China Money Facts

The official Chinese currency is the Renminbi which you will also see it referred as the Yuan. What is the difference?

It is used interchangeably, but "Renminbi" is the "official" term used to refer to China's currency. It literally means "the people's currency". "Yuan" is the actual unit, and seems to be the more casual term used by every day people on the streets. Similar to the way "sterling" and "pound" are used in the U.K.

Here are some China Money facts:

The currency code used for the Yuan is CNY, as in the currency codes for the US Dollar USD, the British Pound GBP and the Euro EUR.
The currency symbol for the Yuan is ¥, as in the currency symbol for the US Dollar $, the British Pound £, and the Euro €.
The RMB currency units are:
- The Yuan = 1
- The Jiao = 1/10 Yuan i.e. one Chinese dime
- The Fen = 1/10 Jiao i.e. one Chinese cent
Bank notes come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100, they are all different sizes and colors. In the front they all depict the portrait of Chairman Mao:

In the back, each depicts a famous and recognized site in China:

Great Hall of the People Tiananmen Square

100 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is the
Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing

50 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is the
Potala Palace in Llhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region

20 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is a
Scenery from the Karst Mountains and Li River of Guilin

10 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is a
Scenery from the Yangtze River
Three Gorges

5 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is
a scenery from Tai Shan Mountain

1 YUAN NOTE
in the back of the note is
a scenery from the West Lake

Coins, although not common, come in denominations of 10 cents, 50 cents and 1 yuan.

The Renminbi is used in mainland China only. Hong Kong and Macau have their own currencies, the Hong Kong dollar and the Pataca respectively.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is China's central bank. Much like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, it oversees monetary policy in China.
China's "Big Four" banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China are the largest banks in the world in terms of assets
Up until 2005 the Yuan was pegged to the US dollar. What does that mean? It means that when the US dollar fluctuated in value against other currencies, either up or down, the value of the yuan would move with it.
The Chinese Yuan is no longer pegged and is now allowed to float within a narrow band established by the People's Bank of China. The exchange rate floats with reference to a basket of foreign currencies including the U.S. Dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, Korean Won, and in a lesser degree, the British Pound, Thai Baht, Russian Ruble, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar and Singapore Dollar.
Check out our section for travel to China and answers to the more common money and payment questions:
- Exchange Rates
- Where to change money
- Will my ATM card work in China?
- Paying with Credit Cards in China, etc.
- Mobile payments is the way to go now: AliPay and WeChat Pay
>> More on Chinese Money
And finally, below you will find some facts about China's digital payment revolution and the development of China's CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)

China's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

China is one of the first major nations to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency, the e-CNY. The project started trials as early as 2020 on the wings of a digital payment revolution kick-started by the main Big Tech companies, Tencent and Alibaba, with their now widely entrenched payment platforms, WeChat Pay and Alipay.

What is China's CBDC and how is that different from WeChat Pay and Alipay? Chinas's CBDC as the name suggests is issued by China's Central Bank, and it is a digital version of the RMB or Yuan. WeChat Pay and Alipay are payment platforms, similar to PayPal, they do not issue currency. Furthermore, when a payment is made in e-CNY, it is final, it is like handing the cash. When a payment is made in WeChat Pay and Alipay, it needs to settle, it has to go through the bank or intermediary before it is final.

Is China's CBDC a cryptocurrency? China's CBDC is NOT a cryptocurrency. Although it uses some of the technology used by cryptocurrencies, the main difference is that it is issued by a central bank, the Central Bank of China. Cryptocurrencies are not supported by a Central Bank. Even stable coins that are pegged to a currency, like Tether which is pegged to the US dollar and backed by US Treasuries, are not issued by a Central Bank and not considered CBDCs.

When China's CBDC was launched, people had been using WeChat Pay and Alipay for years and were used to the many miniprograms and apps within their ecosystems. As a result there has not been wide adoption of the e-CNY by the general population, even though you are able to connect e-CNY wallets to both WeChat and Alipay. Chinese just continued to use what they had been used to. Instant settlement of transactions has not been a motivator for the general public to make them switch. If you travel throughout China you will see both WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate the payment ecosystem in China, more so than the e-CNY.

But China's CBDC project goes beyond domestic adoption. The Chinese government keeps pushing for innovation and new use cases for its e-CNY. One major development we are likely to see in international and cross-border trade and exchanges. Specially in conjunction with the Belt and Road Initiative and China's entire logistics ecosystem, it seems the e-CNY could play an intrinsic role within it.

Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution

If you want to learn more about China's development of digital payment systems, the precursor of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and how China went from "Cash is king" to practically cashless in just a few years, Richard Turrin, in his book Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution, gives you a great introduction as he experienced the transformation firsthand during his time in Shanghai. And follow Richard on X @richardturrin for the latest updates.