History of Chinese Renminbi Banknotes: All Five Series (1948-2019) and What Older Notes Are Worth
The renminbi has been reissued five times since the People's Bank of China opened on 1 December 1948, and the differences between those five series are what separate a common note from a scarce one. This page walks the series in order, with the People's Bank of China's own dates and denomination counts, and pairs each one with what Planet Banknote actually lists graded examples at today.
First series, 1 Dec 1948 62 varieties in series one Fifth series, 1 Oct 1999 2019 and 2020 editions
Last updated: September 2026
China has issued five series of renminbi banknotes: the first from 1 December 1948, the second from 1 March 1955, the third from 20 April 1962, the fourth from 27 April 1987 and the fifth from 1 October 1999. The fifth series has since been revised in 2005, 2015, 2019 and 2020 editions, all from the People's Bank of China.
What was the first series of renminbi?
The first series of renminbi was issued from 1 December 1948, the day the People's Bank of China was founded at Shijiazhuang in Hebei by merging the Huabei Bank, the Beihai Bank and the Xibei Farmers Bank. It ran to 12 denominations in 62 varieties, from 1 yuan up to 50,000 yuan.
The new bank and the new currency arrived together for a reason. As the separated liberated areas joined up through 1948, the patchwork of regional currencies had become impossible to reckon across, and a single note issue was the practical answer. On the same day the bank opened, the People's Government of North China decreed that renminbi issued by the People's Bank of China would circulate in North, East and Northwest China as the tender for all public and private payments (People's Bank of China, A Brief History). Dong Biwu, then chairman of the North China People's Government, wrote the bank's name in his own hand for the notes.
The variety count is what makes the first series a specialist field. The People's Bank records 2 types of 1 yuan, 4 of 5 yuan, 4 of 10 yuan, 7 of 20 yuan, 7 of 50 yuan, 10 of 100 yuan, 5 of 200 yuan, 6 of 500 yuan, 6 of 1,000 yuan, 5 of 5,000 yuan, 4 of 10,000 yuan and 2 of 50,000 yuan (People's Bank of China, Overview of the Currency of the PRC, January 2024). Circulation spread steadily as local currencies were called in, and by the end of 1951 the renminbi was the single currency across the country apart from Taiwan and Tibet, with Tibet adopting it from 15 July 1957.
What was the second series of renminbi?
The second series was ordered by the State Council on 21 February 1955 and issued from 1 March 1955, withdrawing the first series at a rate of one new yuan to ten thousand old yuan. It began with ten denominations and later grew to sixteen varieties, and it is the only series that included a 3 yuan note.
The problem it fixed was arithmetic. The first series topped out at 50,000 yuan with a low unit value, so everyday reckoning was done in units of ten thousand, and the paper itself was poor because of the material and technical conditions of the time. The second series launched in 1, 2 and 5 fen, 1, 2 and 5 jiao, and 1, 2, 3 and 5 yuan, with a 10 yuan added on 1 December 1957, the same day 1, 2 and 5 fen coins entered circulation beside the fen notes. A black 1 yuan followed on 25 March 1961 and a brown 5 yuan on 20 April 1962.
The 3 yuan note is unique in Chinese currency: no other renminbi series has ever carried that denomination. It belonged to the group printed in the Soviet Union and dated 1953. On 14 April 1964 the People's Bank announced that the Soviet-printed 1953 3 yuan, 5 yuan and 10 yuan notes would be withdrawn from 15 April 1964, with exchange closing on 15 May 1964, which is why survivors are so thin on the ground (People's Bank of China).
What was the third series of renminbi?
The third series began on 20 April 1962 with a jujube-red 1 jiao note and finished rolling out on 15 April 1980 with four coins, reaching 13 types in all. It circulated until 1 July 2000, a run of 38 years, the longest of any renminbi series.
It came in at par with the second series and the two circulated side by side while the older notes were called in. The 3 yuan was dropped, and 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao and 1 yuan coins were added. The rollout is a dated sequence collectors can work through: the dark green 2 yuan and dark green 2 jiao on 15 April 1964; the 1965-dated 10 yuan with a Tiananmen watermark and the 1962-dated 1 jiao on 10 January 1966; a recoloured back for the 1962 1 jiao on 15 December 1967, issued because its original reverse colour was too close to the 2 jiao; the dark brown 5 yuan and dark red 1 yuan on 20 October 1969; the lilac 5 jiao on 5 January 1974; and the four coins on 15 April 1980.
