Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, artist Clarence Lee was selected to design the first Chinese lunar stamp, the "Year of the Rooster." Issued on December 30, 1992 in San Francisco, the stamp met with such success that he continued to design the stamps for the rest of the 12-year series. When designing this first stamp of the series, Lee created a distinctively modern and Chinese design, hence the paper-cut two dimensional look. On each stamp of the series, a professional calligrapher wrote Kanji characters to state the name of each stamp. Kanji is a Japanese adaptation to Chinese characters and can often be read by a variety of Asian groups from differing countries and cultures. The Chinese lunar cycle is based on a 12 year repeating cycle. According to legend, the signs of the Zodiac were determined when Buddha invited all the animals of the kingdom for a meeting. Only 12 animals showed up: the rooster, dog, boar, rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram and monkey. Buddha gave each animal its own year; thus, it is believed that people will possess the nature and characteristics of the animal that represents the year in which they are born.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, artist Clarence Lee was selected to design the first Chinese lunar stamp, the "Year of the Rooster." Issued on December 30, 1992 in San Francisco, the stamp met with such success that he continued t...
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