The first “2021 China Post Cultural Festival” and the launch of the Year of Renyin (also called the Year of the Tiger) new philatelic products kicked off in Beijing on November 19. Liu Aili, Chairman of the China Post Group Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as China Post Group), gave instructions that China Post should function as the defender and disseminator of traditional Chinese culture and social civilization and help the vast philatelists enjoy the zodiac cultural feast. Kang Ning, Vice President of China Post Group, attended the ceremony and announced the official launch of the “China Post Cultural Festival”. China Post Group unveiled the much anticipated stamp booklet and format II of the Year of Renyin, as well as other New Year zodiac philatelic products such as the 2022 philatelic calendar which contains stories related to the selected stamps, traditional zodiac philatelic products of the Year of Renyin, zodiac precious metal products and cultural and creative products.

The launch of “China Post Cultural Festival” and the New Year philatelic products aims to satisfy people’s thirst for fine traditional culture, enhance China Post’s ability to supply cultural services and further display the new image and achievements of China Post to the society, Liu Aili pointed out. Lasting for more than 40 years, the philatelic zodiac culture has received highly recognition and unanimous favorable comment from the great mass of the people and has connected the traditional culture with contemporary quality life. China Post should make use of the New Year zodiac project and take the festive season as an opportunity to introduce zodiac culture into the market so that the philately lovers can enjoy the cultural feast.

The theme of the first China Post Cultural Festival is “A Different Winter for You and Me”, with six themed activities: letter writing culture, book reading culture, philatelic culture, creative culture, revolutionary culture and the Olympic culture. The culture season will last for three months, during which activities like free reading of bestsellers, stamp live streaming, fun letter writing and China Post cultural and creative competition will be held with means of digital technology. The Cultural Festival will help Chinese excellent culture walk into people’s lives through the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture.

The technical highlights of the Year of Renyin stamp booklet and the features of the New Year zodiac philatelic products were introduced in detail at the launch ceremony, and at the same time, zodiac post offices (which refer to the post offices that have close relations with Chinese zodiac) of the Year of the Tiger and blessing post offices were also announced. 

The design of the Year of Renyin stamp booklet, original and ingenious, perfectly conveys the message of prosperity and auspiciousness through the shape and bearing of the tiger. In addition, the booklet presents breakthroughs in five aspects: the display of color overlay for the first time, the use of block of stamps in the booklet for the first time, the use of foldout pages from both left and right side for the first time, a fluorescent anti-counterfeiting code for each stamp for the first time and the use of tactile oil varnishing technique for the first time.

The 2022 philatelic calendar “Chinese Historical and Cultural Figures on Stamps” contains 141 sets of 442 stamp manuscripts. They present 138 Chinese historical and cultural figures who have appeared on stamps, their related stories and works according to the historical context. Digital contents are added to the calendar too. Customers can log onto the column “Philately Calendar” on WeChat mini-program “Encyclopedia of China Philately and Stamps” to read more introduction to the figures. Customers can also take part in interaction online, create personalized e-calendar to share with their friends and relatives.

Apart from two traditional philatelic products, a zodiac culture monograph and a zodiac stamp album, the highly anticipated zodiac precious metal products and cultural and creative products were launched too at the ceremony. It is reported that the gold stamps of the Year of Renyin have combined the cutting-edge technologies. The miniature anti-counterfeiting technology is adopted, so the miniaturized product number of the gold stamp can be seen under a high-power microscope. What’s more, the number can be traced through NFC and blockchain. In terms of cultural and creative products, this year, China National Philatelic Company Limited cooperated with the well-known IP named “I’m not a plump tiger” to develop the New Year gift pack and the bracelet. The New Year gift pack has the image of a plump tiger as the design element, which integrates the little tiger’s cute and adorable appearance with Chinese Spring Festival, combining multi purposes of play, appreciation, collection and use. The bracelet is made of 1.02g pure gold 999 and with 3D hard gold technology. At the same time, the product contains a special stamp sheetlet 2022-1 of the Year of Renyin.

New Year Gift Pack

In order to enhance the interest, knowledge and extensibility of philately and support the issue of the Year of the Tiger zodiac stamps, China Post announced 54 carefully-selected zodiac tiger post offices and blessing post offices. Philatelists can go to these post offices to experience the charm of the zodiac culture on site.

Customers can order these products from December 5 at the designated postal outlets of China Post, the philatelic shops, the philatelic mall online, the China Post App, and the flagship stores of China National Philatelic Corporation on Tmall and JD.