"Only in New York!" As people around me would say when something very interesting and unique has just happened.
Teacher Jane and I were picking up some of our printed teaching materials from a small printer in Flushing. On our way out, a "side" question popped up in my head so I said to the 20-something year old son of the print shop owner couple - "Do you ever print books?" He promptly answered "Yes we do." He removed a thick book from his shelf and handed it to me "This is a ruined copy of a book we printed. You can have it. "
A Chinese American mailman has collected stamps from all over the world about Christmas and Christianity and he's put it in a book of 257 pages. Among them, 120 pages were Christmas stamps from all five continents of the world.
The mailman's name is 李国维 Li Guo-wei. I could not even find his name in English alphabet in the book because he wrote everything in Chinese, including the captions for the stamps.
This is unexpected gift from the printer is fascinating and useful to Chinese language learners regardless of religious beliefs.
In the spirit of the holidays, I've selected, from this book, a few Christmas stamps from a number of Asian Countries to show you some Chinese expressions about stamps and the holiday.
For above - Selected content from author Caption:
2010 年代 nián dài
大全张 dà quán zhāng Pane/Lattice Sheet
Issued by China's northernmost postoffice with its longitude and latitude listed around the white & blue Santa to the upper right corner.
The four Chinese characters "圣诞快乐" shèng dàn kuài lè (Merry Christmas) have ice on the top.
For above - Selected content from author caption
Top: Year 1990
亮点 liàng dian What's special： 特制封套 tè zhì fēng tào specially designed pocket
甚美！shèng mei Very beautiful!
Bottom: Year 2002
邮戳 yóu chuō (postmark) “圣诞快乐” shèng dàn kuài lè and "Merry Christmas" are laid out in a vertical arc shape, not often seen.
For above - selected content from author caption
Top: Year 2007
首日封 shou rì fēng First Day Cover
Bottom: Year 2014
四张脸谱 sì zhāng lian pu Four faces (typically seen during the Christmas season)
For above - Selected content from author caption
Year 1950s
明信片 míng xìn piàn post card
(according to this author) Taiwan has not issued Christmas Stamps. This one is a postcard.
恭祝圣诞并贺新喜 gōng zhù shèng dàn bìng hè xīn xi Wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
(according to this author) This is a rare piece because of the Christmas greetings.
For above - Selected content from author's caption
Top: 1958 South Korea
首日封 shou rì fēng First Day Cover
拐杖糖 guai zhàng táng candy cane
圣诞树 shèng dàn shù Christmas Tree
风筝 fēng zhēng kite
(according to author) such a piece from Asia and from that time 非常稀少 fēi cháng xī shao (a rare find)
Bottom: 2019 Philipines
四联邮票 sì lián yóu piào four connected stamps
合唱圣诞颂歌 hé chàng shèng dàn sòng gē singing Christmas carols
For above - Selected content from author's caption
Top: 1933 Japan
一个女孩拉展裙子 A girl spreading her skirt.
祝健康 zhù jiàng kāng Wish you good health.
Bottom:
邮戳，有三个11数字，很特别！The postmark has three sets of "11". Very special!
(Author explains) Year 1999 is the 11th year of Emperor Akihito's reign, thus "11". The postmark was made on Nov. 11th of that year.
For above - Selected content from author's caption
Top: 印度 India 2016
驯鹿 xùn lù reindeer
有四只驯鹿，够力了吗？There are four reindeers. Enough power?
Bottom: 斯里兰卡 Sri Lanka 2018
奇怪！右侧的女士是谁？Strange. How is the lady on the right? （meaning the Goddess next to Virgin Mary)
Hope you've enjoyed Mr. Kuo-Wei Lee's collection, comments, and learning some Christmas and stamp related words in Chinese.
On the book, there's the author's email. If you're interested in the whole book, please reach out.
kuoweilee357@gmail.com
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