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3 Yuan Twenty-Four Solar Terms-Stories, Winter Solstice
| Issuer | People's Republic of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
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| Value | 3 Yuan (3元, 叁圓) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse features a finely detailed composition centered on a traditional Chinese sundial rendered in high relief, set at an angle across the square field. Flanking the sundial are bundled sheaves of wheat and rice, symbolizing agricultural abundance associated with the solar calendar. Blossoming plum and peach branches arc gracefully across the upper portion of the design, their petals rendered with delicate engraving. The vertical inscription 中华人民共和国 (People's Republic of China) appears in raised Chinese characters along the left margin. The date 2022 is inscribed in the lower right field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse depicts two stylized cartoon tigers standing at a table bearing a large platter of dumplings (jiaozi), a traditional food associated with the Winter Solstice festival. A teapot and small cup are placed to the left on the table. In the upper right, a decorative window lattice bears a holographic colored 福 (fortune) character pasted upon it, referencing the custom of displaying auspicious characters during the season. The inscription 冬至 (Winter Solstice) appears vertically along the upper left margin. The denomination 3元 is inscribed in the lower right field, with the tigers and dumplings rendered in applied color against the milled silver ground. |
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| Additional information |
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms were inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016, a designation that directly preceded this commemorative series. The system itself dates to the Han dynasty and was codified as an agricultural calendar dividing the solar year into 24 points — Dōngzhì, the Winter Solstice, marking the moment the Northern Hemisphere's daylight reaches its minimum and, by traditional reckoning, the point at which yang energy begins its recovery.
Dōngzhì has been observed as a family gathering occasion in China for over two millennia, predating many later festivals in cultural weight. The custom of eating tangyuan on this date persists across southern China and the diaspora.