Ancient Ceiling Frescoes
Issued 1993, this five-card set is the first series of Dunhuang frescoes. RMB10 shows the lotus-square ceiling with three rabbits (Sui Dynasty); RMB20, asparas and lotus flowers on the ceiling (Northern Liang Dynasty); RMB30, ornamental curling-up-dragon and lotus flowers design ont he ceiling (Five Dynasties Period); RMB50, asparas and lotus on the ceiling (Early Tang Dynasty); RMB100, curling-up-dragon design (Western Xia Dynasty). See ITC magazine issue 19 p.53

Mint set: $80

Female Roles in Beijing Opera
Beijing Opera with a history of some 200 years is one of the most important forms of Chinese traditional theatrical performances and is popular throughout the country. There are four main types of roles: Sheng (male roles), Dan (female roles), Jing (painted faces), and Chou (comedians) based on the sex, age, position and personality of the characters. Each of these roles is further divided into types according to the singing and acting. The Dan roles consist of 8 pieces of which four are of the quing yi type (quite and gentle) two of the Hua Dan (the vicious or dissolute) and one each of the Dao Ma Dan (sword-and-horse skilled in weapon fighting) and Wu Dan (women with martial skills). 10,000 sets issued. In deluxe collector's album-holder

Mint set in Collectors' Album: $95

Facial Makeups in Beijing Opera Stamps
The actual set of stamps was issued in 1980. The plastic masks have unique features to show the special traits of the opera character through appropriate exaggeration and symbolism. The makeups are divided into red, white, and black faces. These are further divided into regular faces, three-tile faces, cross faces, six-part faces, broken faces etc. After centuries of development there are today over 300 different facial makeups. The set of phonecards issued have the following opera characters: Meng Liang, Li k'uei, Huang Kai, Sun Wu Kung, Lien P'o, Chang Fei, Lu Chih Shen and Tou Erh-tun. 10,000 sets issued. In a deluxe collector's album-holder

Mint set in Collectors' Album: $95