The upcoming Chinese lunar New Year will fall on January 26, 2009. It is the ji-chou year (ji is the sixth of the Ten Celestial Stems and chou is the second of the Twelve Terrestrial Branches and signifies the year of the ox). To welcome the year of the ox, this Post is issuing a set of two New Year’s Greeting Postage Stamps (Issue of 2008) as well as a miniature sheet featuring Chinese zodiac ox. The two stamps will have denominations of NT$3.50 and NT$13.00, and the miniature sheet will have a denomination of NT$12.00. The designs follow:1. NT$3.50 Stamp: With traditional Chinese calligraphy and ink-wash painting, this stamp features a placid, steady, earnest and assiduous ox, suggesting that the ox will deliver a year of favorable weather and good fortune.2. NT$13.00 Stamp: This stamp features the Chinese characters “ji-chou” depicting the dutiful and no-nonsense nature of an ox which serves as a symbol of striving for betterment and good fortune year after year.3. NT$12.00 Miniature Sheet: The sheet features a design suggestive of a yin and yang symbol composed of ripples of water, an ox and a leaf floating on water. The design, in conjunction with an expression meaning “a turn for the good” that begins with the two characters “niu-jhuan” (a homonym of “ox” plus the character for “turns”), implies that in the year of the ox the world will be renewed. On the left margin, the magpie with the tip of a plum tree symbolizes auspiciousness by suggesting the expression “joy rises to the tips of one’s eyebrow” (“eyebrow” is a homonym with “plum” in Chinese). On the right margin there are three Chinese expressions about the New Year that convey the idea of joy. One of these is written as a work of calligraphy, whereas the other two have the look of printed impressions rendered from carved Chinese chops. The classic pink color scheme imparts a serene atmosphere to the sheet.