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10 Yuan Minorities - Gesal, King of Tibet
| Issuer | People's Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1997 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Yuan (10元, 拾圓) |
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| Obverse description | Central view of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, rendered in fine relief with its characteristic multi-storey central tower and symmetrical flanking wings executed in a blend of traditional Chinese and Soviet architectural styles. A decorative floral vine motif occupies the lower field, flanking the date 1997 inscribed at centre-bottom. The circular legend 中华人民共和国 (People's Republic of China) arcs around the upper field in Chinese characters. The mirrored proof field provides strong contrast to the frosted architectural device. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | 中华人民共和国 1997 |
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| Additional information |
The Gesar (also romanized as Gesar or Gesal) epic is the longest in the world by most scholarly measures — longer than the Iliad, Odyssey, Mahabharata, and Tibetan Book of the Dead combined when the full oral tradition is accounted for. The People's Bank issued this coin as part of a series honoring Chinese minority nationalities and their cultural heritage, a project with obvious political dimensions given Beijing's relationship with Tibetan autonomy through the 1990s.
King Gesar himself is almost certainly a composite legendary figure rather than a historical one, with oral traditions placing him variously in the 10th through 12th centuries.