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
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
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.