“Intangible Cultural Heritage - Paper Crafting Technique” Special Stamps

Inscribed onto the  first Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong in  2017, paper crafting technique is a folk art with a long history. Utilising  materials such as bamboos, bamboo splints, iron wires, rice paper strips and  fabric, paper craft masters create a variety of products through four major  steps, including frame creation, paper mounting, painting decorative patterns  and decorating. These paper craft products are used for folk festivals or as  decorations, or as offerings in religious ceremonies. To promote this  intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong, Hongkong Post presents a special  stamp issue on "Paper Crafting Technique" to enhance public knowledge of this  traditional craftsmanship.

Acknowledgement:  Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, Hung C Lau, The Tuen Mun Tin Hau Festival  Committee

$2.20 Stamp – Frame creation
Frame creation – Bamboos and bamboo splints are tied together to form a  skeletal frame according to the shape of the crafted products and fixed with  rice paper strips and glue. The stamp shows that a paper craft master uses rice  paper strips to secure the bamboo splints to create the skeletal frame of a  lion head.

$4 Stamp – Paper mounting
Paper mounting – Rice papers are cut to size, applied with glue and then  attached onto the skeletal frame. The stamp features the technique of a paper  craft master affixing rice papers onto the skeletal frame, shaping the outline  of the lion head, and shows the partially finished lion head after the paper  mounting procedure is completed.

$5.40 Stamp –Painting decorative patterns
Painting decorative patterns – A process of drawing patterns, commonly  referred to as "colouring" in the trade. Some crafted products, such as lion  head, are coated with a layer of gloss paint to give a more polished  appearance. The stamp showcases a paper craft master drawing a pattern on the  lion head using a Chinese writing brush, and the lion head adorned with the  completed pattern.

$5.50 Stamp－Decorating
Decorating－Assemble different paper craft components and decorate the crafted  products with various ornaments, such as trimmings and big woollen balls ,  making the crafted products more aesthetic and vivid. The stamp portrays a  paper craft master fixing a woollen ball onto the lion head with a tool and the  final product of the lion head.

$10 Stamp Sheetlet
The stamp sheetlet features two fa pau (paper floral shrines) and common  paper crafting tools and materials, including a knife, a Cantonese ruler, a  bamboo splint and a plier. Large-scale paper floral shrines are spectacular  paper offerings used in Hong Kong's sacrificial rituals. A paper floral shrine  is created by first binding thick bands of bamboo. together to form the frame  and the base, then sticking sheets of paper onto the frame, and finally hanging  ornaments on its body, making it colourful and beautiful.

$20 Stamp Sheetlet
The stamp sheetlet showcases two Chinese palace lanterns and the  techniques for splitting bamboo and creating a skeleton. Chinese palace  lanterns, originally used in palaces, are usually quadrilateral, pentagonal,  hexagonal or octagonal in shape. Each side of the lantern is glued with fabric  or silk fabric and is colour-painted with tassels hanging down, making the  lantern exquisitely elegant. The stamp is specially printed with spot varnish,  adding radiance and enhancing the three-dimensional effect.

Official  First Day Covers will be put on sale at $2.5 each at all post offices from 12 June 2025. Advance orders for servicing  self-provided covers will be accepted at all philatelic offices from 12 to 18 June 2025.

Stamp products include mint  stamps, stamp sheets, stamp sheetlet, mini-pane, presentation  pack and serviced first day cover. Serviced first day cover also available at  the philatelic offices only.

Date-stamping Arrangements

• A hand-back date-stamping service with the office date-stamp and the special postmarks will be provided on 26 June 2025 at all post offices for Official First Day Covers/ souvenir covers/ privately-made covers bearing the first day of issue indication and a local address. All philatelic offices will also provide “Philatelic Bureau” pictorial postmark and its respective philatelic office pictorial postmark. The GPO-1 date-stamp impression will only be available at the GPO.

• All stamp products will be available starting from 26 June 2025 for three months while stock lasts.

• All stamp products will be available at Hongkong Post Internet Shopping Mall – “ShopThruPost” (website: shopthrupost.hongkongpost.hk) starting from 26 June 2025 at 8:00 a.m., while stock lasts.