150 Yuan Year of the Snake

China's gold lunar series from this period was managed through the China Gold Coin Corporation, which exported the bulk of mintage directly to overseas collector markets — particularly Hong Kong, the United States, and Germany — meaning most examples never circulated domestically at all. The 1989 Snake issue was struck at a moment of acute political tension: production and distribution were finalized in the months immediately surrounding the Tiananmen Square crackdown of June 4th, which disrupted export logistics and likely accounts for the uneven availability that collectors noted in the secondary market that year.