With the year 2021 (Year of Xinchou) drawing near, China Post Group Corporation Limited (China Post Group) held a launching ceremony on November 5^th at China National Post and Postage Stamp Museum to unveil postcards bearing a lottery number and stamps specially designed for year 2021. These unveiled philatelic products are themed with zodiac ox, including ordinary postcards, maximum cards, greeting cards and stamps specially designed for greeting the year of 2021. Wang Jian, Vice President of China Post Group, Han Meilin, famous artist, Wang Huming, design director of Postage Stamp Printing Bureau, Chen Nan, doctoral supervisor of Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University, Zhang Wang, associate professor of Oriental Art Department of Nankai University, Wu Shining, member of China Arts and Crafts Association (CA&CA) , Jing Shaozong, famous picture book painter, Duan Yajie and Pan Zhenlei, winners of China Postcard Cultural Creativity and Design Contest and people from related departments of China Post Group attended the event.

Wang Jian said in his speech, the theme of the ceremony has two levels of meaning: one is that China Post bears firmly in mind the expectations of the Party and the State, serves people whole-heartedly, carries out resolutely the mission of a large state-owned enterprise, and adheres firmly to the service principle of “people’s post for people”; the other is that China Post conveys blessings, affection, warmth and love to people with traditional Chinese letters and New Year postcards as carriers.

Han Meilin shared his creative ideas with everyone at the scene. He said, the ox symbolizes dedication, diligence and bravery, and represents loyalty, industriousness and happiness so that people should be down-to-earth as an old ox, modest as a willing ox and tough as a stubborn ox. He also extended his early best wishes to people for the coming Year of Ox.

At the launching ceremony, China Post Group unveiled such products as two sets of ordinary postcards named Happy Year of Ox, two sets of maximum cards named Lucky Year of Xinchou, two sets of greeting cards, a souvenir sheet, personalized postcards and prepaid envelopes dedicated to credit card delivery.

The pictures of the postage stamps on the ordinary postcards Happy Year of Ox are designed by Wang Huming based on the papercutting works by Qi Xiuhua who was the original author of the second round zodiac ox. In the pictures, the ox, head up, is full of strength. Of the two sets of postcards, one designed by Jing Shaozong and the other by Duan Yajie and Pan Zhenlei; one is painted with watercolor and the other is hand painted with ink, with pictures being full of warmth and childhood funs, showing a strong folk characteristics of the Spring Festival. The maximum cards Lucky Year of Xinchou are designed by Han Meilin. The pictures on the front lower left corner and on the back of the card are the same as the pictures of the postage stamps. On the back of each set of postcards, there is a Chinese character in one of the corners, and the four Chinese characters form a seasonal greeting meaning congratulations on the Spring Festival. Greeting cards, named Fine Year of Ox and Blessings for the Spring Festival, designed by Zhang Wang and Wu Shining respectively, have strong and energetic bulls as the main pictures, conveying good wishes for national prosperity and people’s health. New Year stamps are named as National Prosperity and Families’ Health and Blessings for the Spring Festival. The miniature sheet consisting of the two sets of stamps takes red and golden as its main color, and integrates Chinese character “Happiness”, oracle-bone script “Door” and the element of “Doufang” (the square paper for Chinese painting and calligraphy), connoting the best blessings for the coming of the Chinese New Year.