3 Yuan Twenty-Four Solar Terms-Stories, Autumn Equinox

The Autumn Equinox (秋分) was officially designated China's "Harvest Festival" by the State Council in 2018 — the first nationally recognized farmers' holiday established in decades. This coin's release two years into that holiday's short history ties it directly to that policy decision rather than to any ancient calendrical tradition of commemoration.

The Twenty-Four Solar Terms series draws from the huainanzi and Zhou-dynasty agricultural calendars, though the terms themselves were inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016, which prompted the People's Bank to launch the series the following year.