China displayed?in Berlin?on Friday the first series
of precious metal commemorative coins for the 29th Olympic Games which is
to be held in Beijing in 2008, adding "a precious treasure" to the
Olympiad history.
The set consists of two gold and four silver coins. Each gold
coin weighs 1/3 ounce and each silver coin weighs one ounce.
"The will add a precious treasure for the Olympic Games history,
and offer valuable collectables for Olympic Games items fans," Shan
Jiansheng, president of China Gold Coin Incorporation, told a press
conference on the sideline of the 35th World Money Fair.
Both the gold and silver coins share a common obverse design
characterized by such composition as a paired Chinese dragon image,
the Olympic Games emblem, the name of the country and the year.
The design on the reverse side of the gold coins are "Equestrian
Sports Image" and "Archery Sports Image" with drawings of horse
riding and arrow shooting, dated back to 1,500 years ago in China,
matching Olympic Games pictogram.
For the silver coins, the reverse designs were featured with
lovely and lively children playing typical Chinese traditional
games -- kite flying, goat jumping, hoop rolling and shuttlecock
kicking.
"In general, the design of the Beijing 2008 Olympic coins has
depicted the true Chinese style, which conveys the 'unique Chinese
flavor,' and also expressed in its production technics the perfect
combination of tradition and modern," Shan said.
The second and the third series of the coins will be issued
respectively in 2007 and 2008.
Finland is the first country which issued the first precious
metal Olympiad commemorative coins when it hosted the 15th Olympic
Games in 1952.
Ye Yingnan, director general of currency, gold and silver bureau
of the People's Bank of China, said that the coins have been
designed to display the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius and
Fortius."
"It reflects the theme of 'New Beijing, Great Olympics' and the
slogan of 'one world, one dream' adopted by Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games."
"The coins picture a harmonious combination of civilizations of
both the old and the modern unfolded in Beijing, and express the
common value treasured by all the people living in the 'Global
Village,'" he added.
The World Money Fair, the world's largest money mints show, used
be held in Basel, Switzerland and moved to Berlin starting from
this year.
The fair, which ends on Feb. 5, was attended by around 300
exhibitors from all the world. Barbara Balz, a member of the fair's
organizing committee, said she expected 10,000 people to visit the
fair.
"The fair is growing, we have more people in Berlin than Basel,
the market is much larger, so we expect more business here, " she
told Xinhua.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2006)