30 Yuan Alpine Skiing, Piedfort

Issued to mark China's first participation in the Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid in February 1980. The piedfort format — struck at double the normal thickness on a standard-diameter planchet — was used here as a prestige collector piece rather than for any circulating purpose, an approach China adopted selectively for its early commemorative program as it began engaging with international numismatic markets after decades of isolation.

The .800 silver specification is notably lower than the .925 used by most Western mints for piedfort issues of the period.