This article contains a list of people who appeared on the stamps of the
Republic of China commonly known as Taiwan. Alternate names appear in parentheses. Transcription of Chinese names can vary considerably. See also Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue - Part 17 China.
Between 1949 and 1979, the
Chunghwa Post issued postage stamps featuring 57 distinct people.[1] The scholar Yu-Chin Huang divided the people into five categories: "political figures", "revolutionary martyrs", "cultural figures", "Chinese historical icons", and "ethical and mythical figures". People crucial to Taiwan's founding were in the "political figures" category, while those who died for Taiwan's founding were in the "revolutionary martyrs" category. The "cultural figures" category was populated with artists, engineers, scientists, and literary figures. While age-old military commanders and emperors filled the "Chinese historical icons" category, the "ethical and mythical figures" category had religious figures and Confucianism paragons.[1]
Taiwan featured stamps of President
Chiang Kai-shek and his wife
Soong Mei-ling following the
retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949. Whereas four eminent politicians such as Chiang's top assistant
Chen Cheng were featured on postage stamps only after their deaths, Chiang and his wife were showcased on the stamps during their lifetimes. Addressing this in 1996, a Directorate General of Posts officer said, "people who are still alive or whose final verdict has not been pronounced after their death should not have commemorative postage stamps printed" but the Chiangs' postage stamps were made during "a hegemonic era of the cult of the great men".[2] In total, Chiang was featured on 29 stamp issues while his wife was featured on four.[3] Following his death, postage stamps rarely featured politicians since his son
Chiang Ching-kuo, who became the next leader, aimed to discontinue
cults of personality. There are deviations from the avoidance of featuring politicians on stamps. The first is a January 1989 set of stamps featuring Chiang Ching-kuo one year after his death. This was the sole time a stamp featured his portrait. The second is that Taiwan has quadrennial elections and the postal service releases stamps featuring the president and vice president who are taking office.[3]
After the
1911 Revolution that led to the collapse of the
Qing dynasty, the
Nationalists' reign of the Republic of China began in 1912. The postal service featured images of revolutionary figures including
Huang Xing. To commemorate soldiers killed in the
Second Sino-Japanese War, the postal service released stamps featuring the general
Zhang Zizhong and the pilot
Gao Zhihang. By evoking the worst challenge it had faced, the government's goal through featuring martyrs on stamps was to showcase its effectiveness in overcoming adversity. According to the scholar Huang, the postal service therefore did not feature images of martyrs from the
Chinese Civil War as it would remind viewers of their not achieving victory in the war.[4]
Taiwan used postage stamps featuring
Father of the NationSun Yat-sen to promote its
national identity.[5] To celebrate the centennial of American president
Abraham Lincoln's birth, the postal service released a "Teachers of the Democracy" postage stamp.[6] It featured Lincoln and Sun beside each other to represent their being paragons of democracy and
human rights defenders.[7] The stamp featured Sun's image and the Republic of China flag on one side, and Abraham Lincoln's image and the American flag on the other side.[6] Below Sun's photo are the words "Minzu" (
Chinese: 民族), "Minquan" (
Chinese: 民權), and "Minsheng" (
Chinese: 民生), which are his
Three Principles of the People.[6] Sun's principles were based on Lincoln's well-known quote "of the people, by the people, for the people", which appeared below his image. To celebrate the centennial of the birth of Sun, the postal service in 1965 released postage stamps featuring his image next to Taiwanese flags.[8] During the
Cold War, the beliefs of the
Nationalists aligned with those of the United States. To promote the close relationship between Taiwan and the United States, the postal service issued stamps featuring the American political dignitaries
Eleanor Roosevelt and
Dwight D. Eisenhower.[6] In 1967, the postal service issued a "Chinese Poets" stamps set that featured
Tang dynasty poets
Du Fu,
Li Bai, and
Bai Juyi, and patriotic poet
Qu Yuan.[9]
^
ab"中華民國郵票目錄" [Republic of China Stamp Catalog]. Directorate General of Posts 中華民國交通部郵政總局 (in Chinese). 2003. Retrieved 2022-08-21 – via
Google Books.
^郭素娥 (2014).
郵政大事記 第11集(民國96年至100年) [Postal Memorabilia. Edition 11 (ROC calendar year 96–100)] (in Chinese). Taipei: 中華民國政府出版品. p. 56.
ISBN9789860408850. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
^"今日郵政" [Today Postal]. 今日郵政月刊社. 2011. Retrieved 2022-05-31 – via
Google Books.
^Huang, Yangming 黃揚明 (2021-07-06).
"【李登輝續香火4】李登輝紀念郵票將發行 設計者來頭不小" [[Lee Teng-hui continues incense 4] Lee Teng-hui commemorative stamps will be issued, the designer has a lot of background] (in Chinese).
Mirror Media. Archived from
the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
^"今日郵政" [Post Today] (in Chinese). 今日郵政. 1988. Retrieved 2022-08-21 – via
Google Books. On August 12, 1967 , the Directorate General of Posts released a set of Taiwan Handicraft Products Postage Stamps (issue of 1967). The NT$1.00 postage stamp featured a wood carving of the Buddha Maitreya (Fig. 11).
^"中外畫報, Volumes 85–102" [Chinese and Foreign Pictorial, Volumes 85–102]. Zhong Wai Hua Bao 中外畫報社 [The Cosmorama Pictorial] (in Chinese). 1963.
OCLC1114945331. Retrieved 2022-08-21 – via
Google Books. 四元直型郵票係以手持燭光之青年護士為主題,右上角繪護士工作創始人南丁格爾女士牛身像,上述郵票由台北中央印製廠以雕刻凹版印製。 [The four-dollar straight-shaped stamps feature a young nurse holding a candle, and the upper right corner depicts the figure of Ms. Nightingale, the founder of the nurse's work.]
^Zhao, Wancheng 赵婉成 (2015-04-15).
"邓丽君邮票在台湾创下抢购记录" [Teresa Teng's stamps set a record for panic buying in Taiwan] (in Chinese).
Voice of America. Archived from
the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-08-21.