One person, one animal, one coin, one story

The Chinese zodiac, as a folk cultural symbol with a long history of the Chinese nation, originated from the ancient totem worship and contains people’s longing for a happy life and the sustenance of auspiciousness and prosperity. Since ancient times, every Chinese has been endowed with a zodiac sign from birth and accompanied by life. In a sense, the Chinese zodiac is the life mark of every Chinese and the mascot that everyone is born with.

With the improvement of China’s national strength, the zodiac culture has become a world culture, which has been pursued by people all over the world. In order to meet the people’s will and comply with the public opinion, the people’s Bank of China began to issue a series of circulating commemorative coins for the new year Zodiac in 2003, which is undoubtedly an inevitable and correct choice for carrying forward and inheriting the essence of China’s zodiac culture and traditional folk customs.

The first round of circulation commemorative coins of the Chinese Zodiac has created the first circulation commemorative coins of the Chinese Zodiac new year and has a unique historical position. However, many people believe that although the design of the commemorative coins is novel and innovative, the image of the Chinese zodiac is not prominent enough, which is a pity. But in fact, this is just the opposite. If you can carefully taste the patterns of the 12 circulating commemorative coins of the lunar new year, you will find the ingenuity of the pattern designers. They select the most distinctive 12 images of the lunar new year from the most distinctive festive folk culture in the Millennium Chinese civilization, and then combine them with the images of happy boys and girls in holiday costumes to tell a beautiful story, I really realized the creation of “one coin, one story” commemorative coin. The zodiac elements on the coin give way to people’s image. I think it’s just a stroke of God. Why do you say so? There are two main reasons.

First, the overall design idea of the commemorative coin is “one coin, one story”. Since it is to tell a story, who is the protagonist in the story? Is it the zodiac? If it is the Chinese zodiac, where do the feelings of people who appreciate coins resonate? The protagonist of the story must be human. In this way, let’s take a look at the pattern of commemorative coins. Isn’t the happy child image and zodiac elements full of childlike innocence and childlike interest creating a particularly beautiful life scene cherished in the depths of public memory? The patterns tell the unforgettable beautiful years in everyone’s heart. Watching the 12 commemorative coins is like watching a movie. In the changes of pictures, it seems to shuttle through the time tunnel of reality and memory. The infinite warmth and common memory have aroused the strong emotional resonance in the hearts of the public, and the wonderful story is staged in this way.

Second, the issuance of the first round of circulating coins of the Chinese zodiac is precisely standing at an era node of rapid development and encouraging innovation after the 21st century. Since it wants to create a precedent for the issuance of zodiac commemorative coins, it should be unique and unique. In 1980, the first round of zodiac stamps began to be issued, and the pattern was based on the master painting highlighting the image of the zodiac for artistic creation; In 1981, the first round of gold and silver coins of the Chinese Zodiac were issued. The design refers to the idea of the Chinese Zodiac stamps and adopts the famous paintings of masters of previous dynasties. The first round of circulation coins of the Chinese Zodiac to be innovated will certainly not refer to the previous ideas, so the pattern of today’s commemorative coins is very reasonable. And such an ingenious design aesthetic feeling and the design expression of the warm implication of rain moistening the heart are also a new and unique artistic interpretation of Chinese cultural elements and the ancient Chinese Zodiac new year culture? Is it the special value of practicing commemorative coins to commemorate important moments and witness people’s good life?

Everyone has their own understanding of beauty, but the most touching emotion is indeed the same. The design of the first round of ordinary commemorative coins for New Year celebrations is unique - integrating China’s long-standing spring festival culture, Zodiac culture, folk culture, coin culture and traditional art, which has not only become a masterpiece to carry forward China’s long-standing Zodiac culture, Moreover, through the unique design element expression of the commemorative coin pattern, it has reconstructed a special cultural and artistic solution for us. Just as the 12 zodiac elements of this year’s Winter Olympic Games appeared at the closing ceremony in a unique “ice cart” posture, they show the Chinese people’s cultural confidence to the people of the world in a unique way of China.