Chinese Yuan

What is the Chinese dollar?

Travellers to China may feel confused at times on how to refer to Chinese money.

In English, some people call it the Chinese “dollar.”

But in Chinese, there are in fact three widely used names and two symbols in use.

The official name for Chinese currency is Renminbi, which translates to “People’s Currency”, and is often simply abbreviated to RMB.

However, the widespread international naming convention is yuan, or CNY.  The official symbol for the Chinese yuan is ¥. Given that this is the same Latin symbol used for the Japanese Yen, this naming convention can cause additional confusion in a global context.

In China, you may hear locals say “kuai” instead, which is another word for yuan.

China also its own digital currency known as the digital yuan, or e-CNY. Unlike Bitcoin, it is not a typical cryptocurrency but rather a sovereign currency issued and controlled by the People’s Bank of China.

What is making Chinese yuan news today?

China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, which makes yuan an exciting investment currency for foreigners.

However, the Chinese government historically take a very active approach in managing the nation’s currency and foreign exchange rates.

With government officials working to keep the yuan exchange rate favourable for Chinese exports, this limits upward price movements for the currency.

In addition, fast-shifting geopolitical and economic relationships between China and western nations may hold further implications for investors.

Whether investing in yuan is a good idea or not will depend on your forex portfolio strategy and individual investing style.