A special stamp was issued on Wednesday to commemorate China's rescission of the agricultural tax, the State Post Bureau said.

First-day covers, jointly designed and printed by the China National Philatelic Corporation and the Beijing Stamp Company, will also be on sale from the same day.

China's long-standing agricultural tax was rescinded on January 1, 2006, after China's top legislature made the decision to rescind it on February 29, 2005.

The gap between urban and rural areas has widened in recent years and issues concerning agriculture, the countryside and farmers have become urgent tasks for the Chinese government.

In 2005, the Chinese government vowed to construct a "new countryside" so as to narrow the gap between city and countryside. Experts said the abolition of the agricultural tax was only one of the important steps to that effect.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2006)