Coin of the Month: Past and Present on Miniature Works of Art

In this new periodic series for Coin & Mint News, we will be taking a deep dive into a new coin or series, beginning this month with the Peking Opera commemorative series and the Wuyi Mountain circulating commemorative coin, both produced by China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPM).

The Peking Opera series embodies centuries of accumulated Chinese opera art and serves as a carrier of traditional Chinese culture. It adheres to CBPM's core design philosophy of integrating ancient and modern perspectives and, says the company, is intended to 'stand as a vivid practice of the creative transformation of traditional culture'.

The obverse of the coins condenses the core musical system of Peking Opera, featuring six classic musical instruments: the three core instruments of the civil orchestra and the three core instruments of the martial orchestra.