Coins for the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China

The first set of ordinary coins issued in China

Coins for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Stamp collecting is commonplace for everyone, so what if it’s about commemorative coins? Mr. Peng, who is 68 years old and lives in Nan’an District, is a commemorative coin collector, and he has collected hundreds of them so far over the past 30 years. What is the significance of collecting commemorative coins? It turns out that commemorative coins are legal tender issued as a commemoration of international or national political, historical, cultural and other major events, outstanding people, rare plants and animals, sports events, etc., which are printed with beautiful, representative of historical events, iconic buildings, people and other content of the pictures and text. They are very much similar to stamps that has a certain value for collection. Mr. Peng said that his collection of commemorative coins is not for the appreciation of money, but only for its historical commemorative significance. The reason is that most of the important historical events of the CPC and China in the past hundred years and the historical moments worth remembering are printed on the coins.

“I started collecting just because I thought the commemorative coins looked nice.” Mr. Peng has always been collecting stamps. By chance, he saw commemorative coins for the first time at his friend’s house who was also a stamp collector, and then became interested in these beautiful coins. But at that time, there were not too many people concerned about and collecting commemorative coins, and he started collecting the ones he could find on a casual basis.

Mr. Peng said, although he has been collecting for decades, his own collecting experience is rather “Buddha-like”. First of all, he never pays high prices to buy “speculative” commemorative coins, but tries to buy newly issued coins from banks and other formal channels, or gets these coins from his friends. Secondly, he never buys precious metal coins, but mainly collects ordinary commemorative coins. At the same time, he never sells the coins he collects.

Significant history on the commemorative coins

What is the reason for Mr. Peng to keep collecting commemorative coins for more than 30 years? “Commemorative coins are similar to stamps in that the history of the country is recorded on them.” Mr. Peng said, for example, the coin issued in 1987 for the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which has a picture of the office building of the Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the front, “People's Republic of China” on the top of the inner edge and “40th anniversary of the founding of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region" on the bottom.” On the back of the coin, there is a picture of shepherds herding sheep. The coin makes us interested in learning about its historical significance.

Similarly, there are the coins for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with the Guilin landscape “Jia Tian Xia (World)” pattern; the coins for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with the Xinjiang Great Hall of the People and the Tianshan Mountains in Urumqi, Xinjiang; and the coins for the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region with the Potala Palace in Tibet, etc.

Mr. Peng introduced that the most meaningful ones are the sets of commemorative coins. For example, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the founding of New China, the People’s Bank of China issued a set of commemorative coins for the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1984. The set of three coins is printed with the “National Unity”, which symbolizes the unity of the people of all ethnic groups in the country, and the “Long Live the Motherland”, which features evergreen pine trees and the Great Wall, in front of the Tian’anmen Square. 

According to the information Mr. Peng got from the media, the number of coins in the set varied due to the problem of minting dies. Among them, the theme of “Founding Ceremony” is 2,092,000 pieces, the theme of “National Unity” is 8,793,000 pieces, and the theme of “Long Live the Motherland” is 9,068,000 pieces. Only 2,092,000 sets of coins are available in the market.

There are also the commemorative coins for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China issued on June 18, 1991. This set consists of three coins with a nominal value of 1 yuan. The design on the obverse of the coin is the emblem of the People’s Republic of China, and the reverse side is printed with three different designs of the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the site of the Zunyi Conference and the site of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. The commemorative coin allows the Chinese people to recognize the importance of these three conferences. (Translated by Wang Junli, Fathom Language Limited)