CHINESE BANKNOTE ENGRAVER MA RONG

Generally speaking, the designers and engravers of Chinese banknotes and postage stamps do not receive a lot of attention. Until recently, banknote printing was shrouded in secrecy. In 2015, the new edition of the 100-yuan note was issued, and hit the news for two specific reasons: it was China's first digitally engraved banknote and it was engraved by a woman. MA Rong is hardly a household name, but her work is known to millions.

In 1978, aged sixteen, Ma Rong passed the exams to study Fine Art at the Technical School of the Beijing Banknote Printing Plant (then known as Beijing 541). The class (including her future husband, engraver Kong Weiyuan) attended an extra course in banknote engraving, an activity that was shrouded in secrecy at the time.

Ma Rong studied under ZHAO Yayun ???, known as the first female engraver in modern China. In the 1980s, she specialized in engraving portraits. Then, in 1997, she entered a competition to engrave the first solo portraits of Mao on renminbi banknotes.

She won the competition, and it is her portraits of Mao that appear on the notes in circulation today. These highly symbolic notes are the fifth series of renminbi (people’s currency), and were first issued by the People’s Bank of China in 1999, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

Prior to 1999, Mao’s portrait had only appeared on one banknote issued by the People’s Bank of China: the 100-yuan note featuring Mao, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai, dated 1980, and first issued in 1988. His portrait did not feature on earlier notes of the People’s Bank (Tian’anmen features without Mao’s portrait), although it did appear on notes of other banks before 1949. For more info, see my paper “Mao on Money”, prepared for “The East is Red: Art, Politics and Culture in the People’s Republic of China” study day at the V&A in 1999, and published in 2003.

Ma Rong works in the Design and Engraving Studio of the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation. Noted as one of the fourth generation of banknote designers, she is now training the fifth generation.

To read the complete article, see:
43. MA RONG – ENGRAVER OF MAO AND MONKEYS (https://chinesemoneymatters.wordpress.com/2018/04/26/43-ma-rong-engraver-of-mao-and-monkeys/)

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