Zodiac stamp hisses history and flicks festivity (2)

The color of the snake is red because, as Wu explained, a red snake is highly auspicious. There are five kinds of flowers over the body of the snake, including peach blossoms for spring, lotus flowers for summer, chrysanthemum in autumn and plum blossom to show the harmony and the auspicious sign of the four seasons. It also includes peony to reflect Chinese character.

Xu Kai, a senior stamp collector, said he was impressed by the rich content of Chinese traditional culture and the cute design. "The design is cartoonized and lovely," Xu told the Global Times, "particularly in comparison with the realistic painting of zodiac animal stamps from other countries, which look horrible."

Wu told the Global Times that he embarked on the design since last April and May and has produced five versions of the stamp in total. "The stamp should embody auspice and jollity, which is the main guiding theory, but there are different languages to express it," Wu said.

"They picked this one probably because it expresses the auspice and festive mood the most," he said. He has revised his designs several times amid the evaluation of experts invited by China Post.

"It is a big challenge," said Wu, "The snake is more difficult to design compared to other zodiac animals because of its long shape and there is little to exploit about its colors." He added that the snake attracts much less attention and is a zodiac animal of small popularity.

Festive atmosphere

Since 1980 when China issued its first zodiac animal stamp, China has issued over two rounds of such stamps in the past 32 years. Besides their popularity among collectors, the zodiac animal stamps have become a cultural symbol that adds to the festive atmosphere of China's celebration of the Lunar New Year.

According to Yan Bingwu, director of the editing and design department of the Postage Stamp Printing Bureau, China Post recruits from artists and designers nationwide every year for good ideas. "These artists are mostly artists from art institutes and universities that are specialized in designing and decorative art," he told the Global Times. The bureau invites over 10 artists annually and sometimes chooses artists based on the nature of different animals.

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