
What is the proper name for Chinese currency?
- Short official name: CNY (Chinese 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? ...
- Hong Kong: Hong Kong Dollar
- Abbreviation: HKD$
- Macau: Pataca
- Abbreviation: MOP$
What was ancient Chinese money called?
Xinjiang issues
- Da Li yuan bao. ...
- Da (Chinese: 大; pinyin: dà) is a degenerate form of the above but only has the da included.
- Yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán) is similar to the above coin however it has only the character yuan included.
- Jian Zhong tong bao (Chinese: 建中通寶; pinyin: jiàn zhōng tōng bǎo) The Jian Zhong Period was 780–83.
What does this Chinese coin mean?
These old Chinese coins are circular in shape with a square punched out in the middle. The shapes of the coins are meaningful. The circle represents the influence of the heavens upon the earth, which is symbolized by the square. There are different coins that were created during varying historical periods of China.
What is the name of the Chinese currency?
The bank's analysts said China's slowing economy and the Fed's rate-hike plans will weigh on the currency. The yuan has tumbled almost 3.8% over the last two weeks as investors have shied away ...

What are coins called in China?
The Chinese Yuan (CNY) and Renminbi (RMB) are interchangeable terms for China's currency. The Renminbi(RMB) is the official name of China's currency. The principal unit of RMB is called the Chinese Yuan (CNY). CNY is the official ISO 4217 abbreviation for China's currency.
What are ancient Chinese coins called?
A yuanbao is a small metal ingot that was used in ancient China as money. Being made out of silver or gold, the value was determined by weight in taels, which is a weight measurement, part of the Chinese system of weights and currency (see also: baht).
What are Chinese cents called?
Current usage. Today, the term "Yuan" usually refers to the primary unit of account of the renminbi (RMB), the currency of the People's Republic of China. RMB banknotes start at one Yuan and go up to 100 Yuan.
What was the first Chinese currency?
Cowry shells are believed to have been the earliest form of currency used in Central China, and were used during the Neolithic period.
Are there coins in Chinese money?
Denominations of Chinese Money Paper notes come in 1 and 5 jiao, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 yuan denominations, though the 2 Yuan Note is rarely seen these days. There are also 1 jiao, 5 jiao and 1 yuan coins.
Does China have 2 currencies?
While the two names are used interchangeably, there is a subtle distinction between them. The Renminbi (the people's currency in Mandarin) is China's official currency, acting as the medium of exchange, while the Yuan is the unit of the currency.
How much is $1 US in China?
1 USD = 6.9737 CNY Sep 07, 2022 05:35 UTC.
What is yuan coin?
Yuan Chain Coin (YCC) is a platform that offers blockchain-based software services with high security without expensive development costs. The platform allows users to conduct risk-free and low-cost transactions and trade cryptocurrency without third-party involvement.
What are Chinese lucky coins?
The currency of ancient China, Chinese Feng Shui coins, represent wealth and abundance. In Chinese symbols of good fortune, these coins are on the top 8 items of the list, including stone chime, mirror, book, rhinoceros horn, lozenge, pearl, and leaf.
What are feng shui coins?
Feng Shui coins are used in general for attracting wealth and prosperity depending on which school of feng shui you follow. Coins are generally arranged in sets of three, tied together with a red ribbon, symbolizing the unity of man, earth, and heaven called the Tien-di-Ren.
What did Shang use for money?
shell moneyThe invention of shell money which made of copper at the end of the Shang Dynasty (1675 BC–1029 AD) marks the beginning of the use of metal coins in China.
How much is a feng shui coin worth?
A single coin in good condition might sell retail for $2 to $4 US dollars. If you have one to sell to a coin dealer, expect an offer of 10 to 25 US cents. Requester Panicos references an eBay auction for a Feng Shui I Ching coin where the starting bid is $500.
What was the last Chinese coin made of?
The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys , with iron, lead, and zinc coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced.
How were Chinese coins used?
