Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200807/20080709/article_366189.htm
A 73-year-old man, identified as Chen, becomes the first person in the city to pick up a commemorative bank note celebrating the Beijing Olympic Games. He picked up the note at a Huangpu District sub-branch of the Bank of China in Shanghai.
A 73-year-old man, identified as Chen, becomes the first person in the city to pick up a commemorative bank note celebrating the Beijing Olympic Games. He picked up the note at a Huangpu District sub-branch of the Bank of China in Shanghai.
Olympic notes disappear faster than a 100m sprinter
Created: 2008-7-9 14:50:47
Author:Yang Lifei and Zhang Fengming
SHANGHAI banks were swarmed with people trying to snatch up 43,200 commemorative bank notes to mark the Beijing Olympic Games.
Each person was allowed one commemorative 10-yuan (US$1.46) note.
The service started late yesterday afternoon and will finish today.
Shanghai issued the notes at 144 commercial bank branches around the city. The People's Bank of China circulated 6 million notes nationwide.
All 22 branches of the Bank of China in Shanghai finished exchanging the notes this morning. Each branch was authorized to issue 300 such notes.
Some enthusiastic residents began to wait in line outside a branch in Huangpu District last night. All 300 commemorative notes were gone soon after the branch opened this morning, bank officials told Shanghai Daily.
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank issued the notes at 18 branches and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China at 22 branches.
A woman told the Shanghai Morning Post she learned about it at 4:30pm yesterday. When she rushed to a Bank of China branch near the Bund 30 minutes later, all the notes were gone.
``I heard more than 100 people were waiting in line before the bank started service at 4:30pm,'' Tan told the newspaper.
As the commemorative notes can only be exchanged at bank counters with an ordinary 10-yuan bank note, those who failed to get it have started seeking other channels. According to the newspaper, online bids are averaging more than 200 yuan. One Taobao.com set a minimum bid of 2,008 yuan, to mark the year of the Beijing Olympic Games.
``I managed to obtain a few such notes at 3pm yesterday and post advertisements on the Internet immediately,'' a seller from Guangdong Province told the newspaper. ``I made more than 10 deals in the following 30 minutes and each note sold for 500 yuan.''
At local stamp and currency markets, the forward price for the bank note is about 200 yuan to 300 yuan each, the report said.
Chinese law bans the sale of circulated currency including commemorative bank notes. Violators will have all bank notes and illicit profits confiscated.
The special 10-yuan note is blue and green. Its front side is a picture of the National Stadium and the backdrop is the Temple of Heaven. The emblem of the Games is above the National Stadium. On the back of the note is a picture of the famous Greek statue of a discus-thrower, portraits of athletes and the year 2008.
Each person was allowed one commemorative 10-yuan (US$1.46) note.
The service started late yesterday afternoon and will finish today.
Shanghai issued the notes at 144 commercial bank branches around the city. The People's Bank of China circulated 6 million notes nationwide.
All 22 branches of the Bank of China in Shanghai finished exchanging the notes this morning. Each branch was authorized to issue 300 such notes.
Some enthusiastic residents began to wait in line outside a branch in Huangpu District last night. All 300 commemorative notes were gone soon after the branch opened this morning, bank officials told Shanghai Daily.
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank issued the notes at 18 branches and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China at 22 branches.
A woman told the Shanghai Morning Post she learned about it at 4:30pm yesterday. When she rushed to a Bank of China branch near the Bund 30 minutes later, all the notes were gone.
``I heard more than 100 people were waiting in line before the bank started service at 4:30pm,'' Tan told the newspaper.
As the commemorative notes can only be exchanged at bank counters with an ordinary 10-yuan bank note, those who failed to get it have started seeking other channels. According to the newspaper, online bids are averaging more than 200 yuan. One Taobao.com set a minimum bid of 2,008 yuan, to mark the year of the Beijing Olympic Games.
``I managed to obtain a few such notes at 3pm yesterday and post advertisements on the Internet immediately,'' a seller from Guangdong Province told the newspaper. ``I made more than 10 deals in the following 30 minutes and each note sold for 500 yuan.''
At local stamp and currency markets, the forward price for the bank note is about 200 yuan to 300 yuan each, the report said.
Chinese law bans the sale of circulated currency including commemorative bank notes. Violators will have all bank notes and illicit profits confiscated.
The special 10-yuan note is blue and green. Its front side is a picture of the National Stadium and the backdrop is the Temple of Heaven. The emblem of the Games is above the National Stadium. On the back of the note is a picture of the famous Greek statue of a discus-thrower, portraits of athletes and the year 2008.
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