Special report:
2008 Olympic
Games
BEIJING, July 7 -- The
People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, is to issue a
commemorative bank note with a face value of 10 yuan ($1.46) from Tuesday to
mark the Beijing Olympic Games, the bank said in a statement on Sunday.
The PBOC said it would issue a total of 6 million
such notes, which would be circulated in the currency market with the same
denomination as the ordinary 10-yuan notes.
The
new note, in cyan, is 148.5 millimeters long and 72 millimeters wide, according
to the central bank. While the ordinary 10-yuan notes are in cobalt black, 140
millimeters long and 70 millimeters wide.
On one side is a picture of the National Stadium, or
the Bird's Nest, the main venue for the Games in August. Above the picture is
the emblem of the Beijing Games, "Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing". The picture of
national stadium and the emblem are both set against the backdrop of the Temple
of Heaven, one of the country's best-known landmarks.
This takes the place of the portrait of the late
Chinese leader Mao Zedong and China's national emblem on the ordinary 10-yuan
notes.
The other side features the famous ancient Greek
marble statue of a discus-thrower, Discobolus, portraits of athletes and the
Arabic numeral "2008".
These replace the drawing of the scenic Three Gorges,
but the name of the PBOC in Chinese pinyin, Mongolian, Tibetan, Ugyur and
Zhuang, remains in the top right corner.
The central bank also said it incorporated watermarks
and other technologies to prevent counterfeiting of the notes.
A clear watermark appears on the picture of the
National Stadium in the shape of the Arabic numeral "10" and the Games of XXIX
Olympiad in the Chinese characters, said the bank.
(Source: China Daily)
