Banknote Database made by collectors, for collectors
Higher Denominations of China's 5th series of Renminbi
October 23, 2022 @ 22:43
The patterns on the front of the 20 Yuan banknote harken back to the age just before the Qing Dynasty and form a
“taotie” pattern (饕餮纹). The pattern was prominent on pottery and jade ware during the Liangzhu culture. The reverse of the 2019 20 yuan note shows the only other discernible human being in the series besides Mao, Huang Liusi. A local “character” in Guilin. You can ride around the area in a boat just like him as a tourist now, but it will take six of these notes to do so. When asked by the UN for two places to represent China, delegates chose the Great Wall (for humanity) and this view of the Lijiang River, karst landscape, and bamboo forests in Guilin (for nature). The scene is a popular tourist destination, taken from a dock just west of Xingpingzhen in Yangshuo County. A 2016 film called Skiptrace starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville was filmed here, which was popular in China and just about nowhere else. An article in China Daily wrote that audiences loudly applauded when the “20 Yuan View” was shown. The bird and baskets were updated heavily from previous issues, which showed only a person rowing with a basket.
2005 Reverse 20 Yuan Detail:
The obverse of the 50 yuan note contains an embroidery pattern of the Qiang People (羌族的刺绣). The reverse designs were all supposed to be serene landscapes around China. Observers will note, however, that two break this design and show both the Potala Palace at Lhasa and the CCP building in Beijing. The reverse of the 50 RMB banknote was intended to be Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountains. It was changed late in the game to be somewhere in Tibet, with the official reasoning that all of the places on the banknotes were in the interior of China - and some outlying area must be included. The political reasons of course are obviously unsaid. Lhasa is probably the second highest city depicted on a banknote, coming in after Potosí Bolivia on the 100 Bolivianos note. I think, anyway, we’re not counting Canada’s astronauts. Artist Qu Zhenrong was sent to Lhasa to photograph *something* but the most obvious icon in the city is the great Potala Palace. Qu took various photos of the Palace from the top of a concrete tank at a water plant. The view has since become so iconic that the water plant has now been replaced by a viewing platform. The height and stature of the building is slightly exaggerated from reality, like most of the other notes. The maroon area of the building called the “Crimson Palace” was changed to match reality with the newest update of the note.
2019 50 Yuan Reverse:
The 100 Yuan is China’s largest denomination and one of the most counterfeited notes in the world. The country released an AR smartphone app where users can check the validity of the note, with the phoenix bird taking flight, located beneath the SPARK denomination numbers on the obverse, can be observed flying away. The pattern behind Mao is taken from lacquerware created during China’s warring states period. Specifically, a piece unearthed at Yutai Mountain, Jiangling County, Hubei Province. Many netizens in the country believe there are cartoon cats hidden in the pattern (check the final source link below and scroll down to judge for yourself). Notably the 100 is interesting for its very literal interpretation of the Great Hall of the People building on the reverse. The original engraver neglected to remove the CCTV cameras on the first issue, those on the roof and attached to the street lamps. These were, of course, tastefully removed in the update. Both versions can be seen below. The 2005 at left with the camera, and the updated 2015 issue at right. The country is investing heavily in digital yuan to offset counterfeitting.
Chinese banknotes use paper mostly sourced from the Baoding Banknote Paper Factory (保定钞票纸厂隶), located in the Jingxiu District of Baoding in Hebei Province. Opened in 1959, the factory has been producing China's banknote paper since. It's undergone a series of massive expansions and has been the world's largest banknote paper plant since 2001. The country has invested in indigenous production of security features with the Baoding facility pioneering Chinese innovations in microprinting, magnetic security threads, and quite possibly polymer substrates. As for printing, there are six facilities located throughout the eastern half of the country run by the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC) with headquarters in Beijing. CBPMC constantly emits commemorative banknotes with no legal tender value, with each plant producing at least one in 2021. The corporation has also printed notes for Vietnam, Cuba, Albania, and regularly produces both Hong Kong and Macau's notes. While being innovative and secure, China's banknote printing isn't without at least some alleged graft. In 2021, Chen Yaoming, the director of CBPMC was accused of secretly printing several billion yuan and stealing it.
Now for a conspiracy theory. Shijiazhuang Banknote Printing (石家庄印钞), a wholly owned subsidiary of CBPMC is not that far from Baoding and designed and printed commemorative polymer banknotes for the 2022 winter olympics (type one, and two). Incidentally, Shijiazhuang also has a refinery that produces polypropylene, the main ingredient in polymer banknotes. The polymer notes were designed by Zheng Kexin (郑可新) and, although it has never been officially announced (that I can find) they're probably China's first native polymer substrate notes. The country has patented several polymer banknote substrate techniques and it is rumored that they will be moving to more polymer issues. Hong Kong's 10 dollar note, the territory's only government issued note, has been printed on Australian Guardian substrate from CCLsecure since 2007.