Design-wise the third series is the one that most clearly reflects the economics of its moment, built around agriculture as the foundation and industry as the lead, with themes such as education combined with productive labour on the small denominations. Planet Banknote currently lists a 1960 1 to 5 yuan set graded PMG 58 to 67 EPQ at $888.00, a 1965 10 yuan pair in PMG 64 and PMG 66 (P-879b) at $498.00, and a 1972 5 jiao in PMG 67 Superb Gem UNC EPQ (P-880c) at $225.00 (read on planetbanknote.com, September 2026).
What is the fourth series, and why do 1980-dated notes matter?
The State Council ordered the fourth series on 25 April 1987 and the People's Bank issued it from 27 April 1987, in 9 denominations and 14 varieties. It added the 50 and 100 yuan denominations for the first time, and the 1980-dated 50 and 100 yuan are the notes collectors chase.
The series used an announce-once, issue-in-stages method. The 50 yuan and 5 jiao came first on 27 April 1987; the 100, 2 and 1 yuan and the 2 jiao followed on 10 May 1988; the 10 and 5 yuan and the 1 jiao on 22 September 1988. To improve anti-counterfeiting, 1990-dated 50 and 100 yuan notes were issued nationwide on 20 August 1992, and 1 yuan, 5 jiao and 1 jiao coins joined on 1 June 1992 under State Council Order No. 97. That split between 1980-dated and 1990-dated 50s and 100s is the single most important date distinction in modern Chinese collecting.
The portrait programme is distinctive. The 100 yuan carries side-relief portraits of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De; the 50 yuan shows the heads of a worker, a peasant and an intellectual; the remaining denominations carry paired portraits of people from 14 of China's nationalities, from Han and Mongol on the 1 jiao upward. Backs draw on famous landscapes, and the ornament uses phoenix and peony, crane and pine, and swallow and peach blossom motifs. Planet Banknote lists a 1990 50 and 100 yuan pair in PMG 67 EPQ (P-888b and P-889b) at $565.00, and a run of ten consecutive uncirculated 1990 2 yuan notes (P-884) at $91.00 (read on planetbanknote.com, September 2026).
What is the fifth series of renminbi?
The fifth series was issued from 1 October 1999, the fiftieth anniversary of the People's Republic, under State Council Order No. 268. It runs to eight denominations: 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1 yuan plus 5 jiao and 1 jiao. It added a 20 yuan denomination and dropped the 2 yuan.
Again the rollout was staged, and the dates are worth knowing because they explain why a note's printed year and its issue year differ. The 100 yuan came on 1 October 1999; the 20 yuan note plus 1 yuan and 1 jiao coins on 16 October 2000; the 50 and 10 yuan on 1 September 2001; the 5 yuan note and 5 jiao coin on 18 November 2002; and the 1 yuan note only on 30 July 2004, five years after the series launched.
Every fifth-series note carries the same portrait of Mao Zedong from the early years of the People's Republic, set against a famous Chinese flower, with the reverses given over to the Great Hall of the People, the Potala Palace, the Guilin landscape, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, Mount Tai and West Lake at Hangzhou. Security went from a dozen or so features in the fourth series to more than twenty. Four revisions have followed: the 2005 edition on 31 August 2005 covering the 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 yuan; the 2015 edition 100 yuan on 12 November 2015; the 2019 edition 50, 20, 10 and 1 yuan on 30 August 2019 (People's Bank of China Announcement 2019 No. 14); and the 2020 edition 5 yuan on 5 November 2020.
Knowing which denominations belong to which edition saves a lot of confusion at the album stage. The Bank's own sample galleries settle it: the 2005 edition covers the 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 yuan notes plus a stainless-steel 1 jiao coin (2005 edition samples), the 2015 edition covers the 100 yuan alone, and the 2019 edition covers the 50, 20, 10 and 1 yuan notes and the 1 yuan, 5 jiao and 1 jiao coins (2019 edition samples). The 2020 edition changed one note only, the 5 yuan, giving it an optically variable magnetic ink denomination numeral and dropping the holographic windowed security thread and the tactile lines its 2005 predecessor carried.
