As the calendar swings around to August comes the news that this month shall see the issuance of China’s latest bank notes and coins. Three new coins and four notes will be released to the nation on 30 August, 2019.
Promotional videos for the fifth new version of the “renminbi”, including 1 jiao, 5 jiao, ¥1 coins, and ¥1, ¥10, ¥20 and ¥50 notes are already circulating the Chinese internet. Therein can be seen that the new cash retains its original elements, while giving them all an additional ,more 21st century feel.
The fifth, and 2019, editions of the ¥1 coins and 1 jiao coins maintain the elements of the 1999 edition, while adjusting the shape of the number 1 on the front side and contracting the flower pattern on the back. The diameter of the ¥1 yuan coin is also reduced from 25mm to 22.25mm.
As would be expected, the new currency employs advanced anti-counterfeiting measures. Tilt the coin at a certain angle, two patterns will become visible.
Looking at the notes, a dynamic hollow-out window, security line and vertical number have been added. The colour of the security line varies from violet to yellow depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
The biggest change, however, perhaps oddly, is with the 2019 edition of 5 jiao coin. Its material has been changed from an all copper-plated alloy to a nickel-plated steel core, meaning that its colour is now a nickel white. The inner circumference of the coin is adjusted from the previous circle to now be a polygon. The 5 jiao coin’s diameter remains unchanged.
The four new notes and three new coins together complete the modern family of China’s physical cash that began with the latest incarnation of the ¥100 note which appeared in 2015.
