Mainland China rapped for ‘horrific, evil and ugly’ Year of Rabbit postal designs, while Hong Kong wins ‘cute’ plaudits
- Hong Kong and Macau creations praised as ‘cute’ and ‘elegant’ while mainland Lunar New Year stamp gets ‘ugly and scary’ tag
- Mainland effort was designed by famous 99-year-old Chinese painter and designer, Huang Yongyu. It will be his last, authorities said
As Lunar New Year approaches an online war of words has broken out over the relative aesthetic merits of stamps issued for the Year of the Rabbit in mainland China and in the country’s two Special Administrative Regions.
A Weibo blogger posted a photo comparison of three designs from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau which has attracted hundreds of comments and reposts.
Hong Kong’s creation – which has been described as “decent and cute” – comes in four different colours, its main image being a white rabbit with a floral print on its body in the centre of the stamp.
Macau’s – described as “elegant and beautiful” is in the style of a traditional Chinese ink painting and depicts four rabbits, the middle one showing its grey and white fur.
The overwhelming view of online observers was summed up by one who said of the Hong Kong and Macau philatelic creations: “These stamps are all better looking than the ones on the Mainland.”
However, it is a different story for mainland China’s blue rabbit – which has been described by online posters as “horrific”, “evil”, “very odd” and “scary” due to its prominent teeth and red semi-circular eyes outlined with black and stark whiskers.