In Imperial China cash coins were used for fortune-telling, this would be done by first lighting incense to the effigy of a Chinese deity , and then placing 3 cash coins into a tortoise shell. The process involved the fortune teller counting how many coins lay on their obverse or reverse sides, and how these coins scratched the shell, this process was repeated 3 times. After this a very intricate system based on the position of the coins with Bagua, and the Five elements would be used for divination, the Tang dynasty Kai Yuan Tong Bao (開元通寶) coin was the most preferred coin for this usage. Contemporary Chinese intelligentsia found the usage of cash coins for fortune-telling to be superior than any other methods. Other than fortune-telling cash coins were also believed to hold “curing powers” in Traditional Chinese medicine, one method of using cash coins for “medicine” was boiling them in water and let the patient consume that water. Other than that they were also used as “medical tools” particularly in the guāshā (刮痧) method, which was used against diseases like Cholera; this required the healer to scrape the patient's skin with cash coins as they believed that the pathogen remained stagnant underneath the patient's skin in a process called “coining”. Though in general any cash coin could be used in traditional Chinese medicine but the Kai Yuan Tong Bao was most preferred, and preferences were given for some specific coins for certain ailments E.g. the Zhou Yuan Tong Bao (周元通寶) was used against miscarriages.
How were coins made?
From the 6th century AD and later, new "mother coins" ( mǔ qián 母 錢) were cast as the basis for coin production. These were engraved in generally easily manipulated metals such as tin. Coins were cast in sand moulds. Fine wet sand was placed in rectangles made from pear wood, and small amounts of coal and charcoal dust were added to refine the process, acting as a flux. The mother coins were placed on the sand, and another pear wood frame would be placed upon the mother coin. The molten metal was poured in through a separate entrance formed by placing a rod in the mould. This process would be repeated 15 times and then molten metal would be poured in. After the metal had cooled down, the "coin tree" ( qián shù 錢 樹) was extracted from the mould (which would be destroyed due to the process). The coins would be taken off the tree and placed on long square rods to have their edges rounded off, often for hundreds of coins simultaneously. After this process, the coins were strung together and brought into circulation.
Why are there holes in the middle of coins?
The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings of 1000 cash coins and valued at 1 tael of silver (but variants of regional standards as low as 500 cash coins per string also existed), 1000 coins strung together were referred to as a chuàn (串) or diào (吊) and were accepted by traders and merchants per string because counting the individual coins would cost too much time. Because the strings were often accepted without being checked for damaged coins and coins of inferior quality and copper-alloys these strings would eventually be accepted based on their nominal value rather than their weight, this system is comparable to that of a fiat currency. Because the counting and stringing together of cash coins was such a time consuming task people known as qiánpù (錢鋪) would string cash coins together in strings of 100 coins of which ten would form a single chuàn. The qiánpù would receive payment for their services in the form of taking a few cash coins from every string they composed, because of this a chuàn was more likely to consist of 990 coins rather than 1000 coins and because the profession of qiánpù had become a universally accepted practice these chuàns were often still nominally valued at 1000 cash coins. The number of coins in a single string was locally determined as in one district a string could consist of 980 cash coins, while in another district this could only be 965 cash coins, these numbers were based on the local salaries of the qiánpù. During the Qing dynasty the qiánpù would often search for older and rarer coins to sell these to coin collectors at a higher price.
How many coins were in a string of cash?
A string of 1000 cash was supposed to be equal in value to one tael of pure silver. A string of cash was divided into ten sections of 100 cash each . Local custom allowed the person who put the string together to take a cash or a few from each hundred for his effort (one, two, three or even four in some places). Thus an ounce of silver could exchange for 970 in one city and 990 in the next. In some places in the North of China short of currency the custom counted one cash as two and fewer than 500 cash would be exchanged for an ounce of silver. A string of cash weighed over ten pounds and was generally carried over the shoulder. (See Hosea Morse's "Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire" p. 130 ff.) Paper money equivalents known as flying cash sometimes showed pictures of the appropriate number of cash coins strung together.
What are Chinese good luck coins?
In the modern era, these coins are considered to be Chinese “good luck coins”; they are hung on strings and round the necks of children, or over the beds of sick people. They hold a place in various traditional Chinese techniques, such as Yijing divination, as well as Traditional Chinese medicine, and Feng shui. Currencies based on the Chinese cash coins include the Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn .
Why do people bury cash coins?
Another type of superstition involving cash coins is to have them buried with a corpse for good luck as well as to provide protection to the grave or tomb from evil spirits, although this tradition doesn't exclusively involve cash coins as early 20th century silver coins bearing the face of Yuan Shikai, known outside of China as "Fatman" dollars (袁大頭, yuán dà tóu ), have also been used for this purpose.
History of the Chinese Coins
In order to better understand the characteristics of the Chinese coin, it is necessary to retrace its history.
