On Monday, December 9, 2024, China announced that it will begin distribution of a polymer banknote on January 3, 2025 to commemorate the Year of the Snake in 2025. This is an official issue and not a fantasy, private issue.
Last year China issued a polymer banknote to commemorate the Year of the Dragon, see here for that announcement:
I believe that one can safely assume that a zodiac banknote will now follow every year until all twelve zodiac signs (animals) have been honored.
The commemorative banknote is vertically oriented like its predecessor and designed in a similar fashion. The main image on the front of the commemorative banknote is a snake-shaped pattern, with the national emblem of the People's Republic of China, "People's Bank of China," and a seal with the seal character "Snake" on the top, and the color-changing denomination number "20" and the Chinese characters "贰拾元", a dynamic holographic strip, a transparent window, a tactile denomination mark for the visually impaired, and a serial number at the bottom.
The back of the banknote is rather simplistic in design, showing three children celebrating the new year. The main scene is a group of children pasting Spring Festival banners in front of decorative patterns of Shanxi folk houses. At the top are the denomination number "20" and the Chinese pinyin letters "YUAN," and at the bottom are flowers and dynamic holographic patterns, the year "2025," the president's seal, the denomination number "20," the Chinese pinyin of the "People's Bank of China" and the words "People's Bank of China 20 Yuan" in Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang languages.
Located at the bottom of the polymer banknote is a dynamic holographic strip. When one tilts the banknote and changes the viewing angle, one can see a decorative pattern composed of a "Ruyi cloud pattern," "plum blossoms" and "Fu" (the Chinese character meaning "fortune" or "good luck") on the front of the note, showing multi-color dynamic features.
The commemorative banknote measures 145 x 70 mm. 100 million banknotes have been printed (including 20,000 pieces for China's historical currency archives). The reservation and exchange limit for each person is 20 banknotes. The distribution system is being handled by appointment at a number of banking financial institutions throughout the country.
