SAN FRANCISCO — In observance of the Chinese New Year, the U.S. Postal Service will dedicate the Lunar New Year – Year of the Ox Stamp on Jan. 9, 2009 at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company Auditorium, 77 Beale St., San Francisco. The public is invited to this free event, which begins at 11 a.m.   

This is the second stamp in a series, which celebrates the 12 different animals in the Chinese calendar. The 42-cent stamp celebrates the Year of the Ox, which begins on January 26, 2009, and ends on February 13, 2010. According to a legend explaining how the animals were selected, the animals raced across a river to determine their order in the cycle. The rat crossed by riding on the back of the ox, jumping ahead at the last minute to win the race. The ox came in second.

“The beginning of the Lunar New Year is an important holiday for 25 percent of the population of the world and the Postal Service in San Francisco, which is home to the nation’s oldest Chinese-American community, is honored to join the celebration,” said San Francisco Postmaster Noemi Luna, who will dedicate the stamp.

Joining Luna at the event will be PG&E’s Hyun Park, senior vice president and general counsel; Sidney Chan, president of the board of directors of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce; Claudine Cheng, former president of the Organization of Chinese Americans; Bong L. Wong,president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and Ed Lee, City Administrator, City and County of San Francisco.

PG&E is co-hosting the stamp dedication event, along with the U. S. Postal Service and the Organization of Chinese Americans, San Francisco Bay Chapter.

This is the second time the Postal Service has commissioned a Lunar New Year stamp series. It began its first Lunar New Year stamp series in 1993 in the Year of the Rooster, and completed that 12-year cycle in 2004, in the Year of the Monkey.  The current stamp design incorporates elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps, including an intricate paper-cut design of an ox and the Chinese character—drawn in grass-style calligraphy—for "Ox." The first series was designed by artist Clarence Lee. The current series was designed by illustrator Kam Mak

The U.S. Postal Service introduced its current Celebrating Lunar New Year series in 2008. This is the second stamp in that series, which will continue through 2019 with stamps for the Year of the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. In 2008, a stamp depicting festive red lanterns was issued to mark the Year of the Rat. .

Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the new series with Mak, an artist who grew up in New York City’s Chinatown, and now lives in Brooklyn. They decided to focus on some of the common ways the Lunar New Year Holiday is celebrated. To commemorate the Year of the Ox, they chose a lion head of a type often worn at parades and other festivities. Dancers wear such heads, often made of papier-mâché and bamboo, as they perform for delighted crowds. The illustration was originally created using oil paints on a fiberboard panel.

Kessler’s design also incorporates elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps, using Clarence Lee’s intricate paper-cut design of an ox and the Chinese character—drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun—for "Ox."

The First Day of Issue for theLunar New Year - Year of the Ox stamp is January 8, 2009. The stamp will be available for purchase in Post Offices, on usps.com, and by calling 1-800-STAMP-24 beginning on that day.

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