China issues Olympic commemorative stamps

Ever since Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympic, stamps on the Olympic theme have enjoyed great popularity among Chinese philatelists. A new set of six stamps released Thursday by China Post generated long queues as stamp collectors swarmed to buy the set. The new stamps portray Beijing's main Olympic venues.

Early morning, Thursday in Beijing: Stamp collectors are queued in lines as long as several hundred meters.

The stamps are limited editions. Each person is to be allowed just one set. For this, many have endured waits of two or three hours, waiting for the doors open at 8:30.

The face value of the stamps totals 8.6 yuan. That's about one US dollar and 20-cents. The stamps feature the National Gymnasium, the China Agricultural University Gymnasium, the Beijing University Gymnasium, the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, the Laoshan Velodrome and the National Swimming Center, also known as the Water Cube.

A six-yuan commemorative cover, showing the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, was issued along with the stamps.

This is the fourth set of commemorative Olympic stamps China has issued. Beijing earned the right to host the 2008 Games, in July 2001.