Origins of the Chinese Coins
Before talking about the Renmimbi and in general about today’s Chinese currency, it is essential to retrace what has been the “path” of the Chinese economy up to the present day.
The earliest Chinese coins
We can officially speak of the first Chinese coins only from the end of the 12th century B.C. It was in this period that, under the Zhou dynasty, the first ancestral forms of Chinese currency began to spread.
Unification of China and the first round coins
This period, which was decidedly confusing from an economic and monetary point of view, was followed by a period characterised by a long process of unification.
Development of the Chinese Coins
In the period of the Song and Tang dynasties from 618 to 1279 A.D., the coins begin to show scripts and engravings.
Modern history of Chinese Coins
After this journey through the centuries we can get to what are the present day to fully understand what has been the path of today’s Chinese currency.
Collecting and history
As we have seen the history of the coin in China is seasoned with many interesting nuances. These have allowed an economy so closed and limited to its national territories to become one of the largest (if not the largest) economic power in the world.
What is the name of the Chinese currency?
You may have heard Chinese currency referred to as “renminbi, ” which is usually abbreviated as RMB. In Chinese, renminbi is written 人民币 (rénmínbì in pīnyīn), which means “the people’s money.”
What is Chinese money called?
Confusingly, however, it’s possible that you may also have heard Chinese money referred to as “yuan” (元 or yuán), commonly abbreviated as CNY (“Chinese Yuan”).
How much cash should I bring to China?
If you are traveling to China for the first time, you might be wondering whether or not to bring any cash.
What is the currency of England called?
Instead of gold, England decided to use silver as its currency, and today, their currency is still referred to as “sterling.”. Technically, you can’t say that something costs “15 sterling,” however. Instead, you should say that it costs “15 pounds sterling” or simply “15 pounds.”. In Chinese, then, it would technically be incorrect to say ...
What does "yu kuài qián" mean?
This is why you may also hear vendors in China say that something costs “yī kuài qián” (一块钱). Since “qián” means “money,” if translated literally, “一块钱” means that your steamed bun costs “one piece of money.”
What does kuai mean in Chinese?
Kuai is actually a Chinese measure word which is commonly used in many different contexts to mean “one piece.”.
Why do Chinese banks use special characters?
The special characters used to write numbers on Chinese banknotes are meant to help prevent fraud.
Where to Buy the Coins
Now that you know what the most valuable Chinese coins are, you may be wondering where you can purchase these prized collectibles. Lower valued coins under 100,000 can often be bought on sites such as Ebay or Etsy.
When Did Coins Stop Being Silver
If you look closely at the list of top 15 most valuable Chinese coins, some are gold, some are silver, and one is copper. So, when did coins stop- and start- being silver? Originally, in ancient times in China, copper was the only material used for the minting of coins.
Final Thoughts
Now that you’ve learned all about the top 15 most valuable Chinese coins, where to buy them, which are worth money, and what they’re made of, we’d like to know what you think. Comment any thoughts or questions down below, and we will do our best to respond to your question.
What is the difference between Bitcoin and Yuan?
The biggest difference between Bitcoin and the digital yuan is that the latter is extremely tightly controlled and regulated by The People’s Bank of China.
What draws the Chinese government to crypto?
What draws the Chinese government to crypto is the idea of replacing paper currency – a clunky, archaic way of facilitating transactions that’s vulnerable to counterfeiting. The Chinese would know – they themselves invented it 1,000 years ago.
How will the digital yuan affect crypto values?
To borrow an analogy from the show Billions, daily crypto values are like “a pig on LSD – you never know which way they’re gonna go.”
Why did China clear Kudzu?
But like a good farmer, China wasn’t just clearing their field of kudzu for the sake of having fertile land – they were making room for something else: something they could monitor, control, and eventually profit from.
What is the digital yuan?
The digital yuan, by contrast, is designed to replace cash. As merchants and commercial banks develop the infrastructure for supporting the digital yuan, it’s likely that China will institute a mandate similar to India’s in 2016 where citizens will be required to turn in their cash, starting with the highest denominations.
Is the yuan a cryptocurrency?
The digital yuan, as it’s called, is sort of a cryptocurrency and sort of not. It copies some elements of Bitcoin while abandoning others. It’s an investment, but not the kind you think. And lastly, it has a surprising relationship with WeChat Pay and Alipay, China’s equivalents to PayPal.
