Shan Jixiang (right), director of the Palace Museum, and Liu Aili, head of China Post, unveil the stamps at the launching ceremony in Beijing on Aug 4. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

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.

"The image is centered on people," Shan says. "They look small but are vividly portrayed.

"Realistic and highly expressive approaches are naturally mixed in the artwork."The four new postage stamps, which are themed on the four sections of the painting, have a 4 yuan (59 US cents) value in total. A souvenir sheet that includes them all is also available.

Li Pizheng, deputy managing director of China Post, says high-tech printing technology was used to ensure the different layers of landscapes in the painting were clearly depicted in the stamps.

The Forbidden City was China's royal palace from 1420 to 1911. It now houses nearly 2 million cultural relics, including 53,000 ancient paintings from the collections of emperors. The old collections provide inspiration for Chinese modern designers to develop cultural products such as postal stamps.