by authorities when it was discovered that the stamp appeared to separate China and Taiwan. Although keeping such a stamp as a curiosity was bold in and of itself, a few did survive and now are sold for very high prices. At a recent auction in Hong Kong, a total of seven stamps showing the mistake sold for HK$6,610,000, nearly US$853,000.

But was this really an error? One assumes that there were panels and officials who approved designs and checked the production of the stamp along the way; the contrast of a big red China and a blank Taiwan is so striking that it is not really possible to miss it. In fact, ones eye is drawn to it almost immediately.

Perhaps the officials involved thought the depiction of Taiwan was intentional, reasoning that the stamp's design reflected the controversial, or at least 'special', status of Taiwan. That would be incredibly out-of-character behavior from communist Chinese officials, however. Even if the designer wanted to make a barbed political point, foolish as that would seem, it would require several officials not noticing or being in collusion to actually see the stamp through to public sale. (Note that as soon as it went on sale, it was pulled; it's that obvious.)

This is all speculation on our part, but it seems unbelievable that this glaring 'error' made it so far with nobody realizing it. The Taiwan issue was so touchy that it seems that part of the stamp would have been scrutinized more than others; it's not as if a shirt on one of the workers at the bottom of the stamp was accidentally left uncolored. It looks for all the world like Taiwan was left uncolored on purpose; that it was not merely a matter of forgetting to fill in the shape but that a conscious decision was made to leave it blank.

How it got as far as it did before being caught is something we'll leave to conspiracy fans. One thing seems certain though: it is unlikely this was merely an innocent designer's lapse.

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