The Central Bank has issued a new ten-yuan note to commemorate next month's Games. The bank note features Olympic images, including sporting venues and athletes. Thousands of Chinese lined up overnight to purchase the special notes as they were released to the public on Wednesday.

The Olympic theme dominates the design of the 10 yuan note.

On the one side, the note features the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the main venue for the Summer Games in August.

The Games' emblem, a red inked stamp, is positioned above the Bird's Nest, with the capital city's historic site, the Temple of Heaven, as a backdrop.

The reverse side features an ancient Greek marble statue, as well as portraits of athletes and the year, 2008.

The Olympic design of the notes attracted thousands of buyers, despite the pain of queuing overnight.

A?man came all the way from the far west province of Qinghai, and couldn't suppress his smile when he finally received the new note.

And this man says he is going to keep this special note as a memento, as the Olympics is an honor for China.

A total of six million notes were released by the Central Bank. At this branch, only 500 notes were sold and each customer is only allowed one note.

At local coin and stamp markets, the price of these notes has surged to 200 yuan each, and traders expect the price to go as high as 350 yuan.

(CCTV July 10, 2008)