The Whole Country is Red: Abut the famous China stamp

The Whole Country is Red is a rare Chinese stamp, that has been issued on 24 November 1968.

The interesting part, and the one that makes it so valuable, is that it contained a problem with the design. 

The stamp features a map of China with the words "The Whole Country is Red" in chinese, and it shows under the map, three workers in foreground: a worker, a farmer, and a soldier.

The three of them holding copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao.

In the back it depicts a lot of chinese people with red flags.

The problem with this? Taiwan is not shaded red. So, they quickly withdraw the stamp from the postal offices.

The official reason that the goverment has given for the withdrawal of the stamp was that the Spratly and Paracel Islands were missing from the map, and besides, the borders with Mongolia, Bhutan, and Myanmar were incorrectly drawn.

When we say that it was "quickly" removed from the public... we mean quickly. 

The stamp had been distributed for less than half a day when they noticed the problems and, as a result, all Chinese post offices had to stop selling the stamp and return all copies.

But of course a very, very few went into private collectors, and the stamp is today regarded as rare, with the last one being sold at an auction in 2014 at US$445,000 in Hong Kong.