Yuan (redirected from yuans)

Yuan (yüän), river, 540 mi (869 km) long, rising in S Guizhou prov. and flowing generally NE to Donting lake, Hunan prov., SE China. Navigation above Changde is limited by rapids to small craft. The Yuan valley, a major north-south trade route, yields tungsten, iron ore, and tung yu (wood oil).

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yuan

the standard monetary unit of China, divided into 10 jiao and 100 fen.

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Yuan 

the monetary unit of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), equal to 10 chiao or 100 fen.

Yuans were first produced, as silver coins, in 1835. Until 1933 the monetary unit in circulation was the Hang. Customs duties (until 1930) and taxes (until 1933) were computed in yuans. The yuan contained 23.9025 g of pure silver; from 1933 to 1935 it contained 23.4934 g. Under a monetary reform carried out in 1935, silver yuans were removed from circulation and replaced with paper yuans, or fa-pi. Excessive printing of paper money led to inflation of the yuan. Under a monetary reform in 1948, the gold content of the yuan was set at 0.22217 g of pure gold; new paper money—“gold yuans”—was issued, for which fa-pi were exchanged at the rate of 3 million to one.

In December 1948 the People’s Bank of China was established; it began issuing its own banknotes—jenmin-pi—(yuans). After the formation of the PRC, local money throughout the country was exchanged for the new banknotes; the exchange had essentially been completed by early 1952 in China and by 1959 in Tibet. From Mar. 1 to Apr. 30, 1955, old money was exchanged for new at the rate of 10,000 to one. According to the rate of exchange set by the State Bank of the USSR in September 1978, 100 yuans equal 45 rubles and 50 kopecks.