The history of Chinese money goes back to the earliest historic periods, but Renminbi dates from the establishment of the People's Republic of China in the late 1940s.
Since 1999, China has issued notes in the following denominations: 100 yuan, 50 yuan, 20 yuan, 10 yuan, 5 yuan, 2 yuan and 1 yuan. All of these notes feature People's Republic founder Mao Zedong, as well as the Arabic numerals for each denomination and the romanized term "YUAN."
Older notes (1987 to 1997) of the same yuan denominations but which do not feature Mao are still in circulation and are still legal tender. The older series also includes 5 jiao, 2 jiao and 1 jiao notes.
Coins are minted in the following denominations: 1 yuan, 5 jiao and 1 jiao. Five fen, 2 fen and 1 fen coins were formerly issued, but these are rarely seen now.
The Hong Kong special administrative region (SAR) uses the Hong Kong dollar and the Macau SAR uses the Macanese pataca, though Renminbi sometimes circulates in those places. The Republic of China (Taiwan) uses the New Taiwan dollar, and doesn't officially allow the circulation of Renminbi.
