现在流行收集银行卡

Huang Xiao is an employee working at the Shenzhen branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. He is also quite well-known among bank card collectors. He has a collection of more than 70 thousand bank cards, many of which hold historical significance and are limited in number.

"This is the first bank card our country issued in 1986. It was released by the Zhuhai branch of the Bank of China. So far, this card is the only one of its kind discovered by collectors in the market."

Among his collection is a paper card used for filling gas from the United States, the first commercial bank card in the country's history.

In 1996, Huang Xiao's bank carried out research on bank cards in the city of Shenzhen, which sparked his interest in them as a collector's item. At first, his collection comprised mainly of gifts given to him by friends. He later purchased some at very low prices, usually around ten yuan each. But now some of those ten yuan cards are worth more than 10 thousand yuan.

In Shanghai, many collectors have established their own bank card clubs, holding small parties, weekly meetings and conferences during long holidays. In a commercial building located in Shanghai's Xujiahui area, a place famous for its collectable markets, many bank card collectors gather in a small cafeteria to exchange cards and ideas about their collections. The club was first founded in 2009, and the number of members has increased from 10 people to 1500 today.
 
Everyone has their own special focus and interest in the theme of bank cards. Zheng Shouyue, one of the members, is a football fan. He focuses more on bank cards related to the football industry.

"I started to collect bank cards in 2004. I have a whole collection of bank cards related to the European Championships and the World Cup."

There are three main types of bank card collector. Most are employees working in the financial industry. Some are stamp and phone card collectors who have developed an interest in bank cards. The rest became interested in collecting bank cards when they were quite young; growing up alongside the development of bank card use in China. These people feel that bank cards are a physical example of the process which saw cash evolve into an electronic currency. The procedure of collecting bank cards is actually the process of accumulating financial history.

According to statistics from the China Banking Association, by the end of the second quarter this year, China had issued 2.67 billion bank cards in total. Among this number, many bank cards were issued in accordance with special occasions of historical significance such as the 2008 Olympic Games credit cards issued by the Bank of China and the 2010 World Expo cards issued by the Bank of Communications. Similar to other collections, whether a card is valuable or not depends on whether it is scarce. Xu Yi is the President of the Shanghai Bank Card Collection Association.

"The earlier the card was issued, the fewer copies it may sustain in the market. Such cards are usually worth a lot thanks to their long history."

But insiders say such collections are still confined within small circles compared to commonly recognized collection items such as stamps and jade. Beginners should be extra cautious when they buy expensive ones.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.