《上海集邮》资深专栏作家戴定国先生在美国《林氏邮票新闻》发表介绍中国生肖邮票研究会及其历年开展生肖邮票评选活动的邮文，本博经作者授权予以披露
http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/LinnsStampNews/default.aspx
Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, New Zealand win in Year of the Dog stamp competition
By Dingguo Dai
对狗年邮票评选活动以及中国生肖邮票研究会的介绍
Stamps from Hong Kong, Liechtenstein and New Zealand won a competition for the best Year of the Dog stamps. These three postal administrations also placed first, second and third, respectively, in last year’s competition for the best Year of the Rooster stamps (Linn’s, Jan. 8, page 16).
The Chinese Shengxiao (Zodiac) Philatelic Society organized the contest. It is the ninth competition for the best Chinese zodiac stamps. Twelve philatelic media and collecting associations assist in this contest.
The contest included stamps from 74 countries or special administrative regions celebrating the Year of the Dog. The stamps were issued in late 2017 or early 2018. The Year of the Dog began Feb. 16, 2018, and will end Feb. 4, 2019.
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, follows a 12-year cycle with each year associated with one of the zodiac signs. The Dog is the 11th sign in the cycle of the Chinese zodiac calendar.
People born during the Year of the Dog are believed to possess some of the best traits of human nature, such as being smart, trustworthy and well-disciplined, with an industrious nature that makes them good leaders.
As with the competition held from 2014 to 2017, voting in the Year of the Dog competition was only open to the members of the Chinese Shengxiao Philatelic Society, and not to other stamp collectors.
The organization is China’s fastest-growing philatelic society. It has 8,026 members now, about 450 more members compared to last year.
The winning stamps were selected by society members and a jury of 26 experts. Voting took place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 20. The members and experts were asked to select not more than three best Year of the Dog stamps.
关于中国狗年生肖邮票以及对设计师周令钊的介绍
China’s Year of the Dog stamps were not eligible for top prizes because the contest focused on stamps from other countries and special administrative regions. The panel did, however, give an honorary award to China’s set of two 1.20-yuan stamps, which were issued Jan. 5, 2018. The stamps are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Renowned artist Zhou Lingzhao, 99, was honored for his 2018 Year of the Dog Lunar New Year commemorative stamps. It’s the third set in China’s zodiac series that carries the theme of “Happy Family.”
This Year of the Dog issue is the third set in the fourth series of Lunar New Year stamps of China. The theme for the fourth round of zodiac stamps is “happy family.”
The designers of the first three sets are all renowned artists in China: 92-year-old Huang Yongyu for the Year of the Monkey stamps and 80-year-old Han Meilin for the Year of the Rooster stamps.
The designer for the Year of the Dog stamps is even older. Zhou Lingzhao, 99, is probably the eldest designer in the current stamp world. Zhou is something of a legend in design circles, having led the design of China’s national emblem. At the age of 30, he and his wife, Chen Ruoju, crafted the first portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong that was hung on the Tiananmen Gate, before the inauguration ceremony of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. He also is the chief designer of the second, third and fourth sets of China’s currency.
He also designed China’s 1982 Year of the Dog stamp for the first series (Scott 1764).
Zhou still remembers his best friend in childhood, an indigenous dog his family kept in his village in central China’s Hunan province. After he was commissioned by China Post to design the recent Year of the Dog stamps, he spent about a year working on the design. One stamp in this set of two features a male black-and-white dog standing proud with its eyes straight ahead, signaling protection and prosperity.
The second stamp shows a female brown dog with her black puppy, representing family and parental love.
The two stamps are connected, signifying a peaceful, harmonious family and metaphorically, a prosperous, flourishing nation.
His daughter Zhou Rong said that compared with his first Year of the Dog stamp, this time, “he reduced the decorative elements” and adopted “a simple and true-to-life style.”
She added that her father wanted to highlight the physical features and temperament of Chinese indigenous dogs, which are often referred to as the “zhonghua tianyuan quan,” or China rural dog.
中国集邮者连夜排队购买狗年邮票的盛况
Chinese Lunar New Year stamps are still popular across the country, although few people today use stamps for postage. Many collectors — mostly middle age and elderly people — stood in lines outside post offices, willing to stay overnight to be the first buyers of the Year of the Dog stamps the next morning.
I cannot imagine such a situation and enthusiasm happening in the United States.
关于香港的狗年邮票
Figure 2. Hong Kong’s Year of the Dog set includes four stamps portraying dogs in different forms of traditional Chinese arts and crafts, from left to right: a porcelain puppy embellished with floral motifs, a jade dog sculpture, a ceramic figurine and a puppy made with seashells.
Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year stamps have won first place six times from 2012 to 2015, plus 2017 and 2018. Only the Year of the Monkey issue of 2016 placed second.
Most Chinese voters like Hong Kong’s design style of the Lunar New Year stamps. Rarely can another postal administration beat Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year stamps in this kind of contest.
A news release about the contest described Hong Kong’s Year of the Dog stamps and souvenir sheets as full of festive a t m o s p h e r e , which won the love of most Chinese stamp collectors.
