Along with the successful inclusion of Mount Fanjing on the World Heritage List in July, China ranks second with 53 world heritage sites. Since China joined UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985, the number of Chinese World Cultural Heritage has been increasing. These heritage not only represents the epitome of human civilization, but also reflects the smart design of stamps on the national cards.

The stamps cover a wide range of topics, including politics, economy, history, geography and customs. Thanks to China's reform and opening-up, most of China's cultural relics have been listed on the World Cultural Heritage List, representing historical and modern China.

In the early stage of reform and opening-up, China's national economy developed steadily and its postal service increased dramatically. Postal departments in charge of postal services liberated their minds and re-examined the theme of stamps, so that Chinese stamps kept pace with the times and timely reflected China's achievements in socialist construction.

Over the past 40 years, China's reform and opening-up has been a grand historical picture, with each scene imprinted on the Chinese mind. The era is also recorded on the stamps.

Take the world cultural heritage of the Great Wall for example. To celebrate the centenary of the Universal Postal Union, China Post issued a memorial stamp album in which the Great Wall was included. Designed by Chinese stamp designer Deng Xiqing, the magnificence of the Great Wall was well presented in the little stamp. The design enjoys great fame both at home and abroad.

One of the best reflections of the Great Wall are the Great Wall special stamps issued in 1979. It is a set of four stamps, with each showcasing four different seasons of the Great Wall in the theme colors of blue, green, red and white. The Museum of the Terracotta Warriors was officially opened to the public in 1979. Four years later in 1983, a set of four special stamps of the terracotta warriors and horses that were designed in the form of documentary photography were issued, featuring these grand historical remains and the typical yellow highlands of Shaanxi Province where the terracotta warriors and horses were found.

The world cultural heritage of a country constitutes the main body of its traditional culture, reflecting a country's history, science and technology, economy, customs and practices and natural elements. To condense them on stamps not only promotes the heritage, but also arouses people's awareness and attention of the traditional culture. These stamps record the historical and modern processes of China's changes.

The author of this article is a reporter of Cultural Geography Xiang Bei