Traditional Chinese festivals

 

 

To  commemorate  traditional Chinese festivals, Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of four stamps featuring the Chinese New Year, the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The designs of the stamps follow:

1. The Chinese New Year (NT＄5): Chinese New Year is characterized by auspicious celebrations that symbolize the idea of the old giving way to the new. The stamp features fireworks to convey a sense of joy and fruitfulness. It also shows traditional New Year's calligraphic couplets, with chun (the character for spring) on one side of the door, and fu (the character for good fortune) on the other. These convey the idea that "with spring comes good fortune."

2. The Lantern Festival (NT＄5): The Lantern Festival is like a mini Chinese New Year. Every household celebrates and hangs decorative lanterns. The stamp features a traditionally styled lantern, glutinous rice balls, and wooden red flip-flops representing that everything comes in pairs. The design is meant to convey the idea of blessings coming as families gather to celebrate the holiday.

3. The Dragon Boat Festival (NT＄10): Dragon boat races and eating zongzi are the two activities most representative of the Dragon Boat Festival. It is a folk tradition to hang sweet sedge and Asian mugwort over the door to one's house so as to ward off insect infestations. It is also customary to wear sachets of fragrant herbs dangling from one's waist and to drink realgar wine as a way of praying for peace and safety.

4. The Mid-Autumn Festival (NT＄25): "The moon is full and the people united." The Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday that celebrates reunions. The stamp features a shiny, bright moon and the Jade Hare and Lady Chang'e accompanying each other in the Palace of the Moon. The moon cakes symbolize the beauty of the clan being whole and united.

Wild Mushrooms on stamps…

 

Date of Issue : 23 March 2012

Chunghwa Post released a set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet on wild Mushrooms. Four species of mushroom which are  found at mid-altitudes are featured on these stamps. The following species are featured on the stamps…

1. Amanita rubrovolvata (NT＄5): The mushroom has an orange to red cap (pileus). The mushroom's central stem (stipe) is cream to pale orange-yellow in color. The stem has a ring (annulus) on its upper half and a large basal bulb. It can often be found in mixed forests at mid-altitudes. This mushroom is poisonous.

 

2.Entoloma murraii (NT＄5): The mushroom has a pale to bright yellow conical cap and a bright yellow cylindrical stem. The stem is central and supports the cap in the middle. This small, soft mushroom can often be found in forests in low to mid-altitude areas during summer and fall.

3.Geastrum sessile (NT＄12): The mushroom has a ball-shaped fruiting body. At maturity, the outer layer of the fruiting body splits open to create a star-like effect. This mushroom can often be seen in broadleaf forests at mid-altitudes.

4.Clavulinopsis miyabeana (NT＄12): At first, the fruiting body of this mushroom resembles a red or pink smooth cylinder. By maturity, the fruiting body has become a sharp spindle with a paler tip. It can often be found in clumps among fallen leaves in coniferous or broadleaf forests at mid-altitudes during summer and fall. At first glance, the mushroom resembles a flame on the forest ground.

Valentine’s Day stamps from Taiwan..

 

 

Date of Issue : 10 February 2012

Valentine’s Day is awaited by the lovers all over the world. Here is a beautiful set to be issued by Taiwan Post on 10 February for this year’s Valentine’s Day !!

Valentine's Day on February 14 is a much-celebrated holiday among young people. To encourage people to express their love through letters, Chunghwa Post is issuing another set of two stamps and a souvenir sheet (Issue of 2012) with roses as motifs. The designs follow: 
1. NT$12 stamp: A pink rose symbolizes first love and courting, as well as friendliness and a graceful upbringing. This stamp features a pink rose in full bloom to convey unrestrained passion.
2. NT$25 stamp: An orange rose bud reveals the reticence of first love. The vignette of this stamp brings warmth and joy to one's heart.

3. Souvenir sheet: Within the heart-shaped stamp are two pale orange roses which signify mutual love and affection. The pink background along with the wordings "Happy Valentine's Day" offers blessings to all of the world's lovers.

The two stamps are designed as a se-tenant gutter pair. Embossing and spot varnish techniques are employed in printing. The gutter, featuring two hearts shot through with Cupid's arrow, symbolizes mutual love. A six-color tag with another two additional marks indicating embossing and varnishing effects are printed on marginal inscription. The souvenir sheet is printed in scented ink—a first for Chunghwa Post. 

Press Clippings

: Ashwani Dubey - Gorakhpur

New stamps on Railways..

 

To mark the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Alishan Forest Railway  , Chunghwa Post (Taiwan Post) is issuing a souvenir sheet.

Hi ! Here is a beautiful souvenir sheet to be issued by Taiwan post and just wish to share with all of you. It is a wonderful item for the collectors of Railways and Tourism themes. Now I am on way to Bhubaneshwar to attend stamp fair  and pleased to write about this souvenir sheet  on Railways while travelling in train.. Well a Post on Railways from the train…Just for you !!

The souvenir sheet has a bright color scheme with mountains and a route map in the background. Four different trains are featured. One of the two stamps features one train pulled by a No.31 steam engine passing through flowering cherry trees (NT$25); and the other, headed by a diesel engine, is coming out of the No.1 tunnel (NT$5). Elsewhere on the sheet there is a train on the No.13 Bridge over the Niuchou River and a train being pulled by the No. 25 steam engine.

