Money and Prices
The art of printing was put to other uses beside book publication. One indication of the skill of printers in the early Ming is the reported success with which counterfeiters were able to reproduce items that the state had printed, notably the paper currency that the Hongwu administration experimented with briefly. Counterfeit bills were printed in large numbers, and it was said that only the most perceptive were able to distinguish true from fake.
Timothy Brook, The Confusions of Pleasure, Los Angeles 1998
Chinese currency is known as rénmínbì, which means ‘people’s money’, the unit of which is the yuán (¥ or ¥RMB; 元 in characters). The most useful notes are ¥50 and smaller, and you should make sure that you have plenty of ¥10 notes for everyday use, and especially for taxis. There are also smaller notes (in size and value) for jiào (角), or one tenth of a yuán, and tiny notes for fēn (分), or 100ths of a yuán, which these days are of little use except to make up one jiào. Security devices such as coloured threads in the paper and magnetic security lines have been added in an attempt to make forgery too expensive. Good notes also have watermarks, and the braille dots on the lower left side of the note should be slightly raised. However, there are floods of forged notes, particularly of the ¥50 and ¥100, some of very high quality, and you will notice that every larger note you try to spend at even the tiniest shop will be checked under ultraviolet light to see if various images fluoresce and to see how the paper itself absorbs or reflects the light. If a note is rejected there’s no point in arguing. On the other hand if you’re dubious about a note you are being offered no one will quarrel with your request for a replacement.
There are notes for ¥100, ¥50, ¥20, ¥10, ¥5, ¥2, ¥1 (now being phased out); smaller ones for ¥0.50, ¥020, ¥0.10; and smaller still for various amounts of fēn (cents), which you’ll only see if you change money at a bank and are no longer used in daily transactions. There are also coins for ¥1, ¥0.50, and ¥0.10, and some that feel like play money for yet smaller amounts, but which you’ll rarely see as they are of little use today.
One small problem for the budding scholar of Mandarin is that in speech yuán are usually called kuài, and jiào (one tenth of a yuán, or ten fēn) are called máo. The numbers used on currency and in financial documents are also different and more complicated from those used in everyday writing, although all money except the fēn coins and notes carries arabic numerals, too. The one fēn note has a picture of a lorry (truck), two fēn a picture of a boat, and five fēn a picture of a plane, but these are dying out. Coins for 1 and 5 máo and 1 kuài are widely seen elsewhere in China, but for some reason rarely in Běijīng.
Although you’ll see credit card signs everywhere, outside of foreign-run institutions and those catering specifically to foreigners, foreign credit cards are not usually accepted, and if they are accepted sometimes attract fairly high extra charges (up to 4%) and are sometimes subject to exchange rate fiddles. At souvenir shops acceptance of foreign cards guarantees overcharging. If using a card and offered the option to pay in local or home currency always pay in local currency or risk paying up to 7% more than you need to. An often-seen scam in Běijīng is either not to give the option but still do the conversion locally, or to do the conversion despite the local currency option having been chosen. Success in reclaiming excess charges can be mixed, and some residents and frequent visitors aware of the difficulty, which can occur even in foreign-run hotels, have taken to writing ‘only pay in local currency’ or similar on their receipts when signing, taking photographs of paperwork, etc.
While China surges ahead of the rest of world in the ubiquity of payment by phone this has been using Chinese apps (notably Alipay, WeChat Wallet) that required a Chinese bank account. Apple Pay has to date made little progress in China. But in 2018 it became possible to connect foreign credit cards to WeChat, making it possible to join Chinese in merely waving a phone to pay for goods and services at everything from tiny corner shops to major restaurants. This was shut down almost immediately, but at the very end of 2019 both WeChat and competitor Alipay began again to allow for the connection of foreign credit (not debit) cards. However, the process is complicated, and is only for those who do not mind increasing the Chinese government’s monitoring ability of their movements and communications either through the apps themselves or via the back doors they create. It remains to be seen whether, as with credit cards, there may be also be currency conversion issues. Otherwise for visitors China remains principally a cash economy. You’ll need cash for railway tickets and typically for plane tickets, too, even if (unwisely) purchased through your otherwise credit-card-accepting hotel.
No one is interested in foreign cash, and anyone asking for it is almost certainly cheating you. If your tour operator recommends bringing US$1 bills, you should most certainly be travelling with a different one.
Buying ¥RMB
Despite frequent government announcements over the years that the yuán will become fully convertible it remains tied in value to a basket of currencies whose contents are kept secret. In short, the value is largely whatever the government decides to make it.
