Japan issued (Chinese Zodiac Characters Greeting) series of stamps

2004.12.1

2005.12.3

2006.12.1

2007.12.3

2008.12.1


2008.12.1





Chinese astrology is the divination of the future from the Chinese calendar, which is based on astronomy, and ancient Chinese philosophy. In particular, it is based on the sexagenary cycle of 60 years that has been documented since at least the time of the Shang Dynasty. This basic cycle has been constructed from two cycles: the 10 heavenly stems (the five elements in their yin and yang forms) and the 12 earthly branches, or the 12-year cycle of animals referred to as the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese animal zodiac also operates on a cycle of months or 'moons' and of hours of the day.

The Chinese zodiac refers to a pure calendrical cycle; there are no equivalent constellations like those of the occidental zodiac. In imperial times there were astrologers who watched the sky for heavenly omens that would predict the future of the state, but this was a quite different practice of divination from the popular present-day methods. It spread to Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, etc.

Chinese Characters
A Chinese character, also known as a Han character (simplified Chinese: 汉字; traditional Chinese: 漢字; pinyin: Hànzì), is a logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi), Japanese (kanji), less frequently Korean (hanja), and formerly Vietnamese (hán tự).

However, the written language of the whole China is the same. No matter how different people pronounce, when they write it down, it is the same language!

The elements of forming a Chinese character are three: image(form), sound, and meaning. There are also six principles that used to define and explicate the Characters:
Pictographs
Indicatives
Ideatives
Harmonics
Transmissives
About the postage stamp background seat blank's painting, goes to here to understand--my blog: Japanese postage stamp and plastic arts .

German stamps booklet

Japanese FDC

Issue of new year's greetings mail stamp for 2009
2008,11/4

Today

Hores of the 9th Japan Cup victory (NEW　ZEALAND Stamp booklet)

New Zealand and horse racing are old acquaintances. The first thoroughbred named Figaro arrived in the country in 1840. However, the first recorded race in New Zealand was in 1835 in the Bay of Islands.
The “Sport of Kings” is a well recognised feature of New Zealand life. The big meetings attract huge crowds and generate much excitement with harness racing also making a big impact along with the more established gallops. The horse racing industry that employs tens of thousands of people and New Zealand-bred yearlings attract buyers from around the world and bring in millions of dollars in export earnings annually. Six of the country's more recent crowd-pleasers are featured in this special Racehorses stamp issue.

A special miniature sheet booklet was produced in conjunction with the stamp issue incorporating seven miniature sheets - six of which contained one of the six stamps from the issue with the seventh containing all six of the Racehorse stamps.



Today, I receive Germany's registered mail. I looked at the inside thing carefully, I felt that these 3 materials are useful.

China's New Year"ShengXiao" culture --the Rat

the Special -use stamp for the rat 's marrying in its daughter to a cat

chinese pre-stamped postal card

the Special -use stamp for the rat 's marrying in its daughter to a cat

chinese pre-stamped postal card
Many countries celebrate the New Year on the first of the year.Ancient cultures often celebrated the lunar calendar.The lunar calendar in 2008 is symbolized by the Rat. the 1th animal in 12 animal cycle. such as the rat 's marrying in its daughter to a cat, is a very ancient Chinese story.

Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci was a Florentine artist, one of the great masters of the High Renaissance, celebrated as a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist.
Mona Lisa
During this second Florentine period, Leonardo painted several portraits, but the only one that survives is the famous Mona Lisa (1503-1506, Louvre), one of the most celebrated portraits ever painted.

France's stamp proofrun



France 1993. Pane of 2 x 2 se-tenant stamps in a composite design, issued in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Louvre Museum in Paris. In the middle between the stamps is a label showing Mona Lisa's eyes.

Austria's FDC

Today, I received a R-letter with some the FDCs from Austria FlorianH.Tirk friend, Once, my German friend sent for me a Liechtenstein's Venus stamp sheet/s, They will be placed together to appreciate, is very attractive.

Poland's horse cancellation

Today

Today, goes to the stamp market, has purchased these two FDCs.

The Seventh Asia--Europe Meeting(7) chinese FDC

In the current economic crisis, the ASEM7, held October 24-25 in Beijing China,was themed on "Vision and Action: Towards a Win-Win Solution".