Guan Yu (died 220), courtesy name Yunchang, was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty, who played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the dynasty and the establishment of the state of Shu Han, founded by Liu Bei, in the Three Kingdoms period. He was deified as early as the Sui dynasty and is still worshipped by many Chinese people today, especially in southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among many overseas Chinese communities.
He is a figure in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism, and small shrines to Guan are almost ubiquitous in traditional Chinese shops and restaurants. He is often reverently called Guan Gong (Lord Guan) and Guan Di (Emperor Guan). In the Western world, Guan Yu is sometimes called the Taoist God of War. Traditionally, he is portrayed as a red-faced warrior with a long lush beard, and is respected as an epitome of loyalty and righteousness.
As one of the best known Chinese historical figures throughout East Asia, Guan's true life stories have largely given way to fictionalised ones, most of which are found in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms or passed down the generations, in which his deeds and moral qualities have been lionised. He appears also in Chinese operas such as Huarong Trail, Red Cliffs, and other excerpts from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of a series of stamps for Greeting Card, issued on August 8, 2013:
• Plain Sailing (0.80 CNI)
• Brilliant (1.20 CNI) - It's on the postcard 2550
• Best Wishes (2.40 CNI)
• A Family Letter Reporting Peace (3.00 CNI)
About the second stamp I don't know anything. The following two stamps are part of the first set of the series Ming and Qing Dynasty Furniture, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of a set of two, belonging to the series Protecting the common homeland of mankind, about which I wrote here.
References
Guan Yu - Wikipedia
Sender: Luna / lunaii (postcrossing) CN 1471507
Sent from Hefei (Anhui / China), on 11.09.2014
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