The panda-featured silver coin issued to commemorate the 2019 FIP General World Stamp Exhibition [Photo: pbc.gov.cn]

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank issued a panda-featured silver coin on Thursday to commemorate the 2019 FIP General World Stamp Exhibition.

The silver coin will be legal tender in China, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website.

The front side of the coin features the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the highlight structure of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, along with the country name, year of issuance and the Chinese name of the exhibition.

A mother-and-son pair of pandas is on the reverse side of the coin, together with the English name of the exhibition, the PBOC said.

The silver coin, which is 40 mm in diameter, contains 30 grams of pure silver and has a face value of 10 yuan (about 1.45 U.S. dollars).

The maximum circulation of the coins will be 20,000, according to a central bank statement.

The 2019 FIP General World Stamp Exhibition will be held in the central Chinese city of Wuhan from June 11 to June 17, showcasing at least 4,700 framed sets of stamps, 2,500 of which are from overseas exhibitors.

China joined the FIP, the international association for stamp collectors and philatelists, in 1983 and hosted the world stamp exhibition in 1999 and 2009.