STICKING WITH TRADITION

China Post and the Palace Museum jointly release a set of stamps inspired by an iconic Song Dynasty painting, Wang Kaihao reports.

There is a reason why handwritten letters have not be entirely replaced by their digital counterparts yet - postage stamps. And while they are small, they display a kaleidoscopic world. Beijing's Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, and China Post jointly released a set of special stamps inspired by Landscape Across the Four Seasons, a painting that is 69 centimeters long and 40 cm wide and over 800 years old. Created by Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) artist Liu Songnian on silk, the painting has four sections, showing human activity and landscapes throughout the four seasons.

Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum, describes the piece as a representative work of the imperial painting academy during that dynasty because of its elegant facade and technique.