The Rat appears on the Chinese zodiac postage stamp issued for the first lunar year of the cycle.
In the standard animal order, Rat is first, followed by Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Postal administrations have issued zodiac-themed stamps for Lunar New Year, often using the year’s animal as the central design.
The first animal is also central to the traditional Great Race story. In the best-known version, Rat wins by using cleverness and by riding across the river on Ox’s back before leaping ahead at the finish. This legend explains the sequence but is not a historical record of how the calendar was created.
Stamp designs vary by country and year, so the answer concerns the animal’s position in the zodiac cycle, not one unique worldwide stamp image.