The currency is now more widely available overseas, particularly in cities with direct air links to China and significant volumes of recent emigrants or of Chinese tourists. But rates are poor compared to those obtainable in China itself, and which are fixed by the authorities and consistent. So wait until you arrive in China to acquire Chinese cash.
Capital Airport has bank machines (ATMs), foreign exchange counters, and machines that exchange foreign bank notes for local cash. Avoid the commercial foreign exchange counters (not inside bank branches) which are almost never found anywhere else and that add extra charges. Major railway and bus stations all have banks nearby or bank machines on site.
The most convenient and economical way to buy ¥RMB is typically by using a bank machine or ATM. Begin by contacting your bank and credit card issuers to notify them that you’ll be travelling in China, otherwise your transactions are likely to be refused. Check the exact charges you’ll pay for use of your bank card. These are generally determined by your bank, not by the bank whose machine you use. Some banks charge a percentage, some hide a charge in a manipulated exchange rate, some charge a flat rate per withdrawal, and others have no overt charge at all.
Withdrawals in Běijīng are typically limited to ¥3000 at a time (although multiple withdrawals may be made, subject to any limit imposed by your own bank — so ask) and some machines have a limit of only ¥2500, which will affect overall costs if you’re paying a flat fee per withdrawal. Regardless, exchange rates for cash withdrawals are typically superior to tourist rates for exchanging cash or cheques, and given the inefficiencies of Chinese banks, the convenience is great.
Foreign bank machine (ATM) cards now work at all major branches of Chinese banks in Běijīng except those of Ever Bright. Most card issuers have ATM finders on-line, but these are rarely kept up to date. Screens are in English as well as Chinese, and it is increasingly common for machines to speak to you in English, too. There are also machines at the airport, and at all major shopping malls, typically in the basement. Check the back of your card for its clearing system. Union Pay, Visa, Visa Electron, Plus, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, JCB, and American Express cards are accepted.
There are also branches of several major overseas banks, including HSBC (of Hong Kong, but that’s foreign for this purpose), Deutsche Bank, and Citibank, whose machines will accept almost any card ever invented. Some may notify you of an extra charge if you do not bank with those institutions.
Four-, five-, and six-digit PINs are accepted. Occasionally machines instruct you to insert extra zeros to make up the numbers if your PIN is shorter than required.
Exchanging foreign cash: Larger branches of the Bank of China routinely accept: sterling; euros; US, Canadian, Australian, Singaporean, Hong Kong, and Malaysian dollars; Swiss francs; Swedish, Norwegian and Danish Krone; Japanese Yen; Thai baht; Philippine pisos; and Macanese patacas. Scottish and Northern Irish bank notes are not accepted. Other banks less commonly offer much in the way of foreign exchange except at their airport branches, although US dollars, euros, and pounds sterling may be accepted almost anywhere.
Travellers’ cheques should be avoided. The rate is better than that for cash, but exchanges attract a commission charge of 0.75% which makes the result little different. In addition few hotel exchange counters will now accept cheques at all, and will instead send you to wait in line at the nearest major branch of the Bank of China, as other banks will also refuse cheques. Visiting Chinese banks tends to be time-consuming, so set aside an hour or so.
Almost all money exchange is carried out at branches of the Bank of China, or at desks in hotel foyers and at counters at some Běijīng department stores which are under the Bank’s control, and using a rate fixed country-wide on a daily basis.
Emergencies: At major Bank of China branches you may make over-the-counter withdrawals up to the amount of your credit limit from Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards, with commission of 4% and a minimum withdrawal of ¥1200 (~$170). Allow half an hour for clearance, and don’t leave yourself in the situation where this is your only source of cash, as sometimes the system breaks down or lazy bank staff may simply refuse to go through the hassle. At certain banks in major cities, American Express cardholders can cash personal cheques guaranteed by their card. Money can also be wired from Western Union and picked up at dozens of banks across Běijīng. Check with your nearest office for more details or see www.westernunion.com.
You are not allowed to export more than a few thousand yuán without special arrangements (although it was reported that $22.6 billion had been smuggled out by the well-connected through one set of ‘underground banks’ in 2014, and even the Bank of China itself has been accused of spiriting clients’ money overseas), and indeed there’s little point as convertibility is limited outside China. You can reconvert to hard currencies at branches of the Bank of China, although those not at borders are sometimes reluctant and you’ll need to show receipts showing you’ve exchanged sums in excess of those you wish to reconvert (some will only allow you to exchange sums up to half the value of your receipts, which must be less than three months old). This is best left until you reach Capital Airport, and then the exchange counters not inside bank branches should be avoided as these charge commissions unseen elsewhere.
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