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International News

POLARIZING POSTAGE. A man shows a stamp featuring a dragon sold with a souvenir envelope and cachets at a post office ahead of the Lunar New Year in Huaibei, in central China’s Anhui province. The stamp designed to depict the upcoming Year of the Dragon and China’s growing confidence has been criticized as looking too ferocious. (AP Photo)

From The Asian Reporter, V22, #02 (January 16, 2012), page 5.

BEIJING (AP) — A stamp designed to mark the upcoming Year of the Dragon is drawing unusual criticism for its fang-baring monster.

The stamp went on sale in early January, drawing the heavy crowds that normally flock to buy the annual Lunar New Year stamp. But the dragon’s attacking pose on this year’s stamp has led some people to call it too ferocious.

Zhang Yihe, a renowned Chinese writer, wrote on her Sina Weibo microblog that she was "scared to death" when she first saw the red and yellow creature with scales and claws.

Another writer, Tan Xudong, called it an "incomparably ugly dragon-year stamp."

Its designer, Chen Shaohua, said he had received criticism, abuse, and support for the stamp, brought out ahead of the Lunar New Year, which is January 23. Chen has defended his design, saying the dragon should be interpreted as a symbol of China’s rising confidence.

"As a large country which has major influence in the world, China is ushering in the restoration of national confidence," he wrote on his blog.

"From sternness and divinity, to a representation of China’s self-confidence, a dragon which is tough, powerful, stern, and confident is an appropriate choice," he wrote.

According to The Global Times newspaper, Chen said his design derives from the pattern on "dragon robes" worn by Chinese emperors — whose symbol was the dragon — in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and a screen featuring dragons in a Beijing park that was a pleasure ground for the emperor.

Mythical legend claims that Chinese people are descended from the dragon and many believe it’s an auspicious symbol.

The controversial dragon stamp is already ushering in good fortune for some. One stamp seller was reportedly selling a set of 20 for $28 — much higher than the $4 face value.