Year 2023 is the year of rabbit. On 5 January, Kuimao year special stamp launch ceremony was held at China Post Nantong branch.

On the early morning, at the gate of China Post Nantong branch, stamp collectors were queuing up. Some stamp collectors who already purchased the special stamp were sticking stamps and putting commemorative stamps on first-day covers, preparing to mail to relatives and friends. Citizen Mr. Xia is a member of Nantong staff philatelic association. This year he came on early morning, queued and purchased a set. ‘I have collected zodiac stamps for more than 20 years. It can be considered a tradition of the new year.’

Kuimao year special stamp is the 8th set in the 4th round of Chinese zodiac stamps. It was designed by Mr. Huang Yongyu, famous artist and ‘father of monkey stamp’. There are two stamps in the set. The first one is called ‘kui mao ji fu’, an intelligent mao rabbit who has a pen in right hand and letter in left hand in blue colour which represents childhood was pictured. The second one is called ‘tong yuan gong sheng’, the picture shows the scene of 3 rabbits running non-stop, each tail is close to the head of the next rabbit. The design inspiration is from Dunhuang fresco ‘three rabbits that share ears’.

The first time Huang Yongyu created zodiac stamp was Gengshen year monkey stamp in 1980. After that, he got an honored name ‘father of monkey stamp’. It was also the 1st zodiac stamp released after PRC was established. After 36 years, the fourth round zodiac stamp Bingshen year monkey stamp was Huang Yongyu’s second time to design zodiac stamp.

The number of circulation of Kuimao year stamp in Nantong is 13200 sets. The face value of one set is 2.4 yuan.

By Wang Weili