As the Chinese New Year of the Loong (or Chinese dragon) approaches, pre-orders for China's 2024 New Year commemorative coins and commemorative banknotes opened on Jan 3 at 10 PM Beijing Time.

According to feedback from netizens, the web pages of several banks were inaccessible due to high traffic, causing issues such as lag, delayed delivery of verification codes, and more. Netizens' screenshots show that several bank systems are encountering server unresponsiveness issues.

The 2024 New Year commemorative coins have a face value of 10 yuan ($1.4), a total issuance of 120 million pieces, and are made of bimetallic copper alloy. The reverse side features an image of a loong that combines traditional Chinese paper-cutting art with decorative New Year elements, complemented by flower lanterns and lingzhi – a mushroom symbolizing good fortune and auspiciousness in China.

The 2024 New Year commemorative banknotes have a face value of 20 yuan ($2.8), a total issuance of 100 million notes and are made of plastic. The front side features a loong-shaped pattern as the main design, while the reverse side depicts a child dancing with a loong lantern, accompanied by decorative patterns of traditional Beijing quadrangle courtyards.

The commemorative coins and banknotes will have the same functions as current notes and coins in circulation of corresponding face value. People can redeem them at banks from January 9 to January 15.

The 2024 Year of the Loong commemorative banknotes are the 7th commemorative banknotes issued by the People's Bank of China and the second commemorative banknote for the Year of the Loong.

Currently, on second-hand trading platforms, the prices of sets of Year of the Loong commemorative coins and banknotes are on the rise.