Renminbi
The
renminbi is the official currency of the People’s Republic of China. The name literally means "people's currency". The yuan is the basic unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts. One yuan is subdivided into 10
jiǎo, and a
jiǎo in turn is subdivided into 10
fēn. The ISO code for renminbi is
CNY, or also
CNH when traded in Hong Kong. The currency is often abbreviated
RMB, or indicated by the yuan sign
¥. The latter may be written
CN¥ to distinguish it from other currencies with same symbol. In Chinese texts the currency may also be indicated with the Chinese character for the yuan,
元, or rarely
CN元. The renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Macau. Renminbi is sometimes accepted in Hong Kong and Macau, and are easily exchanged in the two territories, with banks in Hong Kong allowing people to maintain accounts in RMB. The currency is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of China. Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the U.S.