Nanji Islands, China

for today's entry at Viridan's blog, i picked this set of mint stamps I have from China, portraying the Nanji Islands.

the stamps are just fantastic, so im pretty sure in real it is even more amazing!

Nanji Island is the main island of a group of 15 islands and islets, situated in the south-eastern waters of Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province, in south-east China. This was the first marine/coastal biosphere reserve in China. The 28 km long coastline consists of exposed bedrock and sharp cliffs, bays and islets. The biosphere reserve offers a multitude of diverse marine habitats which host a rich number of shellfish and algae species. Fifteen of the identified 403 species of shellfish have been found only in the Nanji waters. The shellfish and algae are intermittently distributed in the tropical and temperate marine realms, which makes this species-rich site even more important for conservation and scientific research. These species are concentrated in the core areas, which consist of two islets and a portion of Nanji Island and their surrounding waters, with an area of 663 hectares. The total area, including the transition area, is 20,629 hectares. The Nanji Island is divided into the Dasha’ao, the Sanpanwei and the Zhucaibaiyu scenic areas, where on the middle stamp you can see Sanpanwei, while the third stamp shows the Dasha'ao.
the first stamp shows the the famous Longchuan Reef

the stamps were issued on July 10th 2007, and each has a face value of 120 fen.

Size of stamps:  50 * 30 mm
Perforation:       13 * 12.5
Printing process: Photogravure

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