Chinese Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China, which can be abbreviated to CNY(China Yuan) or RMB(Ren Min Bi in Mardarin) with the latter one much more popular internationally. Usually "￥" is added before numbers, ￥15 symbolizes CNY 15 or 15 RMB. At present, Paper currency comes in 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 and 100 yuan notes. Paper jiao come in denominations of 1, 2, and 5. And coin comes in 1and 5 jiao as well as 1 yuan.
The Latest Exchange Rate
1 U.S. dollar = 6.8397 Yuan
1 euro = 10.0584 Yuan
100 Yen = 7.4879 Yuan
1 Hong Kong dollar = 0.88088 Yuan
1 Pound = 11.2197 Yuan
How to identify genuine notes from false ones
However, like most countries, China also suffers pains from false notes. Thus when you exchange money at banks or get changes from other people, you should pay special attention to your notes you got. The followings are some ways for you to identify genuine notes from false ones.
Identify with your eyes:
a) View Watermark
Looking through lights at the blank space of the left side, you can see watermark with strong sense of third dimension if the note is genuine. The watermark of 50 and 100 note is the head portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong; while, the watermark of 5, 10 and 20 notes is the picture of flower.
b) View Safety Line
At the left-center of your notes, there lies a safety line. Looking trough lights, you can see the safety line with tiny characters RMB100, RMB50, ￥10 and ￥5 carved in the line if the note is genuine.
Identify with tools or special eqiupment:
If you can not surely identify notes with eyes or other means, you can do it with the aid of simple tools like magnifying glass, or special equipment namely currency detector, magnetic detector etc.
Changing Money
You can change checks or cashes at most banks in Beijing. You can also work this out at your hotels as most international hotels have their money exchange counters. You can get a cash advance by your America Express card, but for this you need to go to the headquarters of Bank of China at Fuchengmen or the Branch of Bank of China at Chaoyangmen.
Beijing Wangfujing Branch of Bank of China
Address: 1, Chang' an Jie, Dongcheng District
Beijng Qianmen Branch of Bank of China
Address: 17, Xi Jiaomin Xiang, Xicheng District
Beijing Xidan Branch of Bank of China
Address: 130, Xidan Bei Dajie, Xicheng District
Beijing Dongzhi Men Branch of Bank of China
Address: 35, Wangfujing Da Jie, Dongcheng District
Beijing Xindongan Emporium Branch of Bank of China
Address: 130, Wangfujing Da Jie, Dongcheng District
Nevertheless, you can also consume with credit cards as they are accepted in most star hotels and maga-halls of Beijing. Main credit cards accepted in China are Master Card, Visa, American Express, JBC and Diners.
