Year of the Dragon

This stamp issue celebrates the Chinese New Year in the Year of the Dragon.

$2.00 Longevity Noodles
This stamp depicts a dragon spilling forth from a fern-laden bowl of noodles, mixing Kiwi and Chinese iconography. Noodles are often eaten during Chinese New Year, their length representing the wish for a long and prosperous life.

$3.30 Garden of Prosperity
In this stamp, a dragon aids a toddler in harvesting a Chinese cabbage, emblematic of market gardeners’ contribution to New Zealand horticulture.

$4.00 Land of Good Fortune
In 1865, the gold rush in Otago attracted miners from Canton, China. This stamp displays cherubs holding mining tools, their work guarded by the watchful eye of a dragon.

$6.90 Festive Fireworks
Thomas Wong Doo, born in Canton around 1903, founded a shop that sold fireworks on Hobson Street, Auckland in 1940. This stamp depicts a puppet-like dragon, with starbursts of fireworks exploding in the distance.