Year of the Rabbit stamp has special meaning

A diverse crowd of several hundred people queued up in front of the Asian Art Museum on Thursday morning for a ceremony that meant more to them than just the issuance of a popular postage stamp.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced the launch of a special stamp to highlight the Year of the Rabbit, which according to the Chinese lunar calendar falls on Jan 22 and ends on Feb 9, 2024.

One of the most celebrated Chinese traditional holidays, approximately 1.5 billion people around the world observe the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival.

USPS Art Director Antonio Alcala worked on the rabbit stamp design with artist Camille Chew to create imagery inspired by decorated masks used in dragon and lion dances. The well-received stamps are available in strips of 20.

Also joining the jubilant gathering, where different languages could be heard, were San Francisco Mayor London Breed; China's Consul General in San Francisco Zhang Jianmin; and his counterparts from Indonesia and Japan; California State Treasurer Fiona Ma; Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum; and numerous elected officials from the city of San Francisco and county.

"We constantly talk about celebrations of our diversity as strengths," said Breed. "The Lunar New Year represents thousands of years of history. It is the time to promote this (Asian) community in such an extraordinary way."

Breed emphasized that San Francisco is a place where discrimination against Asians is unacceptable.

"We also know that this community has not been without challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Breed, referring to the rise in hate crimes against Asians in the past three years. Through joint efforts among many departments, organizations and volunteers, "We've seen a significant decline in the numbers of anti-Asian crimes," she said.

Breed also promoted San Francisco's Lunar New Year Parade in early February, joking that Washington and Los Angeles are not comparable in scale or popularity.

The Lunar New Year celebrations and the stamp event, said Xu, all reflect the recognition of "our community's fine integrity and essentialism to the United States. It enables us to tell more stories — our past, our present and our future."

As a stamp collector since his youth, Xu said that through the collection of artifacts such as stamps, people could strike up a conversation.

"Stamps can go everywhere and can define friendship (between different countries and cultures)," he said, adding "This stamp (of the rabbit) is for all. The Lunar New Year is for all."

Derek Kan, of the USPS Board of governors, flew from Washington to oversee the stamp's issuance.

"For more than three decades, USPS has issued stamps highlighting the Lunar New Year, and they are some of the most successful stamp releases in our history," Kan said.

Chloe Chan, a second-generation Chinese immigrant, told China Daily that the rabbit stamp is very "artistic" and worthy of her long wait in line.

She has collected every stamp the USPS has issued for the Chinese New Year celebration. Now in a big family of four generations, Chan is hopeful that her children and grandchildren observe the Lunar New Year the same way she does — with housecleaning, holiday decorations, rituals and food to honor family roots and Chinese culture.

The USPS on Dec 30, 1992, issued its first Chinese New Year stamp, for the Year of the Rooster. Created by first-time stamp designer, Clarence Lee from Honolulu, Hawaii, the unique modern, Chinese design inspired by China's traditional paper-cut look was very popular. Many post offices sold out in just a few days, and the stamp was in high demand in Asia.

The USPS released a second Lunar New Year Series starting in 2008, beginning with the Year of the Rat. That series ran until 2019.

In 2020, the third Lunar New Year Series began with a new Year of the Rat stamp.