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China to issue special stamps of Chinese Tiger A set of stamps featuring Chinese Tiger, an endangered species native to southern China, will be issued on August 23 in Longyan City, south China's Fujian Province, a major habitat of the animal. The city government has announced that the stamps are to celebrate the opening of the international conference on endangered wildlife protection, which will be held in Beijing on that day and to call the public's attention to protecting this precious tiger, or South China Tiger, whose population is around 100, far less than the "national gem" giant panda. The stamps feature the face of a Chinese tiger and a baby tiger lying on its mother's back. The designer Liu Jibiao is a famous artist specializing in animal painting. The number of the Chinese Tiger (panthera tigris amoyensis), from which other sub-species such as the Siberian Tiger evolved, and which used to be widely seen in eastern, southern and southwestern parts of the country, has declined drastically in the past decades due to rampant human activities including hunting and lumbering. Currently, an estimated 20 to 30 South China Tigers are living in the wild, while 60 of the species are living in captivity. The tiger has been listed among the most endangered animals as its number is far less than that of giant panda which stands at around 1,750. Since the early 1990s, China began to explore ways for saving the rare species, in close collaboration with some international organizations concerned. In 1998, a Chinese Tiger rescue program was launched in Longyan City, which is believed to be the most suitable habitat for the endangered tiger, and the Chinese Tiger Propagation and Wildlife Adaptation Research Center was set up in the city's Meihua (plum blossom) Mountain to help the big cat recover its ability to live in the wild and increase its population. So far, 20 million yuan (US$2.43 million) has been invested in the project and a total of 18 such tigers live in the protection center. Local researchers believe that after years of efforts, Meihua Mountain may regain its past reputation as the ancestral home and the most favorable habitat for the South China Tiger.
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