Hong Kong’s Year of the Dog set issued Jan. 27 includes four stamps and three souvenir sheets. The stamps, which are shown in Figure 2, portray dogs in different forms of traditional Chinese arts and crafts: an adorable porcelain puppy embellished with floral motifs on the $2 stamp; a lifelike jade dog sculpture, $3.70; a ceramic figurine of a lovely pet dog, $4.90; and a cute puppy with a distinctive appearance created with seashells, $5.
Figure 3. A single $50 Hong Kong stamp appears on a silk souvenir sheet.
One of the three souvenir sheets from Hong Kong contains a single $10 stamp. Another is a silk souvenir sheet with a $50 stamp, shown in Figure 3, the seventh such sheet in Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year series. This sheet features a perfect match for the brightly colored glazed porcelain dog. According to the certificate of authenticity, this sheet was produced using 100 percent genuine silk made in Italy.
The third Hong Kong souvenir sheet contains two $50 stamps: a Year of the Rooster stamp printed using silver foil, and a 22-karat gold-foil Year of the Dog stamp. This sheet also is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
Hong Kong Post began issuing stamps featuring the animals of the Chinese zodiac in 1967. The 2018 Year of the Dog issue is the seventh set in the fourth series (each series continues for 12 years) of Lunar New Year stamps.
关于列支敦士登狗年邮票的介绍
Figure 4. Liechtenstein’s Year of the Dog stamp was designed as a delicate paper cut and produced using ultramodern laser technology. The stamps were sold in a dog-shaped pane of four.
Liechtenstein issued its seventh Chinese zodiac stamp Nov. 13, 2017, celebrating the Year of the Dog with a face value stamp of 2 Swiss francs.
The motif of this stamp was designed as a delicate paper cut and produced using ultramodern laser technology. The stamp is red, an homage to the color symbolizing good luck in China. All the imprints were applied in high-quality gold-foil embossing.
If you put the stamp on white paper, you can see the white background through the holes.
The stamps were sold in a dog-shaped pane of four, as shown in Figure
4. Liechtenstein Post also issued press sheets that include four dog-shaped panes.
Stefan Erne has designed all seven sets of Liechtenstein’s Chinese
Zodiac stamps.
Erne and Liechtenstein won first place in 2016 for the Year of the Monkey contest; placed third place twice in 2012 and 2015 for Year of the Dragon and Year of the Ram contests; fourth in 2013 for the Year of the Snake contest; and second place three times in 2014, 2017 and 2018 for the Years of the Horse, Rooster and Dog contests.
All seven sets of Liechtenstein’s Chinese zodiac stamps were welcomed by Chinese stamp collectors.
关于新西兰狗年邮票的介绍
Figure 5. New Zealand, which finished in third place in the contest, issued a four-stamp souvenir sheet on Jan. 10 to celebrate the Year of the Dog.
New Zealand’s Lunar New Year stamps won third place four times: in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018 for the Year of the Snake, Horse, Rooster and Dog contests, respectively; fourth in 2015 for the Year of Ram; and ninth in 2016 for the Year of Monkey.
New Zealand Post issued four stamps and a souvenir sheet for the Year of the Dog Jan. 10, 2018. Figure 5 depicts the souvenir sheet, which contains the four stamps se-tenant (side-by-side).
The stamps celebrate the multicultural nature of New Zealand. The designs were inspired not only by the Chinese folk arts but also feature Maori and Pacific design elements. For example on the $1 stamp, featuring the Chinese calligraphy for “dog,” the cloud pattern is a metaphor for good luck in Chinese and for New Zealand as “the land of the long white cloud,” according to the indigenous Maori.
The $2.20 stamp shows a paper-cut dog. The $2.70 stamp is dedicated to the working dog, which plays an important role in New Zealand sheep farming. The $3.30 stamp shows the landmark bronze statue of a Scottish sheepdog (border collie) that was erected in 1968 in Tekapo, New Zealand, as a tribute to these hard-working dogs. In the background are images of godwits, migrant birds that fly between New Zealand and China on their way to Alaska.
In addition to containing the four stamps, the souvenir sheet includes Chinese calligraphy of the 12 zodiac animals in the selvage with the dog in the upper-left corner, the same as it appears in the center of the set’s $1 stamp.
The news release about the competition said that New Zealand’s Year of the Dog stamps continue to reflect the excellent cultural link between China and New Zealand.
获得第4-10名的国家和地区以及获奖明信片
Figure 6. The front and back sides of the Chinese Shengxiao Philatelic Society’s postcard picturing the three top Year-of the Dog issues from 2018. Everyone who voted in the contest received a copy of the postcard.
Rounding out the Year of the Dog’s contest top 10 are Macau, Jersey, Canada, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, France and Japan, in fourth through 10th places, respectively.
The competition committee printed a postcard picturing the three top Year of the Dog issues, shown front and back in Figure 6. Everyone who voted in the contest received this postcard Dec. 1. It was signed by the president of the Chinese Shengxiao Philatelic Society, Zhou Zhi-hua.
《林氏》对作者戴定国的简介
Dingguo Dai is a philatelic columnist and retired chemist living in Arizona. He writes columns for the Chinese Monthly Philately, Shanghai Philately, China Philately News and Shengxiao (Chinese Lunar Zodiac) Philately. He also was a jury member for the Year of the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster and Dog stamps contests.
