The Bamboo Bear

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” the title of an American classic written by Dr. Maya Angelou. Images Courtesy of the United States Mint.

In 2022, Th e U.S. Mint continues its cool and progressive streak. A few months ago, PCGS Editor-in-Chief Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez wrote an article called “Methods for Collecting American Women Quarters,” and he highlighted two sets that we off er our Set Registry members to potentially build. Th is newly minted series celebrates and honors women of diverse professional backgrounds and cultural diversity.

Th e fi rst series includes Dr. Maya Angelou, Dr. Sally Ride, Nina Otero-Warren, Wilma Mankiller, and Anna May Wong. Our fi rst set we off er to members is titled, Washington Quarters American Women, Circulation Strikes (20222025). Maya Angelou 2022-P Quarters in the series could potentially be picked for about $15 or less on eBay in PCGS MS65. Some quarters are a little pricier than others and PCGS-graded examples seem to sell between $15 to $40 with shipping included. Th e second set members may build is titled Washington Quarters American Women, Proof (2022-2025), and these quarters sell in a range between $10 to $40 on eBay with free shipping to boot as well at times. Budgeting for me sometimes doesn’t work out as planned. Many times I have had to wrestle with my “actual” funds available and my fi ctitious “unicorn” budget. Unless I’m buying chocolate chip cookies, of course. Some collectors may potentially be intimidated by sets that PCGS Set Registry members have built. At one time, those same iconic collectors may have had budgetary constraints themselves and could aff ord but a single coin to start their collections that later blossomed. Dr. Maya Angelou didn’t blossom immediately in her life. She progressed with time. Your collection may not be what you want it to be today. But with time and perseverance on your side, anything is possible. We thank you for helping PCGS build the Set Registry into what it is today. Everyone is welcome to utilize the easiest inventory management system with a few clicks and access our community where almost anyone may display their numismatic marvels to view. We look forward to the upcoming 2022 Set Registry Awards. Happy Collecting in 2022 and yonder!

Sanjay Gandhi is a senior content manager at PCGS. His knowledge base consists of a wide variety of world coinage, and he has a great appreciation for toned coins that display vibrant colors. In addition to contributing content to PCGS Rare Coin Market Report, he also assists collectors with the PCGS Set Registry.

By Peter Anthony

Stitched into the Sichuan canyon wall like seams on a baseball, the two-lane road is barely wide enough to grip the mountainside. As the bus swerves back and forth the motion sickness bags tucked into the seatbacks no longer amuse me. I stare out the window at a gray, overcast morning. Misty fi ngers wrap around bamboo trees that cling to the steep slopes. Far below on the canyon fl oor, a stream tumbles between boulders. I once read that roads and rivers tend to follow earthquake fault lines because the fractured rock is weaker there. Sichuan is famous for its temblors, but hopefully, the Earth will slumber this day.

Once out of the canyon, the bus chugs into a village square, and all the riders exit. At one end of this plaza is a trailhead. Th is path should lead all the way to Mount Emei’s (pronounced Eh-may) summit, one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. Th ere aren’t any signs in English, but it looks right. Th e time is already past noon so hiking to the summit is out of the question. Th e ancient Wannian (Wah-nee-en) Temple, though, should be reachable and that becomes my goal.

Near the entrance are several vendors hawking bamboo walking sticks. According to the internet, these are highly advised to fend off packs of monkeys that can attack hikers for their food. Th e bamboo sellers strongly encourage my business. For two yuan, I select a sturdy shaft, and everyone smiles.

Th e trail begins with a paved stairway that leads steeply up through a forest of tall, white-barked trees. Ahead of me are fi ve backpackers; I try to keep them in sight as my breath forms clouds in the frigid air. After a half-hour of serious huffi ng and puffi ng the path levels off and runs through a hamlet. Among its handful of buildings is an open-air teahouse with many empty tables. Only one is occupied – by the quintet of hikers who started ahead of me. Vapor rises in columns from their tea-fi lled mugs. Th e group motions to me to sit down and join them, which I happily do. We cannot really speak one another’s language, but the mood is festive and they are as curious about me as I am of them.

It must have been in just such a Sichuan hamlet that another foreigner arrived in 1869. Th e villagers invited him and his guide to sit down and drink with them, too. Th at traveler’s name was Père Armand David, Father David, a French priest and probably the fi rst European these villagers had ever seen. His life was dedicated to two causes, his faith and the natural world, particularly in China. He once wrote, “…It was the desire to honor life, the diversity of life, that drove me — to observe and describe.”

