Chinese currency – it’s easy!

The money unit of Chinese currency is called the Yuan, RMB or Renminbi. All refer to the basic unit (equivalent to the dollar).

One Yuan is divided into 10 Jiao and 1 Jiao is divided into 10 Fen.

Most of the time you deal in Yuan. It consists mainly of paper notes, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan.

Exchange rates vary of course.

When I was in China in 2007, there was just over 6 Yuan for 1 Australian Dollar, just over 7 Yuan for 1 American Dollar, just over 14 Yuan for 1 British Pound and about 10.5 Yuan for 1 Euro.

When I went to China at the end of 2008, there was about 4 yuan per Australian dollar due to the world financial crisis. With my money in Australian dollars, China was suddenly 30% more expensive just due to exchange rates!

The rate has got better again in 2009 with about 5 yuan per Australian dollar.

Check your exchange rate just before you go. It is probably quite different to that of a year or two ago.

I used my Visa card to withdraw cash from ATMs in China. There were always sufficient ATMs to withdraw cash. Just look for the VISA or Mastercard or other type of sticker on the ATM.

One thing though - the ATMs have a cash withdrawal limit - either 2000 or 2500 yuan at different ATMs. This is separate to your own bank's withdrawal limit.

BUT - you can withdraw more. You just do another transaction. So if you want 4000 yuan, you do 2 2000 withdrawals.

China is largely a cash society still although this will change in time I guess. Shops, restaurants, hotels deal in cash - not credit card transactions.

There are exceptions but be prepared to deal in cash.