Lot 30371 – China PRC, 1968 Mao to Japanese Worker Friends unissued

1968 Mao’s Inscription to Japanese Worker Friends 8f black and red, mint n.h., unissued, a fine example of this Cultural Revolution rarity.

Note: In 1962 Chairman Mao received a delegation of Japanese workers sympathetic to the Communist ideas of his China. In response to this Mao wrote an ‘inscription’ to Japanese workers to encourage them in their quest to bring Communism to Japan. In 1968, on the sixth anniversary of the workers visit, it was decided that this inscription would be committed to a stamp and issued throughout China. The Japanese government heard of this and strongly objected on the basis it might inspire an uprising. China complied with this and the stamp was officially withdrawn from issue.

Correction to printed catalogue: Note that the estimate has been reduced