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Mabel Lui

Is it a horse, a deer or some kind of skeletal monster?
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has drawn ire from Chinese communities over its recently released 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamp.
Designed by artist Camille Chew and USPS’ art director, Antonio Alcalá, the stamp features a golden face with red eyes, a red nose and multicoloured accents as a nod to the masks worn during Lunar New Year parades and dances.
But people have criticised the design for not looking like a dragon, with other animals it apparently resembles including a monkey, a cow and even the fictional Bull Demon King from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.

Others took issue with the ferociousness of the creature depicted.
“People are celebrating the Lunar New Year and like to see an image that brings happiness and good luck,” Claudine Cheng, the president of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Foundation, told The San Francisco Standard. “When you look at this interpretation, it doesn’t evoke that kind of emotion.”
Year of the Dragon 2024: is your luck in? All 12 zodiac sign predictions
Despite the controversy, the USPS has gone ahead and printed 22 million copies of the stamp, which began circulating on January 25.
Other postal services’ Year of the Dragon stamps have received more positive responses. Here is a look at some of the more notable issued for this Lunar New Year.
1. Hong Kong
Hongkong Post is selling an array of stamps and small stamp sheets to ring in the Year of the Dragon that highlight the animal’s association with good luck.
Designed by Wong Chun-hong, the collection includes a set of four stamps that depict the mythical creature in auspicious colours including red, gold and purple.
There is also a remarkable laser-cut paper art stamp sheet of a type that is being issued by the Hongkong Post for the first time this year.
Showcasing a laser-cut silhouette of a dragon, the collectible is an ode to the craft of Chinese paper-cutting, an art form considered to symbolise luck and happiness.

2. Mainland China
China Post has released two stamps in honour of the dragon this year.
The first features a golden dragon on a red background surrounded by auspicious clouds, which are considered a symbol of happiness.
The dragon’s posture takes inspiration from the Nine-Dragon Wall in Beijing’s Forbidden City, and embodies a spirit of self-improvement and progress.
The second stamp features a symmetrical design of two golden dragons holding up a circular piece of Chinese jade that has been adorned with auspicious patterns, to symbolise the desire for future prosperity, peace and good weather.
3. Isle of Man
The post office of the Isle of Man, a self-governing British crown dependency, has released four dragon stamps designed by artist Jo Davies this year representing the four legendary river dragons: the Yellow Dragon, Black Dragon, Pearl Dragon and Long Dragon.

As the folk tale goes, the four dragons were playing hide-and-seek in the clouds when they noticed that people on earth were suffering because of a lack of rain.
Feeling sympathy, the dragons informed the Jade Emperor, but when they realised that the emperor did not care for the humans, they resolved to help on their own.
The dragons filled their mouths with water and sprayed it across the sky, which resulted in rainfall that ended the drought and saved the humans’ crops.
What Chinese animal am I? Their characteristics and when their years fall
Despite their compassionate act, the dragons’ defiance of the Jade Emperor angered him, so he instructed the Mountain God to trap the dragons under four mountains.
The imprisoned dragons, ever selfless, thus decided to use their powers to turn themselves into rivers – the Yellow Dragon became the Yellow River, the Black Dragon became the Amur River (Heilongjiang), the Pearl Dragon became the Pearl River and the Long Dragon became the Yangtze River (Changjiang).
4. Japan

Japan Post has released four Year of the Dragon stamps designed by artist Ayumi Yoshikawa, two of which are modelled after papier-mâché dragons from the 1919 book Collected Illustrations of Japanese Toys by Kawasaki Kyosen.
5. Thailand
Thailand Post has debuted a stamp design of a naga sketched by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand.

In Thai Buddhism (and also in Hinduism), naga – revered, divine creatures with superhuman and serpent qualities – typically take the place of dragons, and are considered patrons of water.


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Chinese culture

5 Year of the Dragon stamp sets from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Thailand and the Isle of Man: are they better than the US’ much criticised design?

