Chinese ‘relay team’ queues for five days to buy Year of the Dog stamps
Dozens more people spend a chilly night outside post office for the chance to buy the latest collector’s item
Dozens of others queued overnight to buy the highly prized stamps, which are issued annually by China Post and depict the relevant Chinese zodiacal animal, Chinese media reported
The latest stamps commemorate the Year of the Dog.
Many of the people queuing outside Jingan district post office on Friday were elderly.
“Today is the day for the zodiac stamps and I had to come,” an 86-year-old man was quoted as saying by China News Service. “I’ve been coming here for the stamps for several decades.”
The woman at the front of the queue said she had been taking turns to stand in line since New Year’s Eve. She said she was one of 20 people who took it in turns to reserve first space.
“If we join the queue late, it’s not guaranteed we can get the stamps. We’re all zodiac stamp collectors,” she said.
Other collectors placed bricks and chairs to save their place in the line, Shanghai Daily reported.
The two new stamps cost 1.20 yuan (18 US cents) each.
The first zodiac stamps were issued in China in 1980, which was the Year of Monkey.