Is China cracking down on cryptocurrency?
The Chinese government is cracking down on cryptocurrency and rolling out a homemade replacement. How will the digital yuan affect the future of crypto?
What is the digital currency of China?
The People’s Bank of China has been developing the digital yuan, a so-called central bank digital currency that aims to replace some of the cash in circulation. China has already started real-world trials for the digital currency in a number of cities including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou. The digital yuan could increase competition in China’s ...
What is QR in China?
The most popular form of mobile payment in China relies on so-called quick response (QR) codes. Users can display this barcode in their Alipay or WeChat app in a store and the merchant will scan it.
What is the digital yuan?
The Chinese market is already very advanced in cashless payments. The digital yuan would be a way to speed that process up.
How will the digital yuan work?
There are two aspects to the question: distribution and then eventually how it will be spent.
Is bitcoin a blockchain?
Bitcoin is also built on a technology known as blockchain. It’s unclear at this point what kind of technical make up the digital yuan would have. Proponents of bitcoin also tout the anonymity of the digital currency. The PBOC’s Fan said the digital yuan would have “controllable anonymity.”.
Which country is the leader in digital currency?
GUANGZHOU, China — China is arguably leading the world in developing a national digital currency, a project it has been working on since 2014. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been spearheading work on the digital yuan, a so-called central bank digital currency (CBDC) that aims to replace some of the cash in circulation.
Is China giving away digital currency?
This could include services to allow consumers to exchange their coins and cash for digital yuan. China has already given away millions of dollars worth of the digital currency in real-world trials in a number of cities including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou.

Overview
Other terms relating to cash coins
• Mother coins (母錢), are model cash coins used in the casting process from which other cash coins were produced.
• Ancestor coins (祖錢), are model cash coins introduced in the Qing dynasty used in the casting process from which other mother coins were produced.
• Coin trees (錢樹), are the "tree-shaped" result of the casting process off of which the cash coins were taken to later be strung together.
Terminology
The English term cash, referring to the coin, comes from the Portuguese caixa which was derived from the Tamil kāsu, a South Indian monetary unit derived from the Sanskrit silver and gold weight unit karsa. The English name was used for small copper coins issued in British India, and also came to be used for the similarly small value copper coins of China.
The English word cash meaning "tangible currency" is an older, unrelated word, derived from the Middle …
Manufacture
Traditionally, Chinese cash coins were cast in copper, brass or iron. In the mid-19th century, the coins were made of 3 parts copper and 2 parts lead. Cast silver coins were periodically produced but considerably more rare. Cast gold coins are also known to exist but are extremely rare.
During the Zhou dynasty period, the method for casting coins consisted of first …
History
Chinese cash coins originated from the barter of farming tools and agricultural surpluses. Around 1200 BC, smaller token spades, hoes, and knives began to be used to conduct smaller exchanges with the tokens later melted down to produce real farm implements. These tokens came to be used as media of exchange themselves and were known as spade money and knife money.
Inscriptions and denominations
The earliest standard denominations of cash coins were theoretically based on the weight of the coin and were as follows:
• 100 grains of millet = 1 zhu (Chinese: 銖; pinyin: zhū)
• 24 zhū = 1 tael (Chinese: 兩; pinyin: liǎng)
Cash coins and superstitions
In Imperial China cash coins were used for fortune-telling, this would be done by first lighting incense to the effigy of a Chinese deity, and then placing 3 cash coins into a tortoise shell. The process involved the fortune teller counting how many coins lay on their obverse or reverse sides, and how these coins scratched the shell, this process was repeated 3 times. After this a very intricat…
Stringing of cash coins
The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings of 1000 cash coins and valued at 1 tael of silver (but variants of regional standards as low as 500 cash coins per string also existed), 1000 coins strung together were referred to as a chuàn (串) or diào (吊) and were accepted by traders and merchants per string because counting the indiv…
History of The Chinese Coins
Origins of The Chinese Coins
The Earliest Chinese Coins
Unification of China and The First Round Coins
Development of The Chinese Coins
- In the period of the Song and Tang dynasties from 618 to 1279 A.D., the coins begin to show scripts and engravings. More specifically, most of the coins are inscribed by famous poets or artists and usually bear phrases of peace or philosophy. Each coin may contain two or even four different coins depending on the denomination. It is not by chance t...
Modern History of Chinese Coins
Collecting and History