There are no such thing as dragons. That of course is not what Chinese kids want to hear and after all that is what natural history museums are trying to attract and inspire. Well them and maybe a plutocrat or two from the Chinese diaspora. So slip in your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The printing on the stamp lets down the new building for the natural history museum. It is a pretty good example of the Chinese take on Brutalist architecture. In 1959, the Chinese inked a deal with the Czechs on postal design cooperation. Anyone who remembers cold war era Czech stamps will grasp that this meant Chinese stamps were going to get larger and more colorful.
Todays stamp is issue A107, an 8 Fen stamp issued by the People’s Republic of China on April 1st, 1959. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations celebrating the opening in Peking of the Museum of Natural History. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents cancelled.
This stamp places the opening of the museum in 1959. The current itineration of the museum list the opening date as 1951 and the taking of the present name as 1962. The stamp from 1959 uses the 1962 and later name. I suspect the intention of having a natural history museum was announced in 1951 with the building and permanent collection ready in 1959. The museum employs teams of scientists in paleontology, botony, and zoology.
The displays of early life on earth are grouped in chronological order and include dinosoars and early examples of elephants. The star of the show is the 78 meter fossil they claim is a dragon. No word if they have managed to show how it used to breath fire.
The museum is an accomplishment of the early days of the Communist regime, but that was a long time ago. The modern museum owes a great deal to the late in life donations from diaspora philanthropist Tian Jiabing. Apparently greedy for handouts Chinese institutions kneel before robber barons now just as in the west.
Tian was from Dabu in China but quickly moved on to Vietnam to which he exported Dabu made porcelain. When the war made this trade impossible he moved on to the Dutch Indies and got involved in the rubber industry. He amassed 3 factories in Indonesia but felt that Chinese were persecuted in independent Indonesia. Maybe if they had allowed him a fourth factory? In 1959 China was in the middle of their industrial “Great Leap Forward” and so could readily make use of the skill and capital of a rich Chinese industrialist. Instead Tian moved to Hong Kong. He wasn’t finished making the world better. He used his expertise in rubber to become a leader in the production of leatherette. He marketed himself as the leather king of Hong Kong. Well maybe the leatherette Majoor de Chinezen, as they said in the Dutch Indies.
As Tian aged in the 1980s he shielded his assets from taxes in a charitable foundation that doled out donations to institutions that would attach his name to things. This included schools in every province of China and Taiwan. Now he marketed himself in China as the “Father of a 100 schools”. Well maybe the Dutch (Indies) Uncle of 100 schools. The 1998 financial crises wiped out Tian’s industrial assets but Tian was not through virtue signaling. He sold his 40 million HK dollar house to recapitalize his foundation. Obviously stealing the money from his creditors. Before dying in 2018 he traveled China to allow the people to shower him with rewards. He showed his virtue by refusing Soda and bringing soap with him to hotels for the environment. Pretty obnoxious for a rubber and plastics guy. Sorry the stories of guys like this really get my goat. End Rant.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Chairman Mao for seeing the need for the museum and getting it built. Waiting for robber barons would have taken forever. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.