An exclusive stamp collection for the Beijing Games will be issued on April 30, to mark the 100-day countdown to the world's largest sporting event.
The "Official World-Wide Postage Stamp Collection for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad", an official product of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will include Olympic stamps from about 150 participating countries and National Olympic Committees, making it the largest and most complete collection of its kind.
"Olympic stamps and related Olympic philately is the only exclusive cultural and financial companion of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement," IOC President Jacques Rogge said in the preface to the collection.
"They represent the national Olympic vision, the pride of participating in the Games and national art related to the Games. The collection will also tell the philatelic history of past games and details of each participating NOC."
He said the harbingers of the first Olympiad in 1896 were the Olympic stamps that brought the message of a renovated Olympic Games to all four corners of the world. This tradition grew and today more than 100 countries and IOC territories will commemorate the Beijing Games.
The collection will demonstrate the 100-year history of the modern Olympic Movement, with stories and pictures of famous athletes, memorable moments, Olympic landmark venues, posters, torches and medals.
IOC, BOCOG, China Post, China National Philatelic Corporation (CNPC) and related local organizations are jointly publishing the collection. It has taken over three years to gather the stamps and other resources.
CNPC will issue 30,000 copies at 29,800 yuan ($4,257) each to the public. The reservation period starts on April 10.
