There are a total of 12 animal signs in the Chinese calendar based on five cycles of 12 years each,with each cycle tempered by one of the five Chinese elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth.

The creative, witty and agile Monkey, ninth in the Zodiac Cycle starts off yet another New Year on the Chinese zodiac calendar in 2016. Three graphical illustrations of this adventurous Monkey ushering in the new Lunar Year 2016 are shown in this set of stamps of 1st Local, 70¢and $1.30.

Being the ninth of the 12 animal signs, those born in the year of Monkey are often said to possess character traits such as curiosity, mischievousness, and cleverness. Monkeys are fun and loving persons who are always cheerful and energetic. Give a monkey a boring book to read and he'll turn it into a Musical. That's how talented, creative and generous monkeys usually are. Their creativity, dynamism and a particularly good talent at drawing people to him often help them to get out of scrapes due to their playfulness.

As 2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey, they are energetic, determined and expressive. With Fire as the element, Fire Monkey individuals are the most forceful among the Monkeys. Their creativity is born with will power and initiative and they will tend to be very innovative, enjoy being in control and full of strength and determination. Famous personalities born in the Horse year include Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Dickens, Yao Ming, Celine Dion, Tom Hanks, Diana Ross and Empress Wu Zetian of China’s Tang Dynasty.