20 Yuan 100th Anniversary of finding Dun Huang Grottoes

The Dunhuang Grottoes — more precisely the Mogao Caves — were not "found" in 2000 but rediscovered in modern scholarly terms in 1900, when a Taoist monk named Wang Yuanlu broke through a sealed wall and uncovered the Cave of the Sutras: roughly 50,000 manuscripts, silk paintings, and artifacts dating back to the 4th century. Within years, Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, and others had removed the bulk of the collection to London, Paris, and Saint Petersburg, a removal Beijing still formally contests.

This coin commemorates the centenary of that discovery. The rectangular flan — 40 × 60 mm — places it outside standard round coinage and reflects a format China's mint began favoring for high-end cultural commemoratives in this period.