What’s the story behind the commemorative stamps given to Vucic by “A friend comes from afar”?
On the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Serbia, on May 7, local time, China Central Radio and Television and Serbian National Radio and Television jointly organized the "China and Serbia are like neighbors for thousands of miles" cultural exchange event in Belgrade. On the day of the event, commemorative stamps with the theme "Friends Come from Afar" were released. Earlier, when a reporter from the main station had an exclusive interview with Serbian President Vucic, he also presented him with this set of commemorative stamps.
Headquarters reporter Li Yaoyang: The commemorative stamps I have in my hand are freshly produced, and they still smell like paper and ink. In addition to the flower pattern on the envelope, what is particularly eye-catching is the phrase "Friends are coming from afar" in Chinese and Serbian. There are 3 sets of 15 stamps in total. How many key processes are involved in making such a commemorative stamp? The story behind it naturally starts with the post office.
Serbian postal service has a history of more than 180 years, with the first stamp printed in 1866.
Serbian Post has issued thousands of sets of stamps. This time, with the participation of the main station, what sparks will be created?
Sofronijevic, head of the philatelic department of the Serbian Post Office: These stamps show the friendship between the two peoples, and we are lucky to have this kind of friendship. At this moment, two great leaders, the President of China and the President of Serbia, will find a way to lead this great friendship and bring the cooperation between the two economies, the two cultures, science and sports to an all-time high level. Making stamps is always full of challenges. Our friends at China Central Radio and Television and our friends at the China Cultural Center, our long-term collaborator in stamp production, helped us overcome these obstacles, which was also a "sweet pain".
Zhang Ying, Taiwanese reporter in Belgrade: These three stamps represent historical dialogue, joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and cultural exchanges respectively.
Headquarters reporter Li Yaoyang: I see a Chinese peony on one side. Is the other one the national flower of Serbia?
Zhang Ying, Belgrade-based reporter: Yes, the national flower of Serbia is called "Phoenix Flower". This is the final rendering.
Headquarters reporter Li Yaoyang: There is "Friends from afar" printed here in Chinese and Serbian. It comes from Confucius's "The Analects". Who wrote this word?
Zhang Ying, Taiwanese reporter in Belgrade: At that time, we discussed which artist’s work to use, and the final choice was Yan Zhenqing’s regular script.
Designer Nikolic: I can’t express it exactly, but I feel like the friendship between our two countries, somehow, we are happy from the bottom of our hearts. Commemorative stamps are a friendly way to enjoy. I'm really happy with the way we created this stamp set and how it turned out. We will continue with scanning and other processes before sending it to printing.
Headquarters reporter Li Yaoyang: Every inch must be printed with exquisite patterns, and each one must be exactly the same. Therefore, the printing process of stamps reflects the printing level of a country to a certain extent. A machine like this can print 150,000 stamps in one hour.
Miglinci, Head of the Stamps and Valuables Department of the Serbian Printing House: After each sheet of paper is counted and punched, we return to the printing shop and start working by hand. The manual work is the most complicated, and it can "find faults" with the stamps. After three counts and inspections, the stamps are manually numbered, which is another inspection. After that comes packaging, polishing, stickers affixed to the stamps inside the package, and sending to Belgrade. This is an unprecedented release, and the number "577" is specially given to Serbian President Vucic.
Djordjevic, Director of the Serbian Post Office: I think the "iron friendship" between Serbia and China will reach a higher level, and we still have a lot of room for cooperation. Serbia is far away from China, but our hearts are very close.