Man buys car with small change

8 Jan, 2010 14:24 / Updated 14 years ago

A Chinese citizen has shown perhaps the most bizarre and labor-intensive way of paying for a new car, China Daily reports.

In the age of web-money and credit cards, paying large sums with cash seems a bit out of date. However, Mr. Li, a Chinese man, decided to take it to a whole new level when he decided to buy a new car in the Chinese city of Luohe, Henan province, last week.

Coins of the People's
Republic of China:


• One Jiao – 1/10 of a Yuan
• Five Jiao – 5/10, (or 1/2) of a Yuan
• One Yuan – 10/10, 1 full Yuan

Mr. Li, who runs a restaurant, came to a car showroom with 150,000 yuan ($21,968) in spare change weighing in total 700 kilograms. The idea turned out to be a real headache for both Mr. Li and showroom employees.

The troublesome customer first hired a van to transport the coins, contained in 20 huge plastic bags, to the car showroom. It then took more than 100 employees four hours to count all the coins the customer brought to buy the car.

Why the man decided to pay in such a way and, more importantly, where he got all the coins from remains unknown.