Beijing City Numismatic Museum

This museum is located in central Beijing, not too far from the major attractions of the capital of China, however, it seems to be not often visited by foreigners. It housed in a nondescript building. Unfortunately, I visited when the museum was closed. Details from the museum website.
English Name: Beijing City Numismatic Museum
Chinese Name: 北京市古代钱币展览馆
Other Name: 北京古代钱币博物馆
Attraction Type:  Beijing Attraction, Museum
Theme: Numismatic history of China.
Best Time to Visit: Whole year
Recommended Visiting Time: About 1-2 hours
Opening Hours: 9:00 – 16:00
Admission Fee: CNY 10
Address in English:  17 Xijiao Min Xiang, Xicheng District, Beijing
Address in Chinese: 北京市西城区西交民巷17号

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Beijing City Numismatic Museum

The China Numismatic Museum is located in Xijiaomin Lane, west of Tiananmen Square, in the center of Beijing. It is a national museum under the direction of the Head Office of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), dedicated to collecting and displaying coins and notes. There are more than 300,000 items housed in the China Numismatic Museum, including old coins, gold and silver coins, paper money, coins used by ethnic groups, foreign coins, coin models, and other items relevant to coins. 

Why is Beijing City Numismatic Museum So Special?

This museum exhibits Chinese currencies through ages, from shell money and spade-shaped coins to most recent coins. Ancient minting technology is also exhibited.

Introduction of Beijing City Numismatic Museum

Numismatics

Numismatic means coins and currency, if you’re feeling less fancy, and this museum set in a cracker of an edifice – surprise! I used to be a bank – does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a museum about coins, from the beginning to now. By beginning we’re talking around 221 BC, and from there the two main floors of this pleasantly antiquated building take you chronologically through to the present day, offering smatterings of history around the coin’s evolution.

History of The Beijing City Numismatic Museum

The China Numismatic Museum is under the management of the People’s Bank of China. It was founded in 1992, ten years after the founding of the China Numismatic Society. It is located just off Tian’anmen Square, in Beijing at no. 17 Xijiaomin Xiang, Xicheng District, Beijing. The museum has two buildings that were formerly the Commercial Guarantee Bank of China and the Central Bank of China Peking Branch. Its remit is to collect, display and research ancient, modern and contemporary currencies and objects relating to banking history. It has a collection of over 300,000 numismatic objects. It is a member of the International Numismatic Council and a member of the council of the International Committee for Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON).

The China Numismatic Museum is also the home of the secretariat of the China Numismatic Society (CNS), which was founded in 1982, a non-governmental, non-profit, academic organization registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

CNM owns a wealth of collections and has successfully put on some fairly influential exhibitions, such as the “Ancient Chinese Coins-casting Technology Exhibition”, “Anti-Counterfeit Money Exhibition” and “Red Regime Currency Exhibition”. The museum journal China Numismatics is a prestigious publication. The museum’s research achievements on “Ancient Chinese Sycee Casting Technology” and “Research on Ancient Chinese Coins-casting Technology” have won the first and second prizes respectively at the national banking Science and technology development appraisal.

Exhibitions

• Ancient Chinese Coin-casting Technology
• Anti-Counterfeit Money
• Red Regime Currency