Currency Name and Exchange

A lot of foreigners are confused with the currency name when they are first in China, as we have two names: “RMB“ and "CNY".

RMB is the short name of Ren Min Bi, it means the people's currency in Chinese. CNY is the short name of Chinese Yuan, and it's the only standard currency code for RMB yuan in international trade. Now it has replaced the RMB ¥ notation and is used for foreign exchange settlement and domestic settlement. However, RMB¥ can still be used for domestic settlement without confusion. CNY is the only international legal symbol for banks, while RMB is more commonly used for internal accounting. Sometimes, for simplification reasons, the ¥ in RMB is omitted and written as RMB.

As foreign currency is not available to use in the most of places in China, and also foreign credit card such as American Express is not working here. So having some Chinese Yuan in cash is highly recommended if you would take some layover tours outside airport. You can exchange money from currency exchange service desk in airport or from local bank, but they may charge some extra money for service fee. So in order to save your cost and make things easy, you can change money from your Beijing tour guide base on the exchange rate on that day. No Extra Charge.