A former British consulate in Xiamen, a port city in east China's Fujian Province, has become the largest museum of ancient coins in the province.
The beautiful house on Zhangzhou Road in Gulangyu of Xiamen was built around 1870 and represents the style of construction in the early colonial period.
The house became a British consulate after China and Britain signed the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing after the Opium War in 1840-1842, making Xiamen the trade port between the two countries.
Jinquan museum exhibits over 5,200 kinds of coins from the New Stone Age to the Republic of China (1912-1949). Detailed explanations and background music in the museum help to reproduce the long history and rich culture of China.
A special Fujian exhibition hall shows the special cultural features of the southern part of the province through the coins used in the area in ancient times.
The museum has attracted many domestic and overseas tourists since it opened in 2001.
(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2003)
