The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said on Thursday it would issue a set of gold and silver coins on Dec. 10 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up drive.

The set includes two varieties of gold coins -- one weighing a quarter ounce while the other weighing five ounces -- and one type of one-ounce silver coin, it said.

A maximum of 30,000 gold coins will be issued for the variety of a quarter ounce with a face value of 100 yuan (14.6 U.S. dollars). Up to 800 five-ounce gold coins will be issued with a face value of 2,000 yuan. The purity of the gold coins is 99.9 percent.

The central bank will also issue no more than 80,000 silver coins, with a face value of 10 yuan each.

The coins are produced by Shanghai Mint and will be distributed by the China Gold Coin Inc., it said.

The central bank had said this February that it would issue 44 commemorative coins in 2008, which included 23 gold coins and 21 varieties of silver coins. These coins cover such themes as the Beijing Olympics, giant pandas and the traditional Chinese year of the ox starting from Jan. 26, 2009.

China began its historic reform and open-up drive in late 1978 after the third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2008)