Moola

One-yuan bill. All bills except the highest denomination featured profiles of common (yet idealized) citizens.

Pointing at a pile of eggs, I’d ask, “Zhe ge duo shao qian (How much does this cost)?”

“Ba mao.”

I’d stand there mentally counting up to ba (eight), then say, “Tai gui le (How expensive)!”

“Liu mao.”

Mental counting (yi, er, san, si, wu, liu = six), then I’d smile: “Yao (I want).”

The vendor would weigh several eggs in a metal basket and report the price. I’d pay, he’d pile them in a plastic bag to hand over, and I’d leave the transaction proud.

Proud, that is, until weeks later my students informed me the going rate for eggs was two mao per gram, not six. That was pretty much the rule until I wised up: the white guy with the big nose pays three times as much. No wonder they called me from stall to stall to show off their wares. Selling to Lao Wai was fun!

I became a tougher sell after that. Earning a take-home stipend of just $100 US a month, I felt I needed to.

In addition to the $100 stipend I earned a Chinese salary of ¥650 renminbi monthly – considerably higher than the average professor’s salary (¥250-350), higher even the typical street seller’s income (¥400-500). Still, inwardly I panicked over the low US stipend and sought to save as much renminbi as I could to convert and take back home. Consequently the Wu Dao Kou vendors found me a jackrabbit, ready to flee at the slightest suspicion.

Early in the year I didn’t even earn Chinese money, technically. Only citizens of the People’s Republic of China could use renminbi. Foreigners used Foreign Exchange Currency (FEC), a parallel system without the same buying power because it exchanged at a weaker rate. While renminbi bills were often rumpled and faded, FEC bills stayed in near-mint condition from lack of use. Government-owned stores accepted FEC, but street vendors couldn’t be bothered. The trick was to break large FEC bills at a government store and beg for the change in renminbi, which you could then spend anywhere else.

After two months, however, the government abandoned FEC. What prompted the change? How long had FEC been in place? I didn’t know, but the switch caused some inflation. My weekly jar of peanut butter rose from ¥8 to ¥12; other food prices followed suit. Still, the emotional payoff was worth higher costs. No longer was I treated as a foreigner in every financial transaction. No longer was I asked for my work unit card to prove my right to make and spend the same money as everyone else. For Americans such a principle is a given, but for the Chinese it must have felt a huge risk, allowing foreigners to influence their economy directly.

Unlike US dollars, Chinese yuan bill denominations varied in size and color. They were emblazoned with faces of ordinary citizens – idealized portraits of dashing, energetic men and women with strong jaws and wide foreheads (propagandist imagery). Minority groups were represented through differences in clothing and facial features, as well as a few lines in the writing systems of their languages. Only the largest bill, ¥100, abandoned commoners to depict four Communist leaders.

I admired the bills for their beauty, and they seemed technically superior to American dollars, with their watermarks and color microprint designs (US currency didn’t adopt these anti-counterfeit measures until 1996).

The coins, on the other hand, were flimsy as tin. On a hunch I used pliers to dangle one over the gas stove in my kitchen. Within a minute it warmed to red, then became a glowing white goop that slouched like a water balloon. It plopped on the tile floor, splattering into a solid Rorschach inkblot.

Two-yuan bill. Each bill included minority languages on the back (lower image).

Five-yuan bill. Color microprint designs helped prevent counterfeiting.

Ten-yuan bill. A watermark (not apparent in these scans) was in the blank space on the left side of each bill (right side of the back).

Fifty-yuan bill. Larger denominations were larger in size (not apparent in these scans).

One hundred-yuan bill with Communist leaders. Profile on the far left: Chairman Mao Zedong.

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