China: The Upside Down Commemorative Notes for Olympics · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

The central bank, People's Bank of China (PBOC), has issued a commemorative currency note with a face value of 10 Yuan (about ＄1.46) to mark next month's Beijing Olympic Games. However, before most of the collectors had a chance to get it, a blogger named Naughty Lion (顽皮的狮子）pointed out a "mistake" in the backdrop of the special notes, which sparked new debate in the Chinese net world:
央行于08年7月8日发行的第29届奥林匹克运动会纪念钞,是世界上第一张奥运题材的纸币,也是到目前为止发行量最少的纪念钞,仅为600万张.  各地销售火爆,很多人排了很久的队都没有买到. 目前市场价已飙升到50倍以上.
和大多数人比起来,我真是幸运多了. 早上很早去办公室,跟北美倒时差刚刚开完会, 打了电话银行,说楼下网点就有卖! 赶紧,冲进电梯,直奔银行营业厅…. 流了很多汗, 挤得很痛苦, 可是很高兴,很兴奋–兑换到一张!!
对照着央行的第11号公告,欣赏着这张奥运纪念钞, 精美, 很多新颖的防伪技术,比鸟巢不干胶邮票技术含量高多了!
可是我最终还是发现了一处严重的失误, 心里愤愤地, 相关设计人员就不能仔细点吗!
The 29th Olympics commemorative note released by the central bank on July 8th, 2008, is the first Olympic-themed paper money in the world, and so far it is also the one with the smallest quantity of issue, with only 6 million notes. The sales are so hot across the country that many people cannot buy one after standing in the queue for a very long time. Now the market price has been rocketing up more than 50 times.
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Compared to most of the people, I was so lucky. I went to my office very early in the morning to attend a meeting according to the North American time. After that, I called the bank and learned that the branch downstairs was selling the notes. Immediately, I rushed into the elevator, straight up to the business hall of the bank… In spite of the pains of crowding and sweating, I am happy and excited—I got one!!
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Referring to the central bank's 11th Announcement, I appreciated this Olympic commemorative note, exquisite and innovative. The new anti-counterfeiting technology of it is much better than the sticker stamp of Bird's Nest!
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But finally I found out a serious mistake. It's so provocative. Can't the designers be more careful!
纪念钞正面的背景图案'天坛'的坛顶, 去哪了?—- 跑到鸟巢下面去了!!! 太不应该的失误!!!! 看看实钞扫描件.
Look at the backdrop of the front side. Where is the top of the Temple of Heaven ?—-  It's under the Bird's Nest!!! What a stupid mistake!!!! Have a look at the scanned image.
再看看样钞,也是这样的失误。
The sample note also has the same problem.
另外还注意到发行总量为600万张,但这张样钞的编号却为第一千万零九. 实际发行量是不是有一千万呢?
以上有待进一步确认.
央行发行奥运纪念钞的第11号公告及样钞
Besides, it is notable that there were 6 million notes released in total, but the serial number of the sample note is ten million and nine. Does the issue size really reach ten million?
All the things above are still to be determined.
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The central bank's 11th Announcement of the Olympic commemorative note and the sample.
Naughty Lion's detection also triggered a swift response of China's mainstream media, including Xinhua News Agency, which said the netizens’ complaint is fastidious, and in the meantime some people also retorted that the "mistake" is just a kind of anti-counterfeiting means, even though the official introduction of the commemorative note has never mentioned that.
The most interesting thing is, Naughty Lion's original post was forced to be hidden by blog.sohu.com, one of the biggest BSPs in China, while the top media are quoting the screen-shots of his blog and criticizing his "fussy discovery".
Xinhua's online report with Naughty Lion's blog screen-shot
The original link of Naughty Lion's blog article, which now appears to be "The article has been hidden"
Naughty Lion then republished the article that gets attention fully in his sohu blog and further indicated its standpoint in another post:
我昨天写博文< <奥运纪念钞惊现失误,很可能都是错币,待确定>>,指出奥运纪念钞正面背景图案'天坛'的坛顶跑到了鸟巢下面, 担心是一失误, 毕竟我们中国是第一次举办奥运会.  得到了大家的很大关注,很多媒体都作了转载,我切身体会到了大家对奥运的热情!  谢谢!
该博文被搜狐公司作了强制隐藏, 希望是暂时的.毕竟我是实话实说,也希望奥运钞没有失误.
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The post The mistake of Olympic commemorative note blasts out; still to be determined  I wrote yesterday pointed out that the top of the Temple of Heaven was printed under the Bird's Nest in the backdrop of Olympic commemorative note. I'm worried it's a design mistake; after all, it's the first time for China to hold Olympic Games. I appreciate that so many people and media have paid so much attention to my blog. I have truly experienced your enthusiasm about Olympic Games! Thank you!
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However, that post has been forcedly hidden by sohu company, which I hope is temporary. Anyway, I'm telling the truth and I also hope the Olympic commemorative note has no problem.
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