The year 2004 marks the 50th Anniversary of Kaohsiung Medical University. To commemorate this occasion, Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of two stamps. The first stamp “Transformation” juxtaposes in single colors the school gate of Kaohsiung Medical College (the forerunner of KMU) and the school gate of Kaohsiung Medical University. By contrasting the old and the new, this juxtaposition highlights the evolution the school has undergone over the past five decades. And the image of the impressive-looking modern medical building conveys the institution’s commitment to stay at the cutting edge of medical developments. The second stamp, “Passing Down Heritage,” features a beaker, a mosquito, a fly and a poisonous snake, which symbolize KMU’s contributions to tropical medicine, as well as its spirit of scholarship and focus on research.Established in 1954, Kaohsiung Medical College was an important institution of higher education that engaged in research on local tropical medicine and provided medical care. After Taiwan was removed from the list of places with high rates of infectious tropical diseases, the school threw its energies into basic and clinical medical research and in providing medical services. In July of 1999 the school changed its name to Kaohsiung Medical University and shifted its focus to integrate medicine, the humanities, the life sciences and the social sciences, creating a modern university that emphasized both academics and medical care. Currently, it comprises six colleges, 19 departments and 12 graduate schools. In recent years, it has established a Genomic Research Center to research biotechnology and established an exchange programs with nine other famous international schools, so that students can select courses at any of the schools and engage in long-distance education.