As the Chinese New Year of the Loong approaches, pre-orders for China's 2024 New Year commemorative coins and commemorative banknotes opened on January 3 at 10 p.m. Beijing Time.
However, the high demand led to significant traffic issues, with several banks' websites becoming inaccessible. Netizens reported experiencing website lag, delayed verification codes, and server unresponsiveness, as screenshots circulated showing these outages.
The 2024 New Year commemorative coins, priced at 10 yuan (1.4 U.S. dollars), have a total issuance of 120 million pieces. Crafted from bimetallic copper alloy, the coins feature a loong design that blends traditional Chinese paper-cutting art with festive elements like flower lanterns and lingzhi mushrooms, symbols of good fortune.
Meanwhile, the commemorative banknotes, valued at 20 yuan (2.8 U.S. dollars), see a total issuance of 100 million notes. Made of plastic, the banknotes showcase a loong-shaped pattern and a child dancing with a loong lantern, set against traditional Beijing quadrangle courtyards.
These commemorative coins and banknotes retain the same functions as their regular counterparts and can be redeemed at banks between January 9 and January 15.
This marks the 7th series of commemorative banknotes issued by the People's Bank of China and the second for the Year of the Loong.
Additionally, second-hand trading platforms are witnessing a surge in prices for sets of the Year of the Loong commemoratives, reflecting their growing popularity and collector demand.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