Hongkong Post’s 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamps include a set of four that depict the mythical creature in auspicious colours including red, gold and purple. Photo: Hongkong Post

The United States Postal Service’s Year of the Dragon stamp. Photo: USPS

China Post’s Year of the Dragon stamps. Photo: China Post Group Corporation

The Isle of Man Post Office’s Year of the Dragon stamps. Photo: Isle of Man Post Office

Japan Post’s Year of the Dragon stamps. Photo: Japan Post

Thailand Post’s Year of the Dragon stamp. Photo: Thailand Post

Year of the Snake 2025: are you predicted bad luck? 5 ways to change your fortunes

Wearing red underwear is one way people can bring themselves good luck in the Year of the Snake 2025 - especially if their Chinese zodiac animal will bring them bad luck. Photo: AFP

People visit Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year holiday in 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Wearing an amulet of a different zodiac sign can help ward off bad luck. Photo: SCMP

Getting married is considered an auspicious event in Chinese culture. Photo: Hong Kong Society of Uro-Oncology

Rihanna, Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King Jnr – are babies born in the Year of the Dragon luckier than others? Why Chinese parents want ‘dragon children’

Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King Jnr and Rihanna were all born in the Year of the Dragon. Photos: Getty Images, AP, Instagram/@badgalriri

Expectant mothers, likely to be parents to babies born in the Year of the Dragon, attend a breastfeeding class in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China, in August 2023. Chinese parents believe “dragon babies” are luckier and higher achieving than children born under other zodiac signs. Photo: Getty Images

Workers install a dragon-shaped lantern to welcome the Lunar New Year in Huaian, Jiangsu province, China. Photo: Getty Images

Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King, Jnr and Rihanna. Photos: Getty Images, AP, Instagram/@badgalriri

Children learn to make snacks as the New Year approaches on December 22, 2023, in Hefei, Anhui province. Photo: Getty Images

Year of the Dragon 2024: predictions, personalities and the wood element’s meaning for the next Lunar New Year

Craftsmen make dragon-shaped lanterns for a Lunar New Year lantern fair in Shenyang, China. Photo: Getty Images

A customer buys dragon-themed new-year decorations at Yiwu International Trade City in Jinhua, China, on December 11, 2023. Photo: Getty Images

The Beatles wave to a crowd at an airport as they arrive in the US for concerts and television appearances in 1964. Photo: Getty Images

Year of the Dragon 2024: it’s not just Chinese who revere the mythical beasts – 4 other cultures that celebrate them

The red dragon, national emblem of Wales. Photo: Getty Images 

Detail from the Yellow Dragon robe worn by emperors of China’s Qing dynasty. Such robes had multiple dragon motifs, each with their own meaning. Cultures other than that of China also celebrate the mythical dragon. Photo: Getty Images

A Welsh flag flies in Snowdonia. Photo: Getty Images 

Vikings, who marauded across Europe from Scandinavia, carved dragon heads on the prows of their long ships to instil fear. Image from Cassell’s Illustrated Universal History, Vol. III - The Middle Ages. Photo: Getty Images 

A triptych by 19th century artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicts the mythical Princess Tamatori-hime recovering a sacred jewel from the palace of the dragon king who stole it. Photo: Getty Images 

An embroidered dragon on a piece of Bhutanese cloth. Photo: Getty Images

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The United States Postal Service’s 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamp has drawn ire from Chinese communities over its unclear and ferocious design
Other postal services’ Year of the Dragon stamp sets have received more positive responses – we take a look at five of them


Following the furore over the United States Postal Service’s 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamp, we look at rival stamp designs from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Thailand and the Isle of Man.


5 Year of the Dragon stamp sets from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Thailand and the Isle of Man: are they better than the US’ much criticised design?

The United States Postal Service’s 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamp has drawn ire from Chinese communities over its unclear and ferocious design Other postal services’ Year of the Dragon stamp sets have received more positive responses – we take a look at five of them

The United States Postal Service’s 2024 Year of the Dragon commemorative stamp has drawn ire from Chinese communities over its unclear and ferocious design

Other postal services’ Year of the Dragon stamp sets have received more positive responses – we take a look at five of them