All five renminbi series with current value ranges
The table below sets the five series and the four fifth-series editions against their issue dates, denominations, key notes and the prices Planet Banknote lists graded examples at. Prices are our own retail listings read in September 2026, not a price-guide estimate.
| Series | Issue years | Denominations | Key notes | Current value ranges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First series | From 1 December 1948 | 12 denominations, 62 varieties, 1 to 50,000 yuan | 10,000 and 50,000 yuan; 1949 specimen pairs | 1949 1,000 yuan front and back specimen pair, PMG 64 and 65 EPQ (Pick 848s), $1,799.00; 1949 5,000 yuan specimen pair, PMG 55 (P-851s), $1,250.00 |
| Second series | From 1 March 1955; 10 yuan from 1 December 1957 | 1, 2, 5 fen; 1, 2, 5 jiao; 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 yuan | The 3 yuan, unique to this series; the Soviet-printed 1953 3, 5 and 10 yuan withdrawn from 15 April 1964 | No dated Planet Banknote listing at the time of writing |
| Third series | 20 April 1962 to 15 April 1980; circulated to 1 July 2000 | 13 types: 1, 2, 5 jiao and 1, 2, 5, 10 yuan notes plus four coins | 1960-dated 1 jiao in jujube red; 1965 10 yuan with Tiananmen watermark | 1960 1 to 5 yuan set, PMG 58 to 67 EPQ, $888.00; 1965 10 yuan pair, PMG 64 and 66 (P-879b), $498.00; 1972 5 jiao, PMG 67 EPQ (P-880c), $225.00 |
| Fourth series | From 27 April 1987; 1990-dated 50 and 100 from 20 August 1992 | 9 denominations, 14 varieties: 1, 2, 5 jiao and 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100 yuan | 1980-dated 50 and 100 yuan; the 100 with Mao, Zhou, Liu and Zhu | 1990 50 and 100 yuan pair, PMG 67 EPQ (P-888b, P-889b), $565.00; ten consecutive 1990 2 yuan UNC (P-884), $91.00 |
| Fifth series | From 1 October 1999, completed 30 July 2004 | 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 yuan; 5 jiao and 1 jiao | 1999 1 yuan (P-895a); 1999 fiftieth-anniversary commemorative 50 yuan (P-891) | 1999 1 yuan, PMG 66 Gem UNC, $175.00; commemorative 50 yuan, PMG 67 Superb Gem UNC EPQ, $115.00 |
| Fifth series, 2005 edition | From 31 August 2005 | 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 yuan, plus stainless-steel 1 jiao coin | The everyday notes most people hold today | Five-note set, 5 yuan PMG 66 through 100 yuan PMG 68, $788.00 |
| Fifth series, 2015 edition | From 12 November 2015 | 100 yuan only | Upgraded 100 yuan security package | No dated Planet Banknote listing at the time of writing |
| Fifth series, 2019 edition | From 30 August 2019 | 50, 20, 10 and 1 yuan notes; 1 yuan, 5 jiao, 1 jiao coins | Current circulating design | No dated Planet Banknote listing at the time of writing |
| Fifth series, 2020 edition | From 5 November 2020 | 5 yuan only | Optically variable magnetic ink denomination numeral | No dated Planet Banknote listing at the time of writing |
Series dates, denomination counts and variety counts per the People's Bank of China Overview of the Currency of the PRC (January 2024) and the Bank's Banknotes and Coins pages. Prices are Planet Banknote retail listings for specific graded notes read on planetbanknote.com in September 2026, and they move with inventory. Where no listing existed at the time of writing, the cell says so rather than carrying an estimate.
What is a 1999 1 yuan or a 2005 5 yuan worth?
Both are fifth-series notes that remain current, so their collector premium sits entirely in condition and certification rather than in scarcity. Planet Banknote lists a 1999 1 yuan graded PMG 66 Gem UNC (P-895a) at $175.00 and a 2005 five-note set running from PMG 66 to PMG 68 at $788.00.
The reason is simple and comes straight from the issuer. When the People's Bank introduced the 2020 edition 5 yuan it stated that the new note would circulate alongside the existing notes of the same denomination and that they are equivalent in value (People's Bank of China, Announcement No. 9 [2020]). The same holds across the fifth-series editions generally, so an ordinary circulated 1999 1 yuan or 2005 5 yuan is still money doing its job, not a rarity.
What moves the number is the top of the grading scale. A note that has never circulated, is perfectly centred, keeps full original paper and earns a PMG 66 or higher is a different object from the same design folded in a wallet. Add a desirable serial number and the gap widens again; our guide to fancy serial numbers covers which patterns actually carry a premium. If you are weighing certification, PMG versus PCGS explains what each service guarantees, and graded versus raw covers when it pays for itself.
