Banknote Database made by collectors, for collectors
Lower Denominations of China's 5th series of Renminbi
October 21, 2022 @ 20:15
China currently issues 6 denominations of banknote in its 5th series, which debuted in 1999. The series was updated with added security features, but very little design changes in 2005. From 2015 to 2020 each denomination was completely redrawn digitally and thus are totally different than previous releases, although sometimes on a microscopic scale. The 5th series observe design began in 1997, with the passing of Chairman Deng Xiaoping and the handover of Hong Kong. Politically, it became important to present China to the world in a historically significant light. Xiaoping’s post-Maoist capitalist reforms led to the need to reassert the PRC’s past as a Communist polity. Mao Zedong was quickly chosen to represent the country on the banknotes the population would use daily. The reverse designs had already been started, led by designers Qu Zhenrong , Kong Weiyun, Li Zhinong, a large drafting team, and of course a committee from the CCP.
The reverse design began all the way back in 1988 and was scheduled for a 1999 release to coincide with the PRC’s 50th anniversary. The first portion complete, the writing and script on the series was designed by Ma Wenwei (马文蔚), whose writing was used on the 2nd series going forward. Having died in 1988, Ma never got to see his work featured on the 5th series.
The obverse of each denomination features the large portrait of Mao, detailed in an earlier post, a flower, an artistic pattern taken from Chinese history, and the standard seal, bank name, and denomination information. The reverses were, originally, all meant to be either natural scenes from around China or the 5 sacred mountains but were (politically) edited before release. Locations are fairly evenly distributed throughout the populated area of China with Guangzhou and Manchuria neglected. The outlier appears on the 50 yuan note, with Tibet portrayed. There are three main subsections to the fifth series. The original 1999 release, the 2005 update, and the 2015-2020 current series. Designer Shao Guowei has been largely responsible for updates in security and design, while Ma Rong was the principal engraver.
The 1 Yuan banknote is the lowest denomination and, for some reason, also comes in coin flavor. The flower shown here is an orchid, often mistranslated into English as narcissus. From 1999 the 1 Yuan banknote has probably seen the fewest changes concerning security features and design updates, although the newest iteration is a bit more colorful. The central strip that separates Mao from the watermark area features a pattern of architectural caissons (藻井) used in the construction of many temples and palaces. The background features on each note each have some historic Chinese pattern whether in textiles or architecture, further tying Mao into a historical narrative.
In these blog posts, each note mentioned is linked to its corresponding BanknoteDB.com entry.
The reverse of the 1 Yuan banknote was based on a photograph taken by Kong Weiyun. He traveled to Hangzhou posing as an advertising promotor and had only a few days to get back to Beijing with a picture. Unfortunately it rained the whole time, and boats wouldn’t go out on the lake. The boats also didn’t go to the specific spot he wanted for the picture, so he had to bribe a boat driver. Probably using banknotes that he was in the process of replacing. The “West Lake” in Hangzhou is shown, with the three famous stone pagodas of the third pool. The pagodas were originally constructed in 1090, periodically destroyed, and rebuilt with their current forms sometime during the Qing Dynasty. In the summer of 2013 a cruise ship knocked one of them over and it had to be dug out of the lake and put back together. Kong’s source photo for the imagery has never been publicly shown, but the view on the banknote is impossible to precisely re-create. This is true of each denomination, with the imagery having been altered in various ways. The “broken bridge” of the West Lake can be seen in the background along with (probably) the Leifeng Pagoda. Above the lake scene is an ancient pattern of the Golden Crow. A three-legged bird the Ancient Majiayao people believed lived in harmony with the sun. Below the lake scene a fresco from the Dawenkou culture is shown. The obverse has a central strip that repeats the pattern of ancient pottery with pots shown in an orthographic view from straight up, the apertures being the central circles. These patterns are from artwork that dates to the very earliest physical remnants of Chinese civilization, up to 5,000 years ago. The idea here may be to very subtly march through the national cultural heritage in time as the denominations go up, something many countries have done. As stated before, every element on each banknote was reworked after 2015, below the 1999 and 2019 1 RMB differences in detail and be seen. The largest difference in the engravings can be seen when viewing the water lines on the surface of the lake.
. 
The second-lowest denomination in the Renminbi’s fifth series is 5 Yuan, with Mao in purple. The obverse features a flower that could be translated as a daffodil, and is technically known as Narcissus tazetta subsp. chinensis. The central strip that separates Mao from the watermark area features a pattern of architectural caissons (藻井) used in the construction of many temples and palaces. The three releases of the 5 yuan are shown here. The 1999 release with OMRON rings, the 2005 release that includes those plus a windowed security strip, and finally the 2020 edition with the denomination in SPARK ink and a coin pattern in the watermark area. The reverse is an artistic representation of Mount Tai in Shandong Province, and the staircases forming the gates to heaven. The inscription reads “Chief of the Five Sacred Mountains” and this note is a relic of the original idea that the reverse of each denomination should feature China’s sacred mountains, except the highest denomination depicting a building ‘of the people’. The inscription is still there and is a famous tourist site, but the view is not literal and is instead an amalgamation of area mountains. In 2020, the newest version of the banknote even added another mountain at the left center. The newest 5 Yuan banknote was released later than all the others, with a 2020 date - the given reason was that new techniques in ink and printing led to a delay in production.
Here, the reverse of the 2005 and 2020 emissions can be seen. Note the "new" mountain placed at the centre left for 2020.
China’s 2005 10 yuan note matches the other obverses in tone and substance. The flower on the 10 is the Chinese Rose Rosa chinensis. The central strip here has moved forward in Chinese history yet again, and portrays a branch pattern known as “Wanshou rattan” which was popularized on pottery during the Ming Dynasty. The intertwining branches symbolize endless life and is considered lucky.
The reverse of the 10 Yuan banknote portrays the entrance to the Quoting Gorge, the Kuimen Gate. It’s the western portal to the three gorges area on the Yangtze River. Since this was engraved, the water level has risen significantly because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Engraving work here was done by Zhao Qiming steel engraving Co., and the initials “ZQM” show up on the engraving. These were tastefully removed in the 2019 edition, and almost all of the mountains are slightly different. No word on what became of prankster Zhao Qiming if he ever got caught. His initials are seen at the right, with the red circle added by the author. They're impossibly tiny to find. The Kuimen Gate is within the city limits of Chongqing, which is the world’s largest city (if you measure by city limits, which you should not) making this the banknote with the world’s largest city on it. Technically.