Scott No: 2131
Serial number: T124
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: January 5, 1988
Denomination: 8 fen
Designers: Zu Tianli
Engraver: Qun Feng
Size of stamps: 26*31mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 80(10*8)
Printing process: Engraving and photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

T124 "Wuchen Year" special stamp was issued on January 5, 1988. The set consists of 1 stamp, printed by photogravure combined with engraving, with a stamp size of 26 × 31 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, and 80 stamps per sheet (8 × 10). Designed by Zu Tianli, engraved by Yan Bingwu, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory.

Theme of the Set

This is the ninth stamp of the first round of zodiac stamps, for the Wuchen Dragon Year. The dragon is a totem of the Chinese nation, symbolizing auspiciousness, power, and soaring progress, and carrying cultural meanings revered by the Chinese people. The stamp continues the first round's creative approach of rooting zodiac stamps in folk art, drawing on the expressive techniques of folk New Year pictures and folk decorations, and using a festive decorative dragon image to welcome the new year and invite blessings, expressing the beautiful wishes for favorable weather and national peace and prosperity. It is in the same vein as the preceding and following stamps of the first zodiac round.

Stamp Design and Historical Background

Wuchen Year

The main subject of the design is a brightly colored decorative golden dragon, with its head raised high and its body coiled, full and rounded in form. The dragon's body has a yellow base color, paired with red, green, blue, and other folk patterns; the scales, whiskers, and claws are all artistically exaggerated, weakening the majestic and fierce temperament of myth and making the dragon friendly and festive. The dragon image is drawn from traditional folk cloth dragons and New Year picture dragons, full of rustic folk flavor.

Artistic Design Features

The design adopts a folk decorative New Year picture style. With the photogravure-plus-engraving process, the engraved lines are solid and clear, and the colors are rich and bright. The forms are naive and exaggerated, with a strong decorative quality, and the background is clean, highlighting the main image of the dragon. Different from realistic dragon imagery, it emphasizes the expression of folk symbols and is one of the most recognizable stamps in the first round of zodiac stamps.