Chinese yuan

People's Republic of China) and New Taiwan dollar ( Republic of China (Taiwan)).}} The yuan (everyday use: 元; , sometimes called the dollar in English, Japanese: yen or en) is, in the Chinese language, the base unit of a currency; for example, the US dollar is Mei yuan (美元). However, in an international context, yuan refers to the base unit of various Chinese currencies, including the renminbi and the New Taiwan dollar. The English pronunciation is /ju:'æn/, although in Chinese the word is one syllable. In some parts of China, it is colloquially known as the kuai(). The Hong Kong dollar and Macanese pataca are also written as yuan in Chinese.

One yuan is divided into 10 jiao (角) or colloquially mao (毛). One jiao is divided into 10 fen (分). In Cantonese, widely spoken in Hong Kong and Macau, jiao and fen are called ho (毫) and sin (仙). "Sin" is a word borrowed into Cantonese from the English "cent".

Shop prices in mainland China and Taiwan are usually marked with 元 after the digits. In mainland China, Ұ (a Y with two crossbars) before the digits is also common.

Etymology

Yuan in Chinese literally means a "round object" or "round coin". In Qing Dynasty, yuan was a silver coin in round shape.

As with the Chinese numerals, this character has two forms — a less formal form (元) and a more formal form (圓 or 圆) used to prevent alterations and accounting mistakes. The Japanese yen was originally also written 圓, but is now represented by the simplified character 円 due to the promulgation of the toyo kanji in 1946. The Korean won used to be written 圓 some time after World War II and as 圜 from 1902 to 1910, but is now written as 원 in Hangul exclusively, in both North and South Korea.

See Also:

History

First yuan, 1889-1948

The yuan was introduced at par with the Mexican peso, a silver coin which circulated widely in South East Asia. It was subdivided into 1000 wen (文, cash), 100 fen (分, cents) or 10 jiao (角, not given an English name, compared to dime). It replaced the wen and various silver ingots called sycee. The sycee weighed in tael, with 1 yuan = 0.72 tael.

Coins were issued by the (various) national governments and by the regional mints, whilst banknotes were issued by a large number of national and regional banks.

Second (Gold) yuan, 1948-1949

Banknotes of the first yuan suffered from hyperinflation following the Second World War and were replaced in November 1948 by notes denominated in gold yuan, worth 3 million old yuan. There was no link between the gold yuan and gold metal or coins and this yuan also suffered from hyperinflation.

Third (Silver) yuan, 1949

In July 1949, the Nationalist Government introduced the silver yuan, worth 500 million gold yuan. It circulated for a few months on the mainland before the end of the civil war. This Silver yuan remained the de jure official currency of the Republic government on Taiwan until 2000.

Japanese Occupation yuan, 1932-1945

The Japanese occupiers issued coins and banknotes denominated in li (釐 1/1000 of a yuan), fen, jiao and yuan. These circulated with varying degrees of acceptance among the Chinese population. Issuers included a variety of banks and the puppet state of Manchukuo.

First Communist yuan, 1931-1935

The various Soviets under the control of China's communists issued coins between 1931 and 1935. These were denominated in yuan, jiao, fen and wen.

Second Communist yuan, 1948-1955

As the communist forces took control of most of China, they introduced a new currency, in banknote form only, denominated in yuan. This became the sole currency of mainland China at the end of the civil war.

Renminbi yuan, 1955—

A new yuan was introduced in 1955 at a rate of 10,000 old yuan = 1 new yuan. It is known as the renminbi yuan and has it own article.

Taiwanese yuan

Two yuan have circulated in Taiwan since 1946, known in English as the old Taiwan dollar and the new Taiwan dollar.

Economic history of China | Currencies of Asia and the Pacific | Modern obsolete currencies

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