The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 46, November 11, 2007, Article 19

JAMES FALLOWS ON CIRCULATING CHINESE COINS AND BANKNOTES

[Dick Johnson forwarded this article about Chinese coins
and banknotes by foreign correspondent James Fallows in
The Atlantic magazine.  -Editor]

"In Shanghai, the smallest currency bill I routinely saw
was the 5 kuai (RMB) note.  In Beijing I very rarely get
coins and instead wind up with pockets full of amazingly
penny-ante notes. The 1 kuai note (13.5 cents) is omnipresent.
What I still can't quite believe are the 1/2, 1/5th, and
1/10th kuai notes, the latter worth just over one cent,
that I virtually never saw in Shanghai and frequently get
in change at stores in Beijing, as I have in rural China.

"No master theory here, but the difference is striking.
It may help explain why Shanghai thinks it is more moderne --
and why there are so many more coin-operated vending machines
there. And I suppose the use of 1 jiao notes is no odder
than the continued existence of the U.S. penny, which costs
more to produce than it is worth."

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum