When I initially glanced at the list of galleries, I assumed that I would be the least interested in the Currency Gallery. Once you've seen one coin, haven’t you seen them all? I knew that people once exchanged goods for services, but I never thought about how the shape of money became round coins and paper money. The first coins in China took many different shapes. They had ones that looked rectangular, almost like houses without roofs. These evolved into coins that were in the shape of knives. (I wonder if this was the beginnings of the Swiss Army Knife.) There were also round coins with holes in them. The holes made it possible to carry them in stacks by stringing the coins with rope. I’m guessing that is why the knife coins didn’t survive the evolution. This gallery turned out to be one of my favorites. The Furniture Gallery was limited, but I was impressed with the intricate designs which you can see in the folding chair. There was also a gallery for the minorities of the country with articles of clothing and masks from the different cultures. This was Laura's favorite gallery. The galleries with seals, calligraphy and paintings had no audio. I walked through them, but by this point I was hungry and needed to grab lunch with Laura.
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