100th Anniversary of the Alishan Forest Railway Stamp

Alishan, with its beautiful natural scenery and rich ecological resources, is a world famous tourist destination. The Beimen to Erwanping section of Alishan Forest Railway officially opened to traffic on December 25, 1912. Along with the mountain's sacred trees, sunrise, sunset, and sea of clouds, the railway is one of the "Five Wonders of Alishan." The Alishan Forest Railway was once a very busy train track because of logging on the mountain. With changes to Taiwan's economic structure, the railway's role has shifted from a transporter of lumber to a cultural asset with its scenic spots and historical architecture dating from a century ago.

New stamps on Railways from Taiwan

 

 

 

Date of Issue : 12 November 2011

Chunghwa Post ( Taiwan Post )  issued a set of five stamps on railway branch lines. These stamps are  printed in the format of a vertical se-tenant .

 

11.11.11 covers

 

Received these nice 11.11.11 Covers created by Prof VS Yalvigi, Bangalore

Special Covers : SURPEX 2011

 

: Prashant Pandya. Vadodara

New stamp on Facial Tattoo from Taiwan…

Date of Issue : 1 August 2011

Few days back I wrote about Body Tattoo stamp from Papua New Guinea. Here is another new stamp on facial tattoos issued by  Taiwan Post. Though this theme is not very common on stamps, issued by other countries but it seems that other nations will also issue stamps on this new theme which has become a part of fashion  today all over  the world.

To increase understanding of the culture of facial tattoo, which is gradually disappearing, Chunghwa (Taiwan) Post  issued a stamp with a denomination of NT$25 on facial tattoos on August 1, 2011.  The stamp features a tattooed Atayal woman weaving against the background of Mt. Dabajian. The Atayals produce excellent woven goods, and only women who are skilled weavers are entitled to wear facial tattoos.

In the early days of the tribal society of the Atayal, an aboriginal people of Taiwan, decorative facial tattoos were customarily stained on tribal members’ faces during solemn rituals. Men tattooed one or more vertical lines on their forehead and chins, whereas women tattooed one or more vertical lines on their foreheads as well as V shapes on their cheeks, extending from their ears to their lips. The traditional Atayal facial tattoo is fraught with social meaning. Apart from being symbols of glory, these tattoos demonstrate tribal identity, convey that their bearers have reached adulthood, and serve as badges of bravery and talent.

Tattoo….centuries old art

A tattoo is body art made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification purposes. The first written reference to the word, "tattoo" (or Samoan "Tatau") appears in the journal of Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Captain Cook's ship the HMS Endeavour in 1769: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition".

Tattooing has been practiced for centuries worldwide. The Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, traditionally had facial tattoos. Today one can find Berbers of Tamazgha (North Africa), Māori of New Zealand, Hausa people of Northern Nigeria, Arabic people in East-Turkey and Atayal of Taiwan with facial tattoos. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples and among certain tribal groups in the Taiwan, Philippines, Borneo, Mentawai Islands, Africa, North America, South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, Japan, Cambodia, New Zealand and Micronesia. Despite some taboos surrounding tattooing, the art continues to be popular in many parts of the world.

Read More….

Club News

From J & K Postal Circle

Stamp exhibition in Leh starts today…

Philately Exhibition, Leh : 2 to 5 Sep 2011

J & K Postal Circle is organising Philately Exhibition at Leh from 2 to 5 Sep 2011 at Polo Grounds Leh.  80 frames of philately materials will be on display with special focus on 'stamps of Buddha' . Five special covers will be released during this exhibition.  Dealers and philatelists may get in touch with Supdt of Post offices Leh( 09419286636)  or with Chief PMG’s office, J & K, Srinagar  for their participation in the exhibition or for getting the special covers

Release of Special covers on 'Launch of Floating Post office cum Museum'

To mark 'Launch of Floating Post office cum Museum' , Department of Posts has brought out two Special Covers on Dal Lake  .  The special covers portray the amazing splendor and magnificence of Dal Lake along with pictorial cancellation on launch of Floating post office cum Museum .  The special covers were released by Dr Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister J&K and Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy. With this, the tourists visiting the Floating Post office  will get the unique ‘pictorial cancellation’ with Dal Lake backdrop on their  letters. No doubt, this will be a memorable souvenir  in memory of their  visit to Kashmir.

Floating Post Office, Srinagar sells the special covers issued in this regard. Orders can be placed with Sr.Post Master Srinagar GPO or with Philately division, Chief PMG Office, Srinagar, J & K

State level Philately exhibition at Srinagar, J&K : 26 to 28 Sep 2011

Jammu & Kashmir circle is organising 250 frame Philately exhibition at SKICC Auditorium in Srinagar from 26 to 28 Sep 2011. A large number of philatelists across India are likely to participate in this important event. Apart from the stamp exhibits, the Department is organising Stamp design contest, Letter writing contest and quiz program for the school students and college students. Dealers and philatelists may get in touch with Sr Post Master Srinagar GPO ( 09419736634)  or with Chief PMG’s office, J &K, Srinagar for their participation in the exhibition or for getting the special covers