These "Year of the Rat" stamps were issued on February 8, 1996, in San Francisco, California. Artist, Clarence Lee, of Honolulu, HI, created a distinctively modern and Chinese design with a paper-cut two dimensional look. A professional calligrapher, Lau Bun, wrote Kanji characters to state the name of each stamp on the left side. Kanji is a Japanese adaptation to Chinese characters and can 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.
These "Year of the Rat" stamps were issued on February 8, 1996, in San Francisco, California. Artist, Clarence Lee, of Honolulu, HI, created a distinctively modern and Chinese design with a paper-cut two dimensional look. A ...
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