Collecting Chinese Stamps: Xuan Zang

Xuan Zang 玄奘 is a legendary figure in Chinese culture who traveled to India to retrieve Buddhist scripture and bring it to China. This figure is so intertwined into Chinese myth, it even intersects with the Monkey King in the epic Journey to the West. So, this is an figure often celebrated in art and by other means. However, because I have been shopping for gifts for my father -- a hardcore stamp collector -- I have noticed slight differences in how some stamps are sold in micro-sets. The above, for example -- is the cover design for a mini-stamp collection.

It takes the form of a three-fold brochure. The text in the middle, as well as the limited nature of these commemorative “sets" makes it collectible as a whole. So, a collector would likely want to leave these stamps in the brocure -- rather than pulling them out and putting them into a separate album.  So, this particular commemorative addistion comes with two sheets.

All in all, colorful and interesting to look at. Stamp collecting, much like collecting comic books, can be seen as an investment. Stamps are always at least worth face value, and their value only increases as time moves on and scarcity becomes a thing. This whole Xuan Zang mini set cost me 20 RMB at China Post in Changzhou. That's roughly somewhere between three and four dollars. So, I get the feeling that I am getting by the collector's bug and will start looking more into collecting stamps while I am living in Asia.