Chinese yuan

The yuan (/juːˈɑːn/ or /ˈjuːən/; sign: ¥; Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán; [ɥæ̌n]) is the base unit of a number of former and present-day Chinese currencies, and usually refers to the primary unit of account of the renminbi, the currency of the People's Republic of China. It is also used as a synonym of that currency, especially in international contexts – the ISO 4217 standard code for renminbi is CNY, an abbreviation of “Chinese yuan”. (A similar case is the use of the terms sterling and pound to designate the British currency and unit.)

A yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán) is also known colloquially as a kuai (Chinese: 块; pinyin: kuài; literally: "lump"; originally a lump of silver). One yuan is divided into 10 jiao (Chinese: 角; pinyin: jiǎo; literally: "corner") or colloquially mao (Chinese: 毛; pinyin: máo "feather"). One jiao is divided into 10 fen (Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn; literally: "small portion").

The symbol for the yuan (元) is also used in Chinese to refer to the currency units of Japan and Korea, and is used to translate the currency unit dollar as well as some other currencies; for example, the US dollar is called Meiyuan (Chinese: 美元; pinyin: Měiyuán; literally: "American yuan") in Chinese, and the euro is called Ouyuan (Chinese: 欧元; pinyin: Ōuyuán; literally: "European yuan"). When used in English in the context of the modern foreign exchange market, the Chinese yuan (CNY) refers to the renminbi (RMB), which is the official currency used in mainland China.

China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.

Chinese

Chinese can refer to:

United States dollar

The United States dollar (sign: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ and referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, or American dollar) is the official currency of the United States and its overseas territories. It is a Federal Reserve Note and consists of 100 smaller cent units.

The U.S. dollar is fiat money. It is the currency most used in international transactions and is the world's most dominant reserve currency. Several countries use it as their official currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is also used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean: the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos islands. A few countries use only the U.S. Dollar for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U.S. coins that can be used as payment in U.S. dollars, such as the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Overview

The Constitution of the United States of America provides that the United States Congress has the power "To coin money". Laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U.S.C. § 5112. Section 5112 prescribes the forms, in which the United States dollars should be issued. These coins are both designated in Section 5112 as "legal tender" in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar. The pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins, which have values ranging from one cent to 50 dollars. These other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar.

Reserve currency

A reserve currency (or anchor currency) is a currency that is held in significant quantities by governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The reserve currency is commonly used in international transactions and often considered a hard currency or safe-haven currency. People who live in a country that issues a reserve currency can purchase imports and borrow across borders more cheaply than people in other nations because they don't need to exchange their currency to do so.

By the end of the 20th century, the United States dollar was considered the world's most dominant reserve currency, and the world's need for Petrocurrency has allowed the United States government as well as Americans to borrow at lower costs, granting them an advantage in excess of $100 billion per year. However, the U.S. dollar's status as a reserve currency, by increasing in value, hurts U.S. exporters.

History

Reserve currencies come and go. International currencies in the past have included the Greek drachma, coined in the fifth century B.C., the Roman denari, the Byzantine solidus and Islamic dinar of the middle-ages, the Venetian ducato of the Renaissance, the seventeenth century Dutch guilder and, more recently, the British pound and U.S. dollar.