On the morning of January 5, 2024, the Weifang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Weifang Postal Administration and Weifang Branch of China Post Group Co., Ltd. jointly organized the "Tianlong Xingjian Chenlong Xianrui" "Jiachen Year" zodiac stamp launch and kite-themed post office opening ceremony was held in Weifang World Kite Museum. Postage stamps of "Jiachen Year" will be sold at the event, and commemorative stamps will be stamped for collectors free of charge. The kite-themed post office has launched a postal cultural IP product with the theme of Weifang kite culture, presenting a cultural feast for the majority of philatelic enthusiasts and kite culture enthusiasts.
A set of 2 special stamps issued this time for the "Year of Jiachen". The stamp design names are Tianlong Xingjian and Chenlong Xianrui. The face value of the full set of stamps is $2.40. The number of stamps planned to be issued is 29.98 million sets, 1.8 million editions of format 2, and 4.5 million booklets. The stamp pattern draws on the cultural genes of the classic dragon image in the Chinese dynasties, combines the cultural characteristics of the zodiac and the characteristics of stamp art, and interprets the dragon image of the new era and the new historical period with the design language of graphic decoration, highlighting the cultural heritage of self-confidence and self-improvement in the new era. The first picture of the stamp, titled "Heavenly Dragon Xingjian", shows a golden dragon with its head held high, symbolizing the spirit of vigorous progress and unremitting self-improvement. Its image and posture originate from the Nine Dragons Wall of the Forbidden City, which is agile and majestic without losing its majesty. The golden dragon is decorated with auspicious flames and auspicious clouds and lined with a Chinese red background, showing a beautiful picture of auspicious celebration and auspiciousness. The whole picture and the shape of the stamp form a pattern of "the sky is round and the place is round", which is harmonious and solemn. The central jade bi has the word "auspicious" in combination, which means auspiciousness and consummation, blessing and health. The Ruyi pattern above conveys the meaning of harmony and auspiciousness, and the water pattern, cloud pattern and dragon image below jointly show the grand scene of the dragon soaring all over the world, expressing the good wishes of smooth wind and rain, and national peace and security. The two stamps feature red, gold and black colors, reflecting the atmosphere, luxury, vigor and joy, which complement each other. This set of stamps was designed by Wang Huming and printed by Beijing Stamp Factory Co., Ltd. using the rubber engraving overprinting process.
With the theme of "Weifang Kite Culture", the kite-themed post office is a "cultural business card" with rich cultural heritage and distinctive regional characteristics. Weifang Post Company excavates kite cultural elements in many ways, specializes in issuing commemorative envelopes, postcards, commemorative stamps, and designs and develops a series of creative philatelic products such as stamp albums and cultural and creative products. Among them, the special album of "Kite Goes Forever" has a detailed introduction to the historical origin, craft inheritance and cultural story of Weifang kites, and is equipped with "Kite (3)" stamp stamps, which are issued in limited quantities. "Postal Kite-Dragon Prosperous" cultural and creative philatelic products, around the representative work of Weifang kite dragon centipede, with the dragon head centipede stamps, the 40th kite club sterling silver medal, etc., its commemorative significance and collection value is very worth looking forward to. Weifang Post will be committed to building the kite-themed post office into an important window for inheriting traditional Chinese culture, helping tourism development, and meeting the needs of users, continuously promoting the integrated development of the postal industry and the local cultural and tourism industry, and helping Weifang kite culture and Weifang city business card to the world.