East Turkestan 2013 Ron Hubbard's ships set.
East Turkestan celebrates L. Ron Hubbard.
Starting in the 20th century, Uyghur separatists and their supporters used
East Turkestan (or Uyghurstan) for the former
Xianjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They reject the name of
Xinjiang (Sinkiang) because of a Chinese perspective reflected in the name and prefer
East Turkestan to emphasize connection to other westerly Turkic groups. However, even in nationalist writing,
East Turkestan retains its older, more narrow geographical meaning.
East Turkestan’s first stamp issue, on March 13th, 2013, celebrates the 102nd birthday of the renowned science-fiction author and philosopher,
L. Ron Hubbard.
Born on 13th March 1911, he developed a self-help system called dianetics, which was first published in 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals called scientology. His writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology, addressing such subjects as business administration, literacy, and drug rehabilitation.
He was an officer in the US Navy during World War II, where he commanded two ships. As a lieutenant, he served aboard the USS
Algol (shown on the
500y stamp) from 2 December 1943 to 28 September 1944. He was part of her commissioning crew and served as the ship’s navigation and training officer as well as the Chief Ship’s Censor.
Apart from writing numerous acclaimed science-fiction books (including the classic
Battlefield Earth, an epic set in the year 3000 AD, which was later made into a movie starring John Travolta), he was a pioneering explorer, world traveller, and nuclear physicist, with expertise in a wide range of disciplines including photography, art, poetry, and philosophy.
In 1967, he established the
Sea Org, with three ships, the
Diana, the
Athena, and the
Apollo (the latter shown on the
2500y stamp), and he lived at sea for much of the next few years. The
Sea Org moved to land bases in 1975.
Hubbard is the
Guinness World Record holder for the most published author, with 1,084 works, most translated book (70 languages for
The Way to Happiness) and most audiobooks (185 as of April 2009). According to Galaxy Press,
Hubbard's
Battlefield Earth has sold over 6 million copies and
Mission Earth a further 7 million, with each of its ten volumes becoming
New York Times bestsellers on their release.
The stamps are printed in
small miniature sheets of 8, with four of each value.
?? reproducing the poster exhibition.
"I don't have a lot - But I like what I got" 
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