Canada Post stamp: Year of the pig
Canada Post stamp: Year of the pig
CBC reports that Canada Post (加拿大的邮局) has released it’s latest stamp celebrating the year of the Pig.
I think most Chinese people I’ve met (and foreigners too) are quite surprised when I say how Chinese traditions are woven into Canadian life. A symbol of a Chinese festival being specially acknowledged in this way does not seem like a very politically motivated action in the vein of one-off stamps to honour certain famous figures.
Looming lion (Chinese new year in Vancouver, 2004)
Canada Post, as far as I remember, has been making special Chinese New Year stamps honouring the Chinese zodiac for many years now. This new stamp is simply the latest edition for the coming Chinese new year on February 18th, 2007. The greatest symbolism for the relationship between China and Canada might be seen in how un-extraordinary things like this are. My experience is certainly biased from my life in Vancouver, but I can remember living in the beautiful small town of Squamish, BC and celebrating the Chinese new year in my primary school. Doesn’t everyone celebrate Chinese new year?
January 13th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Hey Bro,
I just read that Canada Post started the Chinese New Year stamps in 1997. Funny thing, the contact at Canada Post from the 1995 article is Cindy Daoust, no relation I’m sure.
January 14th, 2007 at 3:23 am
No relation.
1997 -eh? Wouldn’t that be the year of Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s trade mission to China? I think you just stumbled on the motivating factor to produce the series of stamps. There has to be some reason given for any decision within a government office. My main idea is really how ordinary it is seems for Canada to have a Chinese New Year stamp.
During the 2006 Sino-African summit held in Beijing, the city was overflowing with billboards to welcome delegates. Imagery of tight bonds between Africa and China are not usual within China, regardless of the relationship between China and African nations.
It may have been a token symbolic gesture for the Chretien government to issue that stamp. For all I know, Canada Post may have independently chosen to run those stamps because it was topical and economically viable by being popular for collectors. I think it’s cool that, while most other countries would probably require a special reason to run a stamp like this one, Canadians need no special reason.
I know that in the past the Vancouver Sun has reported on a movement to have the Chinese New Year declared a public holiday. This movement may be too small, but I can’t imagine such a movement existing in most other countries. I think it reflects a deep relationship between our two countries, that transcends beyond merely the realm of politics.