200 Yuan Vault Protector of the Tang Dynasty

The "Vault Protector" — or *镇库* coin — draws on a tradition dating to the Five Dynasties period, when oversized cash coins were cast and placed in mint treasuries as talismans against loss and theft. The Tang Dynasty association here is partly evocative; the actual *zhenkù* practice postdates the Tang by several decades, though Tang-era mints were among the most productive in Chinese history, operating under the Bureau of Good Currency at peak outputs exceeding billions of cash annually.

The 1998 issue belongs to a series the People's Bank launched specifically around this iconographic tradition, with the kilogram silver format chosen to echo the monumental scale of the original cast protectors.