The official currency introduced by China’s People’s Bank in 1948 is the renminbi.
The People’s Bank of China began issuing the renminbi in December 1948, shortly before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The name means “people’s currency.” The currency’s basic unit is the yuan, so renminbi is the name of the currency while yuan is its principal unit.
The first series of renminbi banknotes was produced during a period of severe monetary instability and helped replace several regional currencies. Later redesigns standardized the currency across mainland China. The international currency code for the renminbi is CNY, while CN¥ is also used to distinguish it from other currencies using the yuan symbol.
People often use “yuan” and “renminbi” as synonyms in everyday speech, but the distinction is similar to saying “currency” versus “unit.” The renminbi is also subject to China’s managed exchange-rate system rather than a freely floating rate.