New light on old money

More than 500 coins from olden-day China and about 100 statues from places along the ancient Silk Road are displayed at a Beijing museum. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The coins are on loan from Jin Jiadong, 67, who is based in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province.

Jin, who has been collecting coins for at least the past 30 years, owns more 10,000 items, which are displayed at a private museum in Nanchang.

"Some coins lack high economic value but contain very important historical information," says Jin.

"When you set out to systematically look for certain types of coins, you find many voids in your collection. That encouraged me to communicate more with overseas collectors," he says.

According to him, more than 200 exhibits are from ancient China's central kingdoms, and about 60 are from Xiyu (the western regions), a term used to describe the numerous regimes, which existed from the third century BC to the eighth century AD in today's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and Central Asia.