Chinese Currency
What is the legal tender of China?
The legal tender of the People's Republic of China, issued by the People's Bank of China, is the Renminbi, literally people's currency.
- Short official name: CNY (China Yuan)
- Abbreviation: RMB
- Chinese: Ren Min Bi (人民币)
- Symbol: ¥
- Monetary unit: Yuan (元)
- Fractional units: Jiao (角) and Fen (分)

How many sets of RMB have been issued?
With the establishment of the People's Bank of China on December 1st 1948, the first edition of Chinese currency was issued. To date, China has already published five sets of currencies, circulating the last edition from October 1st 1999.

Is the currency used in Hong Kong the same as that of the mainland?
The currency used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan is different.
- Hong Kong: Hong Kong Dollar
- Abbreviation: HKD$
- Macau: Pataca
- Abbreviation: MOP$
- Taiwan: New Taiwan Dollar
- Abbreviation: NT$

Does "kuai"refer to RMB?
Yes. Colloquially in Chinese, the Yuan is called kuai, and the Jiao is called mao.

What is the conversion among Yuan, Jiao and Fen?
Answer: 1Yuan = 10 Jiao = 100 Fen

What are the main notes used now?
Currently, the paper money used is 1 Jiao, 5 Jiao, 1 Yuan, 5 Yuan, 10 Yuan, 20 Yuan, 50 Yuan, and 100 Yuan. The coin used is 1 Yuan and 5 Jiao. Do not easily accept the money of other denominations.

Above is a picture of China paper money and coins.

Is it possible to receive counterfeit money in China and if yes, how to identify the them?
Like many countries in the world, China is also suffers from counterfeiters.

You should be much more careful when you receive a big note (100 Yuan or 50 Yuan); make sure that the note is not a fake.

Hereafter we provide some easy ways to identify them:
1. The fifth edition of Chinese currency has a watermark on the left of the front side. You can see it clearly in the authentic paper money against the light.
2. There is a security line in the middle of RMB100, RMB50, RMB20, RMB10 and RMB5 (the fifth set).
3. The Denomination ID in bottom-left of the front side color change hologram effect: seen from different angles, the denomination ID of ¥100 changes from green to blue, and that of ¥50 changes from golden to green.
4. Because of its special material, the authentic RMB will make a ringing sound when being snapped.