Own this commemorative coin from the People's Republic of China, issued in 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II, known in China as the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Coin Characteristics

• Varieties: Single variety, 2025
• Composition: Bimetallic — copper-nickel center in brass ring
• Obverse: National emblem of the People's Republic of China; inscription 中华人民共和国 (People's Republic of China); date 2025
• Reverse: Logo of the 80th Anniversary of the Victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War; inscription 中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年; dates 1945–2025; denomination 10元
• Edge: Reeded
• Technique: Milled
• Weight: 9.2 g
• Diameter: 27 mm
• Thickness: 2.1 mm
• Mintage: 80,000,000
• Issuing entity: People's Bank of China (中国人民銀行)
• Demonetized: No — current legal tender
• Currency: Renminbi (1955–date)

About China

• Capital: Beijing (city pop ~22 million; metro pop ~24 million, UN 2023) — similar to  the New York metro
• Population: ~1.41 billion (UN 2023) — the most populous country on earth until recently surpassed by India
• Area: 9,596,960 km² (~3,705,407 mi²) — similar in size to the United States
• GDP per capita at PPP: ~$23,400 USD (IMF 2023) — ranks ~73rd out of 193 globally
• Main exports: Electronics, machinery, textiles, steel, chemicals, rare earth materials
• Borders: Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, North Korea — 14 land borders, more than any other country
• Official languages: Standard Chinese (Mandarin / Putonghua)
• Spoken languages: Cantonese (~6%), Wu (Shanghainese) (~6%), Min (Hokkien/Teochew) (~5%), Hakka (~4%), Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian, and dozens of other regional languages and dialects
• Sovereignty:
  • Imperial China — successive dynasties from ~221 BCE
  • Republic of China (1912–1949)
  • People's Republic of China (1 October 1949–date) — this coin issued during this period

China Unfiltered

• China calls this conflict the “War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression” — a framing that places China at the center of the Pacific war. Estimates of Chinese deaths range from 15 to 20 million, making it one of the deadliest theaters of WWII. The war is central to Chinese national identity and Communist Party legitimacy in a way that has only grown more prominent in recent decades.
• The coin was issued with a mintage of 80 million — one for every year since 1945, and a number that reflects China's scale. An 80-million mintage would be extraordinary anywhere else. In China, it's a standard commemorative run.
• The Nanjing Massacre of 1937 — in which Japanese forces killed an estimated 200,000–300,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war — remains one of the most contested and politically charged events in East Asian history. Japan's acknowledgment of it has been partial and inconsistent. It is still a live diplomatic wound in 2025.
• China has borders with 14 countries — more than any other nation on earth — and has active or unresolved territorial disputes with many of them, including India, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
• The renminbi is not freely convertible. China manages its exchange rate, which has been a source of ongoing tension with the United States and the IMF. The yuan on this coin is worth about $1.40 USD — a rate set in Beijing, not by markets.

The War China Remembers Differently Than Everyone Else

In the West, World War II in Asia is mostly told as a story about Pearl Harbor, island-hopping, and the atomic bomb. In China, it's a 14-year war that started in 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria, consumed tens of millions of lives, and ended with a victory that the Communist Party has spent 80 years making sure no one forgets.

The logo on the reverse of this coin — the official emblem of the 80th anniversary — is part of a very deliberate commemorative program. China issues these coins not just as collectibles but as statements. The war is the founding trauma and the founding triumph of the People's Republic, and the Party returns to it regularly to remind its citizens — and the world — what China survived and what it became.

A Bimetallic Coin From the World's Largest Mint Operation

The People's Bank of China issues commemorative coins at a scale that no other country matches. An 80-million mintage sounds large — and it is — but China has done larger. The bimetallic format — copper-nickel center in a brass ring — is the standard for Chinese circulating commemoratives, giving the coin a two-tone look that makes it immediately distinctive in hand.

At 27mm and 9.2 grams, it's a substantial coin. The national emblem on the obverse is one of the most recognizable state symbols in the world. The reverse anniversary logo will date this coin precisely — in 50 years, it will be an artifact of how China chose to mark this moment.

Own This Coin From the Country That Fought the Longest War of WWII

This is a current-issue Chinese commemorative — legal tender, uncirculated, struck in 2025 to mark 80 years since the end of a war that China fought longer and at greater cost than almost any other combatant. The mintage is large, the price is accessible, and the history behind it is anything but small.

Eighty years. Eighty million coins. One emblem on one side, one anniversary on the other.