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China Commemorates Year of Pig in Gold

The China Gold Coin Corporation issued a series of gold bars made of 99.99 percent pure gold on November 17, to commemorate the upcoming Year of the Pig.

A total of 3,000 kilograms of gold bars will be issued in China this year at a price of 175 yuan per gram in Beijing, the first city to issue them to the public. They can be bought in weights of 1,000 grams (g), 500 g, 200 g, 100 g and 50 g.

Sales of the bars are expected to be boosted in the Year of the Pig because it is the final year in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese lunar calendar, making it a lucky and rich year, according to traditional belief.

Add to the fact that out of the five Chinese eålements––metal, wood, water, fire and earth––2007 is the year of metal, or gold, and people are more than willing to snap up the pig bars.

China first issued gold bars commemorating the lunar New Year in 2002, the Year of the Sheep. Those woolly gold bars sold for 92 yuan per gram.