Fascinated by nature since childhood, the father was a remarkably keen observer of plants and animals and was the fi rst westerner to take notice of hundreds of species in China. Th ese ranged from a Chinese wild peach to several famous

Th is 1994 27-gram silver Père David Deer coin is part of the fourth of China’s Endangered Wildlife series. Courtesy of Peter Anthony. faunas: in 1866, he found both the gerbil and a rare species of deer. A year later, he informed the world about a golden stump-tailed macaque, or monkey, from East-Central China.

Th e deer had been extinct in the wild for centuries, but one herd survived inside the Nanyuang Royal Hunting Garden in Nan Haizi, an imperial sanctuary. Th e area was absolutely out of bounds to visitors, but the determined padre convinced the guards to allow him to peek. One look confi rmed that this animal was indeed unknown to western science. Th eir Chinese name was “milu,” or “the four unlikes.” With small ears, a mane, and cow-like hooves they resembled a deer, a donkey, a camel, and a cow all cobbled together. By the time Père David saw them no one could recall their history — biologists theorize that they originally inhabited swampy areas — but now existed only due to the emperor’s protection.

When news of the discovery got out, it was arranged (perhaps legally, perhaps not) for some to be sent to Europe, including England. Th at turned out well. By 1900, a combination of fl oods, rebellion, and foreign soldiers wiped out the last of Père David’s Deer in China. A breeding program in England was a success, though. In 1985, 20 “Père David’s Deer” returned to China – to the very same area where they had been discovered. More arrived later and were sent to other reserves. Today, thousands roam at least 80 locations inside their homeland. Th e survival story of these extraordinary animals — and others — in China is refl ected in numismatics. On August 12, 1988, to mark the 10th anniversary of a friendship treaty with Japan, China issued the fi rst in a series of endangered Chinese wildlife coins. By 1997, fi ve groups were minted. Th ey all feature the National Emblem of China on one side and an animal on the reverse. A single eight-gram .916-fi ne gold coin and two .925-pure silver coins make up each year’s group for 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, and 1997. Additionally, the series includes one silver 1993 fi ve-ounce and one gold 1997 fi ve-ounce coin. Th e fourth group of Endangered Wildlife coins is from 1994. In it are two coins that display animals discovered by the French naturalist priest. One is the Père David Deer — which bears his name even today. Its image graces the reverse of a 27-gram silver proof coin of which 15,000 were minted. Th ese coins were designed and struck at the Shenyang Mint; Zhang Wenjing designed and Li Chaoxhuan engraved them. Th e other coin has its own story.

Th e 8-gram gold panda coin from 1994 is also part of the fourth of China’s Endangered Wildlife series. In the background a panda cub climbs a tree in Sichuan Province. Courtesy of Peter Anthony.

In 1869, with three important fauna discoveries to his credit, Père David was still in search of something to astonish the world. He took his quest to Sichuan. Much like me a century and a half later, he and his guide Jean Lee found themselves drinking with friendly strangers in the mountains. According to the priest (translated by Molly Patterson), “we ate in the open air with our coats bundled around us, for it was still early spring and rather cold. Of course, there was liquor to warm us up… I grew sleepy and warm. I took too much. At last, they invited me to take a rest in the house.”

“Two or three hours later when I awoke… I looked about me… And was confronted by a giant pelt of black and white fur nearly covering the wall behind me… Out in the courtyard, the men, still drinking, shouted their welcome… In my awkward Chinese, and with a series of gestures, I implored the master of the house to come into the room and explain to me what was tacked to the wall. Th e whole group, seven or eight men altogether, plus myself and Jean Lee, crowded into the tiny room and exclaimed over the skin, for the men were excited, too, seeing it with fresh eyes, and realizing that I had never encountered such an animal before. And at last, the thing was given a name for me to call it by: chu hsiung, the bamboo bear, which was not the scientifi c name I later assigned it, but the name by which I sometimes remember it all these years later.” Th e Bamboo Bear. Th is is how the giant panda was fi rst known to the western world. Could Père David have imagined that his discovery would one day be, possibly, the world’s most beloved animal, as well as a national treasure of China? Th e fi rst confi rmed reference to an animal (a “white bear”) that was probably a giant panda, occurs during the T’ang Dynasty in 621 AD. Two living “white bears” are also listed as gifts to the emperor of Japan 64 years later. Th is is quite astonishing, if the white bears were truly pandas, as even with modern methods they are diffi cult to move safely. Some have suggested that the “white bears” may have been some other kind of bear, even polar bears. In any case, written references to white bears are few and far between. In 1597, when an exhaustive Chinese encyclopedia of animals with medicinal properties (which was essentially all animals) was compiled, there was no mention of “white bears” in it. Nor do “white bears” appear in art or literature. One expert wrote, “this species was never suffi ciently well-known to play any part in Chinese folklore. I have never seen any representation of it in

A 2014 20 Yuan coin containing two ounces of silver shows the Wannian Temple on Mt. Emei. It is part of the “Chinese Sacred Buddhist Mountain” series. Th e background photo is of a statue of Buddha inside the Wannian Temple. Courtesy of Peter Anthony

Chinese painting or in bronzes or jades.”

