How is yuan written

It is the Chinese word for dollar - the silver coin, mostly minted in the Spanish empire, used by foreign merchants in China for some four centuries. This is the "piece of eight" or "real de a ocho" beloved of pirates and their parrots - worth eight reales and known as a peso in Spanish and a dollar in English. The European merchants who started arriving in the early 16th Century went to China to buy silk and porcelain. Their Chinese partners wanted silver, preferably these large European-style silver coins.

China, as a result, was the destination of much of the silver coming from the mines of Spanish-America. The dollar of choice among Chinese businessmen was for a long time the Spanish Colonial Mexican dollar. Later it was the so-called Eagle Dollar produced by independent Mexico. In the second half of the 19th Century major trading nations starting producing their own "trade dollars". The UK produced a trade dollar, and so did the US, as discerning Chinese traders demanded higher-quality silver than the metal used in regular US dollars.

China's first domestically produced machine-struck dollar coin, or yuan, was minted in Guangdong province in The Chinese phrase for the US dollar is "mei yuan", the American yuan. The yuan is the name of the unit in which renminbi transactions are denominated, but also refers to the currency generally.

Thus, a person might pay for a meal using a 20 yuan banknote, and get some yuan and jiao a tenth of a yuan in change the jiao is further divided into 10 fen.

But it is all renminbi. This is similar to the pound sterling, which is the name of the British currency, while the price of a pint of beer in a London pub would be stated just in pounds. Unit: Yuan , Jiao some times called "Mao " and Fen. From top to the bottom: 5 fen 0. Related Reports and Articles:. For many overseas visitors, the Beijing Olympic Games offers a good opportunity not only to watch exciting games, but also to enjoy a shopping spree, as the country is well known for its low-price, good-quality Made-in-China products.

Yet prior to splashing out in Beijing, it is useful to know some basics about the Chinese currency yuan or renminbi , how to change your money into yuan, related Chinese foreign exchange policies and so on.

The renminbi literally "people's currency" is the legal tender in the mainland of the People's Republic of China. Chinese paper money usually comes in 1 fen rare , 2 fen rare ,5 fen very rare , 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 5 yuan,10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan and yuan.

One yuan is divided into 10 jiao. One jiao is divided into 10 fen, pennies in English. The largest denomination of the renminbi is the yuan note. The smallest is the 1 fen coin or note. RMB is issued both in notes and coins.

The paper denominations include, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 yuan; 5, 2 and 1 jiao; and 5, 2 and 1 fen. The denominations of coins are 1 yuan; 5, 2 and 1 jiao; and 5,2 and 1 fen. In spoken Chinese, "yuan" is often called as "kuai" and the "jiao" as"mao".

By Nikhil Sonnad Reporter. Published November 30, This article is more than 2 years old. And to punny headline writers. Sign me up. Update your browser for the best experience.