Sp.399 Children’s Folk Rhymes Postage Stamps (Issue of 1999)

The Directorate has chosen four songs that mothers sing to their children for its latest set of stamps in its children’s folk rhymes series. The four stamps include “Baby Sleeps,” “Be Brave,” “Rock, Rock, Rock,” and “Buggie Flies.”

These are all songs that mothers sing when they are feeding their babies or lulling them to sleep. Each expresses mothers’ caring and loving feelings for their babies. The pictorial content of this set of stamps puts an emphasis on the interaction between mother and child. In the lullaby “Baby Sleeps,” the loving mother is trying to make her baby go to sleep by patting the baby and singing. In the “Be Brave,” the mother is picking up and comforting a baby that has been frightened by something, making the baby feel very secure. In “Rock, Rock, Rock,” the mother is playing “rock the boat.” This makes her think of her own mother, and the lyrics of this song give expression to her feelings. “Buggie Flies” is one of the earliest play songs Chinese children hear,  for which different phrases are associated with different fingers (somewhat like “This Little Piggie” for native English speakers).

(1)First Day Cover in small size to be sold at NT$1.00 apiece.
First Day Cover in large size to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(2)Folder especially prepared for the stamps to be sold at NT$2.00 apiece.
(3)Folder with crystal mount for better protection of the stamps to be sold at NT$4.00
apiece.
(4)Loose-leaf stamp album page with plastic cover to be sold at NT$8.00 apiece.
(5) Pre-cancelled First Day Cover affixed with a low-valued stamp to be sold at
NT$6.00 apiece.
(6) Pre-cancelled First Day cover affixed with a complete set of stamps to be sold at
   NT$43.00 apiece.