So, unlike other celebrated animals, the giant panda was largely unknown until that day in 1869 when Père David drank a little too much and woke up staring at a black-andwhite pelt. We should also remind ourselves that, despite all their popularity, pandas themselves are still rare — even here in their home range in Sichuan. So, it seems fi tting for a giant panda to be the second of Père David’s discoveries to appear in the 1994 “Endangered Wildlife” coins group. An eight-gram .916 fi ne gold proof shows a giant panda cub clambering up a tree. Its mintage is just 5,000, but that’s still far more than the number of pandas in the world. Like the other coins in this group it was designed and struck in Liaoning Province at China’s oldest operating mint, the Shenyang Mint. Th e designer and engraver is Yan Jingkui.

A couple of hours after we fi nish tea, my new friends and I arrive at our destination: the Wannian Temple. Th e fi nal approach is up a long, steep set of stairs. As I plod upward, I think that this would be a good position to defend. Finally, at the top, a 10 yuan banknote buys me an entry ticket.

Th e Wannian Temple was established during the Jin dynasty (266 – 420 AD). Th e gardens inside its walls are an island of well-tended serenity. Fruit tree branches brim with blossoms and cream-colored prayer cards. A fl ock of doves fl utters toward the main temple building, the “Beamless Hall.” Waist-high statues of elephants line a center walkway that leads to it.

At the Beamless Hall’s core glitters a large gold idol of the Bodhisattva Puxian seated on an elephant. Th is dates from 980 A.D. A Bodhisattva, or potential Buddha, is a person who sacrifi ces nirvana for themselves so they may bring healing and salvation to the people. Emei Mountain is dedicated to Puxian, the Bodhisattva of Benevolence. One tale tells of how many lives were saved when Puxian calmed a raging elephant by stroking its forehead. Th is idol places him atop a six-tusked pachyderm. Outside, on the temple steps rows of pilgrims in saff ron and maroon robes, men and women who arrive here on foot from far-off places bow and pray.

Th e Bodhisattva Puxian appears on many Mt. Emei coins and medals. Among the most spectacular is a 2014 2,000

Th is 2014 2,000 Yuan with fi ve ounces of gold is another in the “Chinese Sacred Buddhist Mountain” series. It illustrates the statue on the summit of Mt. Emei of Puxian, the Bodhisattva of Benevolence. Th e background photo shows the Beamless Hall building inside the Wannian Temple on Mt. Emei. Courtesy of Peter Anthony.

Yuan fi ve-ounce gold coin. On it, Puxian sits astride a trio of elephants and is surrounded by a brilliant rainbow hologram, a view of the statue of Puxian on Mt. Emei’s summit. It is a product of the Shenyang Mint with outstanding design and engraving work by Chang Huan and Liao Bo. Th e offi cial mintage of this 60-millimeter diameter coin is 2,000, but the Standard Catalog of Gold & Silver Coins of China lists only 1,400 as actually struck.

Th e Wannian Temple has a modern commemorative silver coin of its own, too: a two-ounce .999 silver piece that is 40 millimeters in diameter. It was struck at the Shanghai Mint in 2014 with an authorized mintage of 60,000. However, the standard catalog gives the actual mintage as 42,000. Th e coin shows a bird’s-eye view of the Beamless Hall and the grounds.

A glance at my watch reminds me that the last bus of the day down the mountain will leave without me if I don’t get going. As the afternoon light fades I fairly leap from step to step down the path, the bamboo walking stick proving its worth with each stride. Th ough I encountered no monkeys or bamboo bears this day, that stick was a welcome addition. As I near the village, I try to imagine how I can take it home with me. I conclude that I can’t – it’s too large. Near the gate, I stop and carefully lean it against a tree to wait for another hiker to use.

Peter Anthony is a PCGS consultant on modern Chinese coins and is the author of Th e Gold and Silver Panda Coin Buyer's Guide 3, a two-time Numismatic Literary Guild winner. He is also the publisher of China Pricepedia, a monthly journal and price guide for modern Chinese coinage.