Chinese New Year stamp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Holiday stamp. (Discuss)

Several nations issue postage stamps to mark the Chinese New Year. Typically appearing in January and February, issuing countries have included China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and France.

The stamps usually depict the animal sign of that year, consisting of the sequence: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. The designs may be part of a set, or individually-designed; for instance, since 1992 the US has been issuing Chinese New Year stamps using a common design type based on colored paper cutouts of the animals.

Hong Kong was one of the first countries to issue a commemorative stamp for the lunar new year since the 1960s, but other countries have followed:

• Republic of China (Taiwan) - since 1965
• People's Republic of China - since 1980
• Singapore - Zodiac series since 1996, Festival series on-off since 1971, biannually since 2000
• United States - since 1992
• Australia - since 1994
• Canada - since 1997
• France - since 2005
• Ireland - since 1994

Most of these stamps consist of first day covers, commemorative sheets and multiple country brochures.