Collectors wait overnight for Year of the Rat stamps
A stamp designed by Han Meilin is inspired by the Chinese legend that heaven was created by a mouse bite.
Residents were waiting at city post offices on Sunday morning for new stamps honoring the upcoming Year of the Rat.
Some post offices even gave hot tea and snacks to customers who waited overnight for this year's commemorative stamps.
The stamps were designed by Chinese artist Han Meilin. One stamp is inspired by the Chinese legend that heaven was created by a mouse bite. The second stamp features a rat family of three. Each stamp is 1.2 yuan (17 US cents).
By 6am on Sunday, the waiting area of the post office on Sinan Road in Huangpu District was fully occupied by stamp enthusiasts, some of whom waited overnight for the commemorative stamps.
Half an hour later, a man surnamed Wang became the first to get the Year of the Rat stamps. He said he arrived at the office on Friday afternoon and waited outside to be the first buyer.
Another stamp enthusiast, Zhou, said the rat is his zodiac animal, so this year's stamps are very special to him.
Tu Jian, head of China Post's Luwan branch in Shanghai, said their post offices invited stamp lovers inside at 9pm on Saturday, offering tea and food for them. Most of them spent the night there by chatting with each other.
This year, China Post has cut the circulation of its zodiac stamps. The circulation of the rat-year stamp is 43 million, nearly 30 percent less than last year's pig-year stamps.
The second Year of the Rat stamp designed by Han Meilin.
