China Numismatic Museum

　　The China Numismatic Museum is a national thematic museum directly under the People's Bank of China, primarily engaged in the collection, research, and exhibition of numismatic items. It also has the responsibility of guiding and promoting numismatic collection, research, and the dissemination of numismatic culture. The museum has several departments, including the Office, Exhibition and Education Department, Collection and Conservation Department, Research and Information Department, China Numismatics Editorial Department, Security Department, and Development and Services Department. It also administers the Secretariat of the China Numismatic Society.

　　The China Numismatic Museum

　　The exhibitions at the China Numismatic Museum include the "Exhibition of Chinese Historical Currency," "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Coin Casting Techniques," and "Exhibition of the History of the People’s Bank of China." The "Exhibition of Chinese Historical Currency" is located on the second and third floors of the museum’s current exhibition building (formerly the Beiyang Commercial Guarantee Bank), consisting of the "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Currency" and the "Exhibition of Modern Chinese Currency." This is the museum’s earliest permanent exhibition, open to the public year-round. The "Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Coin Casting Techniques" is located in the first-floor lobby of the current exhibition building and is a uniquely themed exhibition developed by the museum. The "Exhibition of the History of the People’s Bank of China" is housed in a hall-style building within the museum grounds, refined from the "60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Bank of China Exhibition," offering a vivid review of the central bank’s history.

　　The China Numismatic Museum houses a collection of approximately 300,000 numismatic items and 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, ethnic minority currency, foreign currency, coin molds, and other currency-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 in Fugou, Henan; Warring States period "Ban Yuan" coins from Shaanxi; complete Chu gold ingots, copper coin tokens, Song Dynasty nine-fold seal script "Huang Song Tong Bao" coins, gold foil from the Liao and Jin periods, the Ming Dynasty’s "Da Ming Tong Xing Bao Chao" issued by the Ministry of Revenue, and fifty-tael gold ingots from the Hongwu era, 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, Tang Dynasty’s Kaiyuan Tongbao, Song Dynasty’s Qianyuan Zhongbao, Western Xia Dynasty’s forest money, and Yuan Dynasty’s Jiaochao. Ethnic minority regions and borderland areas are particularly well represented. The collection also includes currencies issued by revolutionary governments during various historical periods, such as the first revolutionary base area’s peasant movement-issued currency, the second revolutionary war period, the Anti-Japanese War period, and the third revolutionary war period. Some of these are relatively systematically collected. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, currencies such as the main unit Renminbi, military payment certificates, and various other types are also part of the collection—these are distinctive features of the museum.

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

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

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

　　Academic research is one of the museum’s three core missions. Since its establishment, the museum has conducted extensive research in areas such as numismatic theory, the origins of Chinese currency, pre-Qin currency and monetary scripts, alloy materials of historical coins, ancient Chinese paper money, currencies of people’s regimes, corrosion and anti-corrosion issues of gold and silver commemorative coins, simulation 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 numismatic artifacts in exhibitions, and scientific authentication of numismatic relics. The museum has published over a hundred papers, several of which have won awards, and several monographs have been or will be published. The museum maintains academic exchanges with counterpart institutions in more than ten countries and regions worldwide, including the UK, US, France, Canada, and Japan, regularly collaborates with relevant 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, Xijiaomin Lane, 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, internal staff of the People’s Bank of China system (including one family member) with valid ID, and half-price tickets for students.

　　Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development