Chinese Currency and its Payment methods

Many Travellers visiting China are often confused about Chinese money. What to call it or what is the official symbol use to denote the currency. In English, it is usually referred to as the Chinese dollar, however, in Chinese, it has three common names and two official Symbols.

Renminbi is the official name for the Chinese currency, it literally translates to People’s Currency. The abbreviation of the Renminbi is RMB. However, the most common name for the currency is Yuan. It is mainly used by the international countries and abbreviated to CNY. One can write CNY 100 or RMB 100 both will be correct.

The official symbol of the Chinese Yuan is ¥. However, many stores and restaurants in China may use a different Chinese character to represent the currency. The Chinese character 元 may be used instead as it is pronounced as "yuan". While traveling to china one may also here “kuai” from the native people which is pronounced as "kwai", which is the local term for Yuan.

The Chinese Yuan or RMB is only used in Mainland China. Whereas, in Hong Kong, the currency is known as the Hong Kong Dollar and in Macau as Pataca.

Exchange Chinese Currency

Chinese currency is sometimes very difficult to convert. The exchange rate of CYN is hard to predict as it is often affected by the government’s policies. Generally, the Chinese government does not like any fluctuation in the exchange rate of the currency, thus they will intervene if any variation occurs from time to time. Orient Exchange you can find the live exact exchange rate for the RMB. While conduction your journey you can also exchange your currency from here.

Methods of payment in China

• Cash: Cash is always the best mode of payment while traveling to any country. It is easily acceptable in any part of the country, the same goes for China. However, one should avoid carrying excess cash and try to carry different smaller denominations of notes. This is will help the passenger pay for small items.
• Mobile App Payment: Being renowned for technology, China dominates the mobile payment option. The QR payment code can be seen almost everywhere in China. However, if you are in china for a short trip then it will be wise to not try it. You can stick to the cash option only. In case of a long stay and for the sake of trying something new one can definitely try it with a lot of precautions. There are two companies that dominate the mobile payment market in china; AliPay and WeChat Pay. These two are accepted by the people from roadside vendors to big brands. Currently, both companies have allowed foreign travellers to use their app without having a Chinese bank account. You can feel free to use Credit cards in all the major cities of China such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Mostly Restaurants, major hotels, Travels Agencies, International Ships, and airlines or trains accept Credit Cards. Though it is accepted in several places still credit card is not very popular among international travels visiting china. Mentioned above are the most commonly used and popular payment methods used. Apart from these, there are options such as online transfer, Travellers Cheque, or net banking is available. However, while traveling to any country one must use the popular and locally used payment methods to avoid any circumstances.