Chinese Yuan (CNY)

The yuan (元, CNY) is the base unit of several modern Chinese currencies.

One yuan is sub-dividedinto 10 jiao (角), and a jiao is sub-divided into 10 fen (分). The words fen and jiao are also referred to as sin (仙) and ho (毫) in Cantonese (a language that is commonly spoken in Hong Kong). The word "Sin" is borrowed from the English word "cent".

Japan and Korea also use the yuan (元) symbol when referring to certain currency units, including Japanese Yen and South Korean won. The word Yuan means a "round coin" or "round object" literally.

There are two forms of the Chinese character that represents the Yuan, a formal version - (圆) or (圓), and a less formal version - (元). Prices in the mainland of China will usually use the less formal version (元) to denote the price of items. Using the symbol (￥) or the abbreviation (RMB) to describe any currency is also common in the mainland of China.

Coins

Chinese coins are comprised mostly of silver or brass and come in denominations of 1 jiǎo , 2 jiǎo, 5 jiǎo, 10 jiǎo, 20 jiǎo, and 1 yuan. There is 1 cash that is made of brass, a 2, 5, 10 and 20 cash that are made of copper, and a 1, 2 and 5 jiǎo, (as well as a 1 yuan) that are made of silver. Some of the more rare coins are made of nickel and aluminum. The nickel coins were pressed in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 fen. The aluminum pieces were printed in the denominations of 1 and 5 fen.

Banknotes

Chinese banknotes circulate in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 yuan. The more rare denominations include 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 yuan notes. The kind of banknotes one encounters depend largely upon the area of China visited.

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CNY Exchange Rates

Below are a selection of currency exchange rates for the Chinese Yuan (CNY) converted to other world currencies. These rates show what 元1 would convert to in the foreign currency. You can view more information on the other currencies by clicking on the three-letter currency code.

Exchange rates updated: Mar 9, 2010 (CET)

	USD ($)	EUR (€)	GBP (£)	JPY (¥)	AUD (A$)	CAD (C$)	CHF (CHF)	HKD (HK$)	SGD (S$)	MXN (Mex$)	RUB (руб)	NOK (kr)
元 1 =	0.1465	0.1081	0.0979	13.1527	0.1614	0.1509	0.1580	1.1368	0.2052	1.8594	4.3653	0.8689
Inverse	6.8263	9.2544	10.2101	0.0760	6.1952	6.6283	6.3274	0.8796	4.8733	0.5378	0.2291	1.1509

CNY Charts

View charts of the Chinese Yuan (CNY) compared to other world currencies. Charts are updated with the latest currency exchange rate information and allow you view the currency exchange rates over a range of time periods.

CNY vs. USD	CNY vs. EUR	CNY vs. GBP	CNY vs. JPY
More CNY vs. USD Charts	More CNY vs. EUR Charts	More CNY vs. GBP Charts	More CNY vs. JPY Charts