China Numismatic Museum

China Numismatic Museum

The China Numismatic Museum is a national-level specialized museum directly under the People's Bank of China. It is primarily engaged in the collection, research, and exhibition of coins, and is tasked with guiding, promoting coin collecting and research, as well as publicizing coin culture. The museum has departments including the Office, Exhibition and Education Department, Collection and Conservation Department, Research and Information Department, China Numismatics Department, Security Department, and Development and Service Department, and also administers the Secretariat of the China Numismatic Society.

China Numismatic Museum

The exhibitions at the China Numismatic Museum include the "Exhibition of Chinese Coins Through the Ages," the "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Coin Minting Techniques," and the "Exhibition on the History of the People's Bank of China." The "Exhibition of Chinese Coins Through the Ages" is located on the second and third floors of the museum’s current exhibition hall (formerly the Beiyang Bank of Commerce), and consists of the "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Coins" and the "Exhibition of Modern Chinese Coins." This is the museum’s earliest core exhibition and is open to the public year-round. The "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Coin Minting Techniques" is located in the lobby on the first floor of the current exhibition hall and is a uniquely themed special exhibition developed by the museum. The "Exhibition on the History of the People's Bank of China" is housed in a hall-style building within the museum grounds and is based on the "60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Bank of China Exhibition." It serves as a vivid review of the central bank’s history.

The China Numismatic Museum houses a collection of approximately 300,000 coins and other numismatic-related cultural relics from ancient to modern times, both in China and abroad. These are organized, collected, and preserved into six major categories: ancient coins, gold and silver coins, paper money, coins of ethnic minorities, foreign coins, coin molds, and other numismatic-related artifacts.

Among the museum’s collections are many precious cultural relics of high academic value, such as Shang Dynasty bronze imitation cowrie shells unearthed in Linzhaoyu, Baode, Shanxi; gold and silver cowrie shells from the Zhongshan State ruins in Hebei; silver spade coins from the Eastern Zhou period unearthed in Fugou, Henan; Warring States period "Ban Yuan" coins from Shaanxi; intact Chu gold ingots, copper coin tokens, the Song Dynasty "Nine-fold Seal Script" 'Huangsong Tongbao,' gold foil from the Liao and Jin periods, the Ming Dynasty's "Da Ming Tongxing Baochao" issued by the Ministry of Revenue, and the Hongwu 50-tael gold ingot, among others. There are also valuable currencies issued in various ethnic minority regions throughout China’s history, such as the Han Dynasty’s six-zhu and twenty-four-zhu coins, the Sui Dynasty’s kaiyuan tongbao, the Tang Dynasty’s kaiyuan tongbao, the Song Dynasty’s jiaozi and huizi, the Yuan Dynasty’s jiaochao, the Ming Dynasty’s da ming baochao, and the Qing Dynasty’s qianlong baochao. The collection of currencies from minority and border regions is particularly rich. There are also revolutionary-era currencies issued by the people’s governments during different revolutionary periods, such as the currency issued by peasant armies during the first revolutionary civil war period, the currency issued during the second revolutionary civil war and the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the currency issued during the third revolutionary civil war period. Some of these rare and historically significant issues are also relatively systematically collected. The People’s Bank of China issued the main Chinese currency, the renminbi, as well as various commemorative coins after its establishment, which are also a highlight of the museum.

The China Numismatic Museum also collects other numismatic-related cultural relics, such as various coin molds, including copper cowrie molds, hollow-head spade molds, and wuzhu coin molds, molds, machinery, and printing plates for modern machine-made silver coins and paper money, as well as numismatic culture-related items such as money trees, money swords, and piggy banks.

In addition, the China Numismatic Museum also houses a precious collection of coins from over 100 countries around the world, among which 19th-century gold and silver coins and modern paper money make up a significant proportion.

Numismatic literature and documents are also part of the museum’s collection. To date, the museum has collected more than 13,000 volumes of numismatic books and over 5,000 volumes of periodicals, providing essential resources for the study of numismatics and monetary history.

Academic research is one of the museum’s three main missions. Since its establishment, the museum has conducted extensive research in areas such as numismatic theory, the origins of Chinese currency, pre-Qin coins and monetary scripts, alloy materials of historical coins, ancient Chinese paper money, currencies of the people’s regimes, corrosion and anti-corrosion issues of gold and silver commemorative coins, simulations of ancient Chinese coin casting techniques, research on the casting techniques of Chu ant-nose coins, the sand-casting method and its origins, conservation of exhibits in museum displays, and scientific authentication research of coin-related artifacts. The museum has published over a hundred papers, several of which have won awards, and several monographs have been or are about to be published. The museum maintains academic exchanges with counterpart institutions in more than ten countries and regions worldwide, including the UK, USA, France, Canada, and Japan, regularly engages in academic interactions with related domestic institutions, and holds academic lectures on an irregular basis.

The China Numismatic Museum is a council member of the International Council of Museums’ Committee for Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON); its director, Professor Huang Xiquan, is a member of the ICOMON Executive Committee.

Address: No. 17, Xijiaominxiang, Xicheng District, Beijing

Type: Museum

Recommended visiting time: About 1 hour

Phone: 010-66081385

Official website: http://www.cnm.com.cn/introduction.asp

Opening hours:

Open daily from 9:00 to 16:00; ticket sales stop half an hour before closing; closed on Mondays and Sundays.

Ticket information:

Door price: 10.0 RMB

Regular ticket: 10 RMB; free admission for retirees with valid ID; employees of the People’s Bank of China system (including one family member) may enter free with valid ID; student tickets are half-price.

Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development