China will unveil on June 20 a second set of gold and silver
coins to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said the country's
central bank in a bulletin published on its website Thursday.
The second set consists of 8 commemorative coins, two made with
a third ounce of gold, one with five ounces of gold, four with an
ounce of silver, and one with a full kilogram of silver.
The smaller coins vary in size from 23 to 60 millimeters in
diameter.
The one-kilo silver coins are 10 centimeters in diameter, four
times as big as a regular one-yuan coin. An Olympic-sounding 20008
of these coins will be issued each with a face value of 300
yuan.
All the coins carry the logo of the Beijing Olympics on one
side. Images on the other sides vary from mascots of the Games to
dragon, from the Great Wall to the Summer Palace park in Beijing,
and from martial arts to dragon boat racing, among others.
A three-piece set of brass alloy commemorative coins will be
issued the same day. Ten million sets of these coins will be issued
with a face value of one yuan each.
The People's Bank of China said the brass-alloy coins are legal
tender and can be used as normal currency in daily life.
The country presented the first set of Beijing Olympics gold and
silver commemorative coins in September 2006, and a third set will
be issued in 2008.
Finland began the practice of Olympic Games hosts issuing
commemorative coins in 1952.
(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2007)