Macao SAR to Issue Stamps for Year of SnakeThe Postal Services of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will on January 18 begin the issuing of a stamp marking the Chinese lunar Year of the Snake.The stamp bears the face value of 5.5 patacas (about 68 US cents). A total of 750,000 pieces will be issued, officials with the Postal Services said at a press conference Monday. Other postal products such as souvenir sheet, first-day cover and introduction paper will be available at the same time. It will be the first set of stamps for the year 2001. Like previous years, the Postal Services plans to issue 12 sets of stamps this year. Macao has put into circulation five sets of stamps since 1996 to respectively mark the years of mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit and dragon. Since ancient times, the Chinese have been using 12 kinds of fictitious or real-life animals to symbolize every 12 years periodically. |
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