Fu hopes once he collects every currency, he can someday open a world currency exhibition.

Fu Zhongxi, a 75-year senior resident in Fanzhenshe Village in Tai'an, Shandong province, is an ardent fan of foreign currency. Over the past 20 years, he has been busying visiting sightseeing sites, hospitals and college campuses in hope of exchanging currencies with foreigners. Fu Zhongxi has so far collected currencies of 151 countries.

More than twenty years ago, Fu Zhongxi,who was already a stamp collector, met a mid-aged English couple at the Forbidden City in Beijing. He asked a tourist who could speak English to explain his good intention and successfully exchanged a one-pound-coin with them. There, Fu Zhongxi began his foreign currency-collecting journey.

"I want to make friends from all over the world to collect every country's currency," said Fu Zhongxi.

After Fu sends his grandson to school at half past seven every morning, he heads to Daimiao Temple, a popular Tai'an sightseeing site among foreigners. He then looks for tourists who are willing to exchange currency with him. One hour later, he climbs up Taishan Mountain to Zhongtian Gage, where he stays for a while, then he goes back to pick up his grandson for lunch.

Apart from these famous scenic spots, Fu often visits college campuses where there are overseas students. Even on buses, trains, Fu will stop and say "Hello" with no hesitation to foreigners. He has no English language background and his pronunciation is poor. But it doesn't deter him. He's made up his mind that he wants to collect currency of every country in the world.

Fu is missing currencies of more than eighty countries, including East Timor, Gambia, Somalia, Moldova, Dominica and the Solomon Islands. Tourists or overseas students from these countries are rarely seen in Tai'an. Some of these countries haven't even established diplomatic relations with China.

"It's really hard to get currencies from these countries," said Fu.

Fu has a worn-out, black-covered notebook, on which he records each currency's collecting time, place, former owner's name, home country, and anecdotes if there were any. There is also a photo album, which keeps photographs Fu had taken with foreign friends who exchanged currencies with him. Fu hopes once he collects every currency, he can someday open a world currency exhibition.

By Chen Zhilin (chinadaily.com.cn)

Edited by Tania Lee