Currency facts
Chinese yuan symbols and markings
Currency of the People’s Republic of China ( Yuan Renminbi ) bears the symbol ISO 4217 CNY. It is an abbreviation of the English name ” chinese yuan .” Literally translated, the name ” renminbi ” means “people’s currency” appeared when the communists wanted to emphasize the folk character of the new currency before taking over power in China. The name “yuan” is associated with the appearance in China of silver European coins that were used to pay for silk and porcelain, which were called “yuan”, whose name literally means “round”. The Chinese currency is sometimes denoted by the same symbol as the Japanese Yen (“¥”). This is often a source of confusion and therefore the symbol “CN¥” is also used in practice. In China, the symbol for the yuan is圆,元, but these symbols are difficult to use in countries with an alphabet other than Chinese.
CNY breakdown
In China, the decimal division of money has been adopted. The yuan is divided into: 10 jiao (角) and 100 fen (分). The name ” jiao ” is the official figure and is rarely used, colloquially referred to as ” mao “. The word ” mao ” in Chinese means “feather” and is related to the low weight of the jiao . Juan also has its common name ” kuai ” meaning “piece of ore”. The name of the smallest part of the yuan (fen) literally means “small piece”. An interesting fact is that participants in the international currency market (FOREX) sometimes call the yuan “Uncle Mao” ( Uncle Mao). Chinese coins are 1, 2 and 5 fen, 1 and 5 jiao and 1 yuan. All denominations, from the smallest 1 jiao to the largest 100 yuan, are also found as banknotes. The banknotes are: 1, 2 and 5 jiao and 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 yuan. Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese revolution, is featured on each of the banknotes introduced after 1998.
What does the exchange rate of the Chinese currency depend on?
The Chinese yuan exchange rate is one of the most stable in the world. The entity that controls this currency is the Central Bank of China. The People’s Bank of China fixes a reference rate every business day from which the exchange rate may fluctuate 2% up and down daily.
Chinese digital currency
It is worth knowing that a digital currency – CBDC – has been introduced in China. It is becoming more and more popular, its use is possible thanks to the application available for mobile phones. When the digital yuan appeared on the market, not everyone could take advantage of it. A special lottery was created then, in which you could win the opportunity to use a virtual currency payment application. Currently, the application is generally available and can be downloaded via the App Store and Google Play. Interest in CBDC is very high, experts expect a revolution in the Chinese monetary system in the future. This is the most rapidly developing project of this type in the world, hence there are many speculations about the weakening of the dominance of the Dollar, as well as changes in the situation of the global financial market. In 2022, the application was used by over 260 million users.
