Since 2001, Macau Post has issued eight series of stamps titled “I Ching, Pa Kua”. I have in my collection series nos five to seven. These stamps commemorate the Chinese philosophy of Taoism.
The I-Ching is also known as "The Book of Changes" and is vaguely dated to being 5000 years old. The I-Ching is commonly considered as the basis for China's major philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism and Zen.
The basis of the I-Ching are the Trigrams which in turn gave birth to the Hexagrams, hence the hexagonal shape of the stamps. The Trigrams are the Yin and Yang lines that surround the Pa-kua symbol arranged in eight combinations of three lines. Pa-kua philosophy analyzes even the simplest elements as having three parts: An egg consists of three parts, the shell, the white and the yoke; an apple incorporates three parts, the peel, the fruit and the pits. Even the skin itself has three layers. This is the concept of SKY MAN EARTH, which is a recurring classification in Pa-kua studies. Doubling the eight combinations of Sky Man and Earth lines of the Trigrams attained the sixty-four Hexagrams, hence the eight series of sheets of eight stamps each. The I-Ching is an explanation of these sixty four Hexagrams.
The fifth series of stamps titled as “Favourable Weather for Crops Raising” was issued on 9 October 2006, and symbolized “Gou, Da Guo, Ding, Heng, Xun, Jing, Gu and Sheng”.
The sixth series of stamps titled as “Conquer the Disaster” was issued on 1 March 2008, and symbolized “Song, Kun, Wei Ji, Jie, Huan, Kan, Meng and Shi”.
The seventh series of stamps titled as “Reach a Peak” was issued on 1 March 2010, and symbolized “Dun, Xian, Lü, Xiao Guo, Jian, Jiang, Gen and Qian”.
The basis of the I-Ching are the Trigrams which in turn gave birth to the Hexagrams, hence the hexagonal shape of the stamps. The Trigrams are the Yin and Yang lines that surround the Pa-kua symbol arranged in eight combinations of three lines. Pa-kua philosophy analyzes even the simplest elements as having three parts: An egg consists of three parts, the shell, the white and the yoke; an apple incorporates three parts, the peel, the fruit and the pits. Even the skin itself has three layers. This is the concept of SKY MAN EARTH, which is a recurring classification in Pa-kua studies. Doubling the eight combinations of Sky Man and Earth lines of the Trigrams attained the sixty-four Hexagrams, hence the eight series of sheets of eight stamps each. The I-Ching is an explanation of these sixty four Hexagrams.
I can't wait to have the rest of the five missing sheets of the series in my collection.
Do feel free to add your thoughts, comments or suggestions
NOTE: Please click on the images for a larger view / closer look.
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