BEIJING, Jan. 31 -- The People's Bank of China announced on Tuesday that it will issue a set of commemorative coins on February 1st.

The central bank will issue 10 million commemorative coins, made of brass alloy, with a face value of One Yuan and a diameter of 25 millimeters.

The commemorative coin will have the same function as current RMB coins, and an equal value in circulation.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-01/...ent_5676875.htm

The commemorative coin sports the design of the People's Bank of China, as well as its value, various additional Chinese characters, and the year 2007.

On the back of the coin, the main decoration is a girl on a swing, playing with a little pig. It features the Chinese characters-"Ding Hai" in the Ganzhi system, meaning: Chinese Years in Sky - Earth pairs.



Forget the presidential dollars; I gotta get me one of these!

These are New Years coins, and they are released in commemorative folders every year. I bought some of the 2006 editions when I was in Guangzhou last year, they make just about as many commemoratives as the Royal Canadian Mint, but if you buy them in China they do not have the stinging markup.

10 million isn't a lot compared to 1 billion people out there in China.

Interesting. Makes me wonder if there are plans to just change over the 1 yuan to brass from c/n or steel as it currently is.

These coins are just commemoratives and are usually sold in a folder. If they are released into circulation, they must get snapped up pretty quickly because all I got in change were stainless steel yuan coins.