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Queuing for special coins
http://www.ecns.cn/2015/02-06/154025.shtml
Feb 6th 2015, 07:54
2015-02-06 16:54
Wonder what a crowd of some 200 or so might want to queue up for on a freezing morning in Beijing? The latest APPLE products, perhaps; gold bars, whose prices are plunging again, or free goods offered by some companies? No, those are all wrong.
The people were waiting for the release of annual commemorative coins.
China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, issues special coins each year to commemorate the Chinese New Year. And this Friday, the bank issued 80 million coins to mark the Year of the Sheep in the Chinese zodiac.
What makes this year's coins different from previous years is that in the past the denomination was one yuan (US$ 0.16). Starting from this year, however the face value is ten yuan, which partly explained why more people than ever were lining up outside a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on the Third Ring Road in western Beijing, according to a bank official.
Each person can only buy two coins and have to bring their identity card with them during the purchase, said a bank clerk, who refused to give her name. Other banks also saw a lot of people queuing up in the morning.
People in line varied in age, and the motivation in buying the coins also differed. A woman in her 50s said she queued up "out of pure interest" for the "exquisite" coins, while some younger women said they bought the coins in the expectation their value would appreciate.
Reports say that pervious commemorative coins of a single year may appreciate tenfold, but a set of the 12 coins for each of the Chinese zodiac signs can appreciate to several thousand yuan, which is several hundred times their face value.
Liu Ming, a 22-year-old man who worked near the bank, said he began to queue up around 8:40 am, 20 minutes before the bank opened. He waited in the cold for half an hour. When he got the coins, he was very happy.
"I've bought coins for four straight years now - the year of the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, and now the year of the Sheep," a beaming Liu said.
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