posted 09-22-2008 03:34 PM               

The "Shenzhou VII souvenir jade medals" were unveiled to the public at a press conference held at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing on Friday.

Designed by the China Arts and Crafts Society, the medals are to commemorate the launch of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, which is scheduled to take off on Sept. 25.

The three medals are all made from jade and gold, and feature a "China Aerospace" logo in the center.

The souvenir medals will be formally released on Sept. 25.

posted 09-29-2008 10:09 AM               

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said on Monday that it would issue a set of gold and silver coins on Oct. 8 to commemorate the success of the country's maiden spacewalk.

The issuance comprises 30,000 gold coins, with a face value of 150 yuan (22 U.S. dollars) each, and 60,000 silver coins, with a face value of 10 yuan each.

The head of each coin will have the solar system design while the tail will bear a color portrait of a taikonaut conducting a spacewalk and the Chinese words "To commemorate the success of China's first spacewalk", the central bank said.

The coins are produced by Shenyang Mint and will be distributed by the China Gold Coin Inc., it said.

posted 10-09-2008 11:50 AM               

Coins marking China's first spacewalk on the Shenzhou Seven mission are now available to the public.

The commemorative coins distributed by the People's Bank of China include a nine gram gold coin priced at 150 yuan and a 28 gram silver coin selling for 10 yuan.

Both coins have the same design featuring China's first space walk and an image of the solar system. 30,000 gold coins and 60,000 silver coins will be issued.