10 Yuan Phoenix and Dragon

Issued as part of China's early bullion and commemorative small-gold program, this piece was produced at a moment when the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges were just beginning to formalize gold trading domestically. The series paired traditional imperial imagery as a deliberate callback to dynastic coinage conventions, positioning the PRC's modern gold issues within a longer cultural lineage for export market appeal — Hong Kong collectors and overseas Chinese communities were the primary buyers, not domestic Chinese citizens, who remained legally restricted from private gold ownership until 2004.