BEIJING - A set of stamps marking the Year of the Dragon that goes on sale on Thursday has aroused heated debate over the likeness of the legendary creature since China Post unveiled the design of the stamp.

"When I saw the design of the dragon stamp in a newspaper, I was almost scared to death," Zhang Yihe, a noted writer said on Tuesday in a micro blog post on weibo.com.

"The dragon on the stamp looks too ferocious," echoed another micro blog post at the same site.