An Expensive Red China Stamp

A BBC News report revealed that a Chinese stamp issued in 1968 that was pulled out from circulation immediately after it was released after authorities found out that the map of Taiwan was not included in the China map was sold for a considerable amount.

An unidentified buyer picked the stamp at an auction in Hong Kong for HK$3.68m (US$475,000 / £290,000).

“The Whole Country is Red” stamp features a worker holding a book that shows Mao Zedong's quotations with a red map of China in the background. Taiwan was left uncolored by the designer Wang Wei Sheng.

“For a long time I was really worried that I would be jailed,” he adds “Officials told me that it was a really big mistake, but in the end nothing happened."

Lucky for Wang, he was not punished for his mistake.

Taiwan split from China in 1949 after the end of a civil war, China has always claimed that Taiwan is a renegade province of its own.