China Travel Tips

The currency used in mainland China is renminbi, which is issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and officially abbreviated as CNY, although more commonly “RMB”. The basic unit of renminbi is yuan, and the major dominations include 100 yuan, 50 yuan, 20 yuan, 10 yuan, 5 yuan, 2 yuan, and 1 yuan. Other small ones are 5 jiao, 2 jiao, 1 Jiao, 5 fen, and 1 fen. 10 jiao equals 1 yuan; 10 fen equals 1 jiao.
 

Here are samples of Chinese currency:
 
 

The units of Chinese money are yuan (元), jiao (角), and fen (分), among which yuan is the basic unit of Chinese currency. 1 yuan = 10 jiao = 100 fen.

The current exchange rate between Chinese currency and US dollar is 6.8288 or so. To check the official currency exchange rate at the moment, you can visit http://www.boc.cn/sourcedb/whpj/enindex.html to find it out.

Yes, you can take it to China, but generally you do not need to since exchanging your money into Chinese money is very convenient in banks or hotels after you enter China. The Chinese currency you are allowed to bring is no more than CNY 2,000 and if exceeded you should declare it at the customs.

You can get your money converted in exchanges set up by the Bank of China in airport, hotels or tour stores. Except hotels, where you can convert money from 7 am to 11 pm, all exchanges open from 8 am to 7 pm throughout the week.

It depends on the situation you use it. You can pay for your hotel bill, buy articles from vendors outside the scenic spots in friendship stores, pay for an optional tour or tip waiters, tour guides, taxi drivers and whomever you want to tip with US dollars, Euros and English pounds. While you can not use any foreign currencies to buy things in department stores, small convenience stores and local restaurants as well as from street vendors.

The currency used in Hong Kong is Hong Kong dollar, so you are recommended to have Chinese currency or your money exchanged upon arrival despite that Chinese money is occasionally used there.

Yes, there is counterfeit money in China but nobody takes the trouble of counterfeiting very small denominations like jiao, and let alone fen. So you must be very cautious of the money you are given, especially from the street vendors. However, by some basic skills you can avoid the fake money.
 

You can distinguish the real money from the fake one by the color, the watermark, the paper and the Braille dots.
 

It is difficult to imitate the color of the real bill. The fake one is always very fuzzy and the color and the images are not so sharp.
 

Watermark of the counterfeit bill is not distinct and obvious as the real one, which can be reflected by the unclear images such as Mao Zedong and the model worker on it.
 

The efficient way to test the paper is to see the color of the paper under a black light. If the paper appears to absorb the light, it is real; and if appears bright, it is counterfeited.
 

For each yuan note, there is a number in braille according to the denomination of the bill in the lower left hand of the front side. It is hard to feel the dots that are slightly raised on the surface of the paper. If the dots are not, the bill is counterfeited.

You can exchange the money back into foreign currency if you leave China. Your passport and the exchange memos given by the banks or money exchange counters are also required. So please keep the exchange memos well after converting your money.

Yes, you can keep some local money as souvenir. But please remember that you should declare it at the customs if the amount exceeds CNY 6, 000.