Chinese money has one currency but several names, and which one you hear depends on whether something is written down or said out loud. Once you know the pattern it is simple.
Renminbi vs yuan
Renminbi (人民币, rénmínbì, abbreviated RMB) is the name of the currency, the way “sterling” is the name of the British currency. The yuan (元, yuán) is the unit you count in, like the pound. So a coffee costs “15 yuan”, never “15 renminbi”. The international code is CNY. You may also see CNH, which is the same currency traded offshore (mostly in Hong Kong) at a slightly different rate.
The three units and their nicknames
| Unit | Written (formal) | Spoken (everyday) | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yuan | 元 yuán | 块 kuài | 1 |
| Jiao | 角 jiǎo | 毛 máo | 0.1 yuan |
| Fen | 分 fēn | 分 fēn | 0.01 yuan |
Kuai literally means “piece” or “lump”, a leftover from the days of silver ingots. Mao has nothing to do with Mao Zedong; it is an old word meaning “a small amount”. Fen are so small that they have almost disappeared from daily life. Digital payments still record them, but nobody counts them out.
How to say prices out loud
A spoken price usually drops the last unit. A few patterns cover nearly everything:
| Price | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| ¥2 | 两块 | liǎng kuài |
| ¥0.50 | 五毛 | wǔ máo |
| ¥1.50 | 一块五 | yí kuài wǔ |
| ¥3.80 | 三块八 | sān kuài bā |
| ¥11 | 十一块 | shíyī kuài |
| ¥25 | 二十五块 | èrshíwǔ kuài |
| ¥108 | 一百零八块 | yìbǎi líng bā kuài |
| ¥1,200 | 一千二 | yìqiān èr |
Big amounts are counted in groups of ten thousand, not thousands: 万 wàn = 10,000. A ¥35,000 used car is sān wàn wǔ (“three wan five”), a wording that confuses almost every learner at first.
Reading price tags
Shops and menus write prices in one of these forms, and they all mean the same thing:
¥28or￥28: the yen/yuan sign, sometimes in full-width form.28元: the number followed by the character for yuan.28.00: a bare number on menus and receipts.RMB 28orCNY 28: common at hotels and on invoices.
Prices on online shops often end in .9 or .99, such as ¥9.9 or ¥99, because they look cheaper. Lucky numbers matter as well. You will see a lot of 8s (八 bā sounds like “prosper”) and very few 4s (四 sì sounds like “death”). For gifts and red envelopes (红包 hóngbāo), people pick amounts such as ¥88, ¥666 (“everything goes smoothly”) or ¥520, which sounds like “I love you”.
Banknotes and coins
Current notes come in ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥20, ¥50 and ¥100, with Mao Zedong on the front of each. Each value has its own colour: the ¥100 is red, the ¥50 green, the ¥20 brown, the ¥10 blue, the ¥5 purple and the ¥1 olive. Coins come in ¥1, 5 jiao and 1 jiao. In big cities you can go weeks without touching either. In small towns and markets a few ¥10 and ¥20 notes are still handy.
Useful money phrases
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| How much is it? | 多少钱？ | duōshao qián? |
| Too expensive! | 太贵了！ | tài guì le! |
| Can you make it cheaper? | 便宜一点吧？ | piányi yìdiǎn ba? |
| Can I pay by Alipay / WeChat? | 可以用支付宝/微信吗？ | kěyǐ yòng Zhīfùbǎo / Wēixìn ma? |
| Can I pay cash? | 可以付现金吗？ | kěyǐ fù xiànjīn ma? |
| I'll scan you / you scan me | 我扫你 / 你扫我 | wǒ sǎo nǐ / nǐ sǎo wǒ |
| Receipt / invoice, please | 请给我发票 | qǐng gěi wǒ fāpiào |
Frequently asked questions
Is kuai the same as yuan?
Yes. Kuai (块) is the everyday spoken word for one yuan (元). 11 kuai and 11 yuan are exactly the same amount; kuai is simply what people say, yuan is what is written.
What is a mao in Chinese money?
A mao (毛) is the spoken name for a jiao (角), one tenth of a yuan. Five mao is ¥0.50.
What is the difference between RMB and CNY?
RMB (renminbi) is the name of the currency; CNY is its international ISO code. Both refer to the same money. CNH is the offshore version traded mainly in Hong Kong.
Why do Chinese prices use the ¥ sign like Japan?
Both yuan and yen come from the same historical word for a round coin, so both use ¥. In context there is no confusion; on currency sites China is shown as CNY and Japan as JPY.