China will issue a five-stamp set featuring five lighthouses along the country's coast this coming Saturday.

The five beacons are: Maota Lighthouse at Qingpu, Shanghai; Shuangta Lighthouse at Jiangxingyu, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province; Huaniaoshan Lighthouse at Shengsi, Zhejiang Province; Laotieshan Lighthouse at Lushun, Dalian City, northeast China's Liaoning Province; and Lingao Lighthouse, Hainan Province.

Each of the five stamps will have a face value of 80 fen (about 0.96 US cents), said Wen Xingyuan, head of Hainan Provincial Post Administration.

The five beacons, which were included by the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) in May 1997 on a world list of 100 historical lighthouses, are still in service, and Maota Lighthouse is the oldest, with a history of 870 years.

Shuangta Lighthouse at Jiangxingyu, Wenzhou, with a height of 48 meters, is the highest, and Lingao Lighthouse, with a history of 108, is the only beacon of the five made of steel.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2002)