Let's Get To Know Mouse/Rat

The lunar year of rat is coming, and there are more and more related postal items seen showing up to celebrate it.

In another thread, I saw a quote of Eyore saying: Weeds are flowers if you get to know them! I am inspired by these words and would like to take this opportunity to get to know more about mouse and rat (actually they are basically the same in Chinese). Maybe they are heroes if you get to know them, aren't they? Actually, the first mouse hero come into my mind is Tom & Jerry. (Is Jerry sexy enough to be put on any stamp?)

I will first post some Chinese items I have found interesting in the following posts, and I am eager to see what mouse heroes are depicted in the stories in your country and region! Anything related to any aspects of mouse and rat are also very welcome! I think this is perhaps a new good way to welcome the year of rat!

I don't know, but Mickey and (to a lesser extent) Minnie have appeared on stamps MANY times, as any collector of Disney topicals could tell you!

"Cheeky Mouse" (created by Uli Stein) playing golf and typing letters (Switzerland)

This digital color postmark to be released by Beijing Post is the one that makes me feel I need to know more about mouse.

At first glance, I think it's a design error. The mouse is in the rays of full sunlight. Aren't they nocturnal. They should evade sunlight and hide sneaky in darkness, aren't they. But as I research the background a little more, I found something I don't know before. It has an interesting story in the folk tales of the Chinese version of Genesis.

The world was in chaos and darkness as a big enclosed ball. only after a mouse bit through the globe, the sun light began to shine upon the earth, and then humankind can live. So the mouse actually saves people and is no doubt a hero. And this also answers another question of mine, why this insignificant, even notorious mouse is ranked no.1 in the 12 animals circle. We have to thank this little savior! :-)

As a graphic designer I do a lot of image searches on the stock image sites. The Year of the Rat (I am a rat btw, 1960 being such a year!) has reared its head on these sites, since this theme is prevalent in marketing and such.
But I was taken, and somewhat repulsed, by the proliferation of images of hairless baby mice/rats in gift boxes that seem to be available. For the life of me, and I've got a pretty good imagination, I can't figure out where I would possibly use an image of a gift box full of squirming (I'm assuming they are squirming of course - the images are stills) hairless, pink, blind, miniature rodents in any sort of ad campaign.
They say animals are one of the best things to sell a produce. NOT these ones!

Another version of the previous genesis story by some nationalities of south-western China is that the ancestors of them were in a gourd floating in big flood, and later they can only get out when a mouse bit through the gourd. So the mouse is also often depicted together with a a gourd in traditional Chinese designs for good omen.

Hi, erilaz, thanks! Mickey is no doubt the most famous mouse hero, I am sure there are plenty stamps and related items out there. I am planning a little interesting story and comment on that sub-topic to post later.

Hi, Veyolene, glad to know him, thanks#65281;Even if he is not a savior, it's great to see him , I burst into laugh at first glance. 3D printing?! :-)

Hi, jamesw, you don't know what is happening in China now! Take a look at these mouse stamps and related products,they are flooding the websites now. And I also heard that people have to occupy a position in the waiting lines several days in advance to buy the mouse stamps issued today. Maybe it is a little exaggerating, but I am sure that there will be the so-called "people mountain & people sea" out there now outside the gate of the philatelic companies of Beijing.

As for the artist part, I am an amateur. But recently I have a little research on Qi Baishi, the most famous Chinese water-color painter in the 20th century, and regarded as the Chinese Picassso overseas. He has a most famous saying that painting should be between likeness and unlikeness, which, I suppose, means when you draw, you should not make it too real. And he is famed to draw mice , and actually he has got a nickname from his artist pals: the Mouse Painter. I will post his mouse paintings later, you can take a look for reference.

Many countries have joined the tradition of issuing stamps featuring the 'lunar fauna'. Aland issued this lovely sheet last fall in anticipation of the new year with the European wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) and the Eurasian harvest mouse at its nest (Micromys minutus) in a blackberry patch. The artist Martin Mörk included Klobben island and the sailboat Albanus in the background.

Canada's Year of the Rat stamps from 2008- domestic and a souvenir sheet with the international value.

Hi, Wigeon44, thanks! This mouse bride story has many versions in China. One version I like most is that the mouse parents wanted to marry their pretty daughter to the sun whom they believe to be the mightiest. But the sun told them dark cloud is who he fears. So the mice went to see the dark cloud, but the dark cloud told them he fears big wind. But the big wind told them he feared high wall and the high wall said he feared mouse. So the mouse parents asked themselves who we feared most#65311;Then the answer is no doubt cat. So they came to a conclusion that cat is mightiest in the world, and decided to marry their daught to cat. And later the cat ate his mouse bride at last. :-)

Here is a postally used block of eight of Singapore's February 9, 1996 set of two Chinese New Year ("Year of the Rat") stamps (S.G. #s 826-7).

i, Kris, I learn a new phrase, thanks. I am wondering who started all these. Is it China Post who issued the first lunar fauna stamp in 1980?

Is this the first lunar mouse ever issued?

The hand design is very rarely seen on lunar fauna topic! What could it mean?

Hi, Vyolene, when I search a little further into your swiss mouse , I find this one. Are they the same one? And the results I saw when I tried with Uli Stein, most of them are in German. Looks like he is famous for his humorous drawings, is there any English or French version of his works? Actually I like Geluck's Le Chat very much, it seems that they are of very alike style, I am really eager to see and understand his humor!

Happen to find this swiss mouse hero, Jimmy Flitz.
Hello, Jimmy, glad to meet you!

https://www.rolandzoss.com/jimmyfli...my-flitz.pdf

(His appearance reminds of a US mouse in a TV anim, but I can't recall the name, I can only remember it lives in a sewer, perhaps sometimes drive a toy airplane. Anybody could have some clues on that?)