Xingping – The back of the 20 Yuan

I’ve always had a keen interest in money, I remember being a small child and my grandfather taking me to a coin and stamp store to get supplies for keeping his coin collection. The collection started with my great grandfather in the early 1900s and has many old coins. As a child I wasn’t usually allowed to touch them or even really look at them but just knowing about them sparked my interest in coin collecting. 

Today I consider myself an amateur numismatist with an extensive collection of coins in circulation as well as many old coins I’ve found miraculously in circulation. While working at a gas station during high school my interest in coin collection flourished, as I constantly used the cash drawer I was able to set aside coins and paper money I wanted to buy before my shift was over. My co-workers even began setting money aside that I could check when I came into work. It was very common for me to spend $5 - $10 per shift on money I wanted to add to my collection. My best finds from working at the gas station include a 10 cent Deutsch Mark from 1910, numerous rare pennies from the 1930s, and a rare silver cetificate.

Unfortunately before coming to China I had to sell a small portion of my collection, everything I sold was a duplicate but still parting with it wasn’t easy. As I travel and encounter new types of money I’m constantly looking at it, trying to gain an understanding of who the people on the money are, and an appreciation for the landscapes often found on the back of money. Having moved to China I was able to do this on a level I had never done before, generally I only spend a week or so in different countries so my understand of the money's symbols stays very superficial. In China I have been able to learn a lot about the places showcased on their money. So when our travel plans took us to Guanxi I knew I had to get to Xingping, the back of the twenty has an image of the Li River in Xingping on it.

It takes about an hour and a half to get to the town from Yangshuo and it was the last thing we were to do before heading to Hong Kong. I was so excited when two of my friends decided to join in. We reached the town and wandered in the direction of the river where we finally found the slew of rafts waiting for tourists. It ended up being much cheaper than expected getting to the place where the picture was taken, only 60 yuan, or about $10.

A picture taken from the raft showing what the rafts looked like.

Most people climbed the small island to get a grand view, however once we reached the sacred spot, we realized that it wasn’t quite right…  

Perfectionists as we are and having come so far we made it our mission to find the exact location where the artist must have stood. We found the spot, it the middle of the river. 

The Chinese tourists began taking many pictures of the crazy foreigners standing in the river! I’m so proud of us for finding the exact shot, in Chinese terms, that moment will live in my heart forever.

Katie, Katelyn, and I at the exact spot the artist stood.