Can You Read Chinese?

Hello all!

Got a postcard from China today and was wondering what one of the stamps says. So I thought I'd ask the forum folks.

This 3 yuan stamp (a high value) appears to be Gibbons #5130, although the catalog doesn't illustrate it. This was a "New Years Greetings" (issue of November 1, 2006) which is probably what the characters mean.

Since the stamp's not shown in the catalog, it isn't 100% certain, but it's a good guess.

doug2222, Sorry, but you have the year wrong, it was actually issued on November 1, 2007. Some sites say November 11. Titled Happy New Year, it is part of a set of 2 with a souvenir sheet as well. Do a search at ebay for "China Stamp CNY2" for photos.

It is an artistic rendering of 3 characters, which is essentially extending a "Joyful New Year" greeting (i.e., "Happy New Year"), although the characters don't necessarily individually word for word form that phrase.

Top character is He = congratulate

Bottom row is actually 2 characters, with the right side of the left character (in traditional script) and the left side of the right character (in traditional script) artistically combined into one -- so it looks like 3 characters but it is actually 2. If it were in simplified script, that artistically combined center portion would be gone completely. I thought it was rather creative. So...

Bottom left character is Xin = new
Bottom right character is Xi = joy

All 3 characters combined is one of several phrases used as a New Year's greeting.

The stamp you show is not the original stamp. The original stamp has sycopated perfs (single oval perf on left and right side) and was issued 1Nov2006.

Since your stamp lacks the syncopated perfs, it comes from the souvenir sheet of 4 showing stamps from the 2007 and 2008 Chinese New Year greetings stamps. I don't believe the souvenir sheet is given a catalog number by Scott, but it should be mentioned in a footnote somewhere.

I don't have the SG catalog, but the S/S might be listed in SG. It would have been issued on or after 1Nov2007 (not sure on or after).

[EDIT: I deleted my edit.]

Looks like Gibbons' mistake. The only stamp issued on November 1, 2007, Gibbons #5222b, has this design (more or less) but is a 1.20 yuan with elliptical perfs.

A note says that #5222c and #5222d have been reserved for stamps not yet received, but it is the mid-2011 catalog talking about a 2007 stamp!

And if I am reading right, the postmark reads "06" for the year, meaning it cannot be a 2007 stamp. Finally the 2006 stamp is perf 13½ and the 2007 stamp is perf 12. What is the perf of the OP's stamp?

The OP's stamp does not have elliptical perfs, suggesting it is earlier rather than later.

=====edit

In Gibbons, the souvenir sheet is #5317b, and its 3 yuan stamp IS #5130, but it is not clear on the details, i.e., the perf and the elliptical perfs. The SS date of issue is October 9, 2008.

The postmark appears to read 20Jun2009.

[EDIT: Sorry, I'm bad when turning my head around. Flipping my laptop upside down, the postmark reads 6Sep2012].

Or maybe 9-6-12? 3 years in the mail would be a LONG time.

The color on the right edge of the stamp has me wondering... makes sense that it was from a souv sheet!

I corrected my above post on the date of the postmark. My neck doesn't bend as much as it used to...

As I mentioned, it is not the original stamp. It lacks the syncopated perfs. There was no issue of this stamp before the syncopated perfs, so it is not an earlier stamp. It must be rather recent souvenir sheet. The border color is also different from the original stamp and original souvenir sheet.

Yes, more confusion on what order the numbers represent. The "20" must be the day of the month, clearly, and the time is "12," noon, I guess.

Looking at the perfs, I'm wondering if it is a self-adhesive stamp?!

Nells250, in the future, please get cards only from Canada.

20 would be the hour the stamp was postmarked.

Sorry about any confusion I caused -- it is definitely 6Sep2012 postmark at 8 PM.

PRC uses YYYY MM. DD. HH postmark format.

Hopefully, someone will come up with an answer. If not, you may have to ask the person who sent you the postcard where they got the stamp.