Canada Post on Thursday issued its Year of the Ox stamps to welcome the Chinese New Year, which also marked the launching of the agency's second 12-year Lunar New Year series after the first round of the Chinese Lunar Calendar collection.

Two new stamps, one domestic and one international, and a souvenir sheet, were unveiled Thursday at the Chinese Cultural Center of Greater Vancouver, with the witness of hundreds of audience including Chinese Consular General in Vancouver Liang Shugen.

"The unveiling of the new stamps demonstrates Canada Post's endeavor in promoting multicultural spirit in this country and will surely benefit the whole society," Liang said at the launching ceremony.

Canada Post called it "a special time to issue ultra-creative stamp designs to celebrate the oldest surviving calendar system in the world."

"This year, we honor the Year of the Ox: a time of stability, harmony and balance," the agency said in a statement earlier Thursday.

The domestic permanent stamp, bearing the postage rate of 52 Canadian cents, features an illustration of an ox before a mountainous landscape. Plum blossoms are dotted on the background of the stamp and pane of 25.

The international one, at 1.65 Canadian dollars, features a pottery work of Vancouver Chinese artist Shu Hwei Kao. The image of an ox and the Chinese character for ox are positioned separately in the up-left and bottom-left corners.

The long, scroll-like shape is a new element in the souvenir sheet, which will remain standard throughout this new 12-year series.

The Chinese characters for all 12 animals of the zodiac run vertically down the sheet list, fading from one year to the next as they appear in the lunar cycle, a feature that reinforces the scroll concept.

Chief designer Ivan Novotny said the plum blossoms, which symbolize life, rebirth and adversity overcome, are popular subjects in Chinese art and a common feature in Lunar New Year decor.

Pottery is chosen because it is heavily rooted in the Chinese history and its connection to the earth, as 2009 is the year of the Earth Ox, said Novotny, also vice president of Design at Toronto's Taylor Sprules Corporation.

According to Chinese philosophy, everything is subject to the influence of the five elements of Water, Metal, Earth, Wood and Fire. The elements rotate every year, and each is associated with specific character traits. In the case of Earth, it links to stability, industry and practicality.

As one of the first countries to issue stamps for the Chinese New Year, Canada first released the Year of the Ox stamps in 1997.

More than 8 million single stamps, 750,000 souvenir sheets and 15,000 uncut press sheets have been released since. With their insightful blend of time-honored customs and modern flair, the stamps have been extremely popular among collectors.

Shu Hwei Kao, one of very few Chinese pottery makers living in Canada, said that her work being used in the stamps gave her a stronger sense of being a member of the multicultural society.

The issuing of the Lunar New Year stamps will help Canadians gain a better understanding of the Chinese culture, she said at the ceremony.

The Year of the Ox runs from January 26, 2009 to February 13, 2010, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2009)