Chinese God of Wealth at the Royal Mint

Wei Shao, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the School of Modern Languages has completed a project alongside the Royal Mint to create a gold bullion minted bar featuring Guan Gong, the Chinese God of Wealth.

Wei collaborated with the team at the Royal Mint, working on the product design for the bullion. Additionally, he provided a consultancy service to the marketing and PR team, assisting with the promotional materials and videos of the bullion bar, as well as literature in relation to the cultural background and gifting culture of Chinese New Year.

The Royal Mint has pledged a donation to the School of Modern Languages for the work that Wei has undertaken. This has enabled the school to set up three awards for first year, second year and final year students of the Chinese (BA) programme.

The project took place over a six month period and the gold bullion bar featuring the Chinese God was successfully launched on 13 December 2022.

The Guan Gong gold bullion bar is an essential element of the Royal Mint’s new product range for the upcoming Chinese New Year. These also include a minted coin which features the rabbit as the zodiac sign of 2023.

Wei said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed working with The Royal Mint to introduce this special gold bullion bar for the Chinese Community, featuring the Chinese God of Wealth, Guan Gong. The level of detail captured on this precious metal bar is exceptional and a testament to the team of craftspeople at The Royal Mint.

“As we approach Chinese New Year, the gold bar depicting Guan Gong is undoubtedly going to be a popular one among the Chinese community and I hope others admire the design as much as I do.”