20 Yuan Phoenix and Dragon

Issued under the bimetallic commemorative program China launched in earnest during the late 1980s, this two-ounce silver piece was part of a broader push to attract foreign hard currency through numismatic exports — a strategy the People's Bank pursued aggressively as China integrated further into international markets following the economic reforms of the preceding decade. The coins were sold primarily through overseas distributors, not domestic channels.

The 1989–1990 dating reflects production spanning the fiscal issue year, a practice common to Chinese commemoratives of this period that has since created minor cataloguing inconsistencies across major references.