Scott No: 2687-88
Serial number: 1996-14
Values in set: 2
Date of issue: June 25, 1996
Designers: Huang Li
Size: 40*30mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 50
Printing process: gravure

A nation has to fight for land in order to survive and a society has to develop and exploit land in order to prosper, and therefore, land exploitation and exploration constitutes the development of human history.

Land the source of all production and life, is of vital importance to the development of a country or nation. China feeds 22 percent of the world's population on 7 percent of the world¡¯s arable land. In this sense, land for China is compared to an overloaded ship.

The country has attached great importance to the rational use of land resources and the protection of arable land. One of State's three basic policies is to "treasure and make rational use of every inch of land, and practically protect arable land". In 1986, the State issued a circular to strengthen the administration of land resources and curb the rampant occupation of arable land, and set up the State Bureau of Land Administration, engaging in the unified management of the national land the rural and urban land affairs. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reviewed and promulgated in the same year the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China.

The years since the issue of the land administration law China has made marked achievements in its management over land resources. However, the country still faces the severe shortage of land resources and as the population increasingly grows, the contradiction between land and people becomes more conspicuous. On the other hand, the arable land decreases because of the non-agricultural construction, especially the expansion of cities and their development zones Meanwhile the agricultural structure readjustment also leads to the decline of land Statistics indicate that during the Eighth Five-year Plan period (1991-1995), the arable land in China decreased by more than 20 million mu (1.33million hectares), 4.07 million mu down each year.

"Let's protect the arable land for the survival of our next generations". We should cherish the land as if it were gold, and join hands together to make full use of the land which is so valuable.