Taiwan Post Co (台灣郵政) has announced it will issue a special commemorative set of stamps featuring four important figures associated with Taiwan's democracy movement -- Lei Chen (雷震), Fu Cheng (
It will be the first time that Taiwanese stamps have featured political dissidents.
According to the unwritten rules of Taiwan Post Co, except for the president and vice president, images of notable figures cannot be used on stamps unless they are highly regarded individuals who have passed away.
Previous commemorative stamps featuring notable figures have included Confucius, Mencius, national pioneers and activists in the resistance movements against Japanese rule.
Lei Chen was a democracy activist who was charged with sedition for publishing the opposition Free China Fortnightly (
Fu Cheng a founder of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was jailed for three years for helping to found the China Democracy Party and advocating constitutional reform. He was also involved in the establishment of Formosa magazine (
Kuo Yu-hsin was a political activist for Taiwan's democratic reform whose initiatives included the formation of an opposition party, direct presidential elections, nationalization of the armed forces, clear separation of state and party coffers and the establishment of a new national title.
Huang Hsin-chieh is considered one of the prime initiators of the political reform movement that gave the nation its democratic system. He was a major figure in the transition from martial law to democracy.
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