Which Chinese banknotes are the most valuable?
The first series holds the records. Its top denominations, the 10,000 and 50,000 yuan, were printed in small numbers during the inflationary end of the 1940s, and specimen pairs from 1949 sit at the top of the market. Pre-1948 Central Bank of China issues are the other strong field.
The People's Bank shows only six denominations of the first series in its own sample gallery, which understates how wide the field is: 62 varieties existed and many were regional issues with short lives (People's Bank of China, first series samples). Planet Banknote currently lists a two-note group pairing a 1945 10 yuan and a 1949 10,000 yuan, graded PMG 65 EPQ and PMG 35 NET, at $2,000.00, and a 1942 Central Bank of China 500 yuan in PCGS 58 Choice About UNC (P-251) with a very low serial number at $440.00 (read on planetbanknote.com, September 2026).
Two collector notes about condition. Chinese notes of the 1940s were often printed on thin, poor paper under wartime conditions, so high grades are genuinely uncommon rather than merely uncommon on the market. And a NET designation on a PMG holder, as on the 10,000 yuan above, tells you the note has an issue such as restoration or a repair; it is disclosed, not hidden, which is exactly why certification matters in this field. For the cross-country picture, see the most valuable world banknotes.
How do you collect renminbi banknotes?
Three approaches work. Build one complete series, most often the third or fourth; build a type set with one note per denomination across all five series; or focus on a single denomination and follow it through every series and edition. Pick numbers keep any of the three organised.
Start with the series boundaries, because they are also the value boundaries. The third series stopped circulating on 1 July 2000 and the fourth was replaced in ordinary use by the fifth, so both are closed sets whose supply can only fall. The fifth series is still open, which is why its premium lives in grade. Our Pick numbers guide explains how the catalog references in every listing above are built, and the banknote grading guide covers the ladder from Uncirculated down to G.
For the deeper background on where Chinese paper money began, more than a thousand years before the renminbi, read the first paper money in China, and for the currency collapse that preceded the renminbi, see China's hyperinflation. Current stock sits in our China banknotes collection, with more context at the China collecting hub.
Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.
Frequently asked questions
How many series of renminbi banknotes are there?
Five. The People's Bank of China issued the first series from 1 December 1948, the second from 1 March 1955, the third from 20 April 1962, the fourth from 27 April 1987 and the fifth from 1 October 1999. The fifth series has since been revised four times, in 2005, 2015, 2019 and 2020 editions, but those are editions of the same series rather than new series.
What is a 1999 1 yuan note worth?
It depends almost entirely on grade, because the 1999 1 yuan is a fifth-series note that still circulates. Planet Banknote lists an example graded PMG 66 Gem UNC, catalogued as P-895a, at $175.00 as of September 2026. A folded, circulated example carries no comparable premium. Prices move with inventory and demand, so treat any single listing as a snapshot.
What is a 2005 5 yuan note worth?
The 2005 edition 5 yuan is a current note, so its collector value comes from top grades rather than scarcity. Planet Banknote lists a complete 2005 five-note set, running from the 5 yuan in PMG 66 to the 50 and 100 yuan in PMG 68, at $788.00 as of September 2026. The People's Bank confirms that new and older editions of the same denomination circulate side by side and are equivalent in value.
Why is the Chinese 3 yuan note unusual?
The 3 yuan appeared only in the second series and no other renminbi series has used that denomination. It belonged to the group of 1953-dated notes printed in the Soviet Union. On 14 April 1964 the People's Bank announced that the Soviet-printed 1953 3, 5 and 10 yuan notes would be withdrawn from 15 April 1964, with exchange closing on 15 May 1964, which is why so few survive.
Which renminbi series ran the longest?
The third series. It began on 20 April 1962 with a jujube-red 1 jiao note, was completed with four coins on 15 April 1980, and circulated until 1 July 2000, a run of 38 years. It comprised 13 types in all: 1, 2 and 5 jiao and 1, 2, 5 and 10 yuan notes, plus 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao and 1 yuan coins.
What is the highest denomination renminbi banknote ever issued?
The 50,000 yuan note of the first series, issued between 1948 and 1955. The People's Bank records two varieties of it. The first series reached 12 denominations in 62 varieties, and the high values reflect the inflationary conditions of the late 1940s. The second series reset the scale at one new yuan to ten thousand old yuan.