Opinions, knowledge and resources from China Checkup's expert contributors
If you're travelling to meet or dealing with a Chinese company it is worth bearing in mind that there are several different types of Chinese currency.
Depending on whether your business is in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan you could well need to be looking at 4 separate exchange rates.
Here we introduce each of the 4 Chinese currency currently in use in "Greater China" - the Renminbi, Hong Kong Dollar, Macau Pataca & New Taiwan Dollar.
In this article we use the term "Chinese Currency" to mean the currencies currently being used throughout the area of "Greater China".
If you're thinking "surely China only has one currency like every other country" then think again, it is a lot more complicated than that.
China (or more formally "The People's Republic of China") is a very large and politically complicated country which, under the "one country, two systems" principle, governs the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Meanwhile, the self-governing island of Taiwan (a.k.a. Republic of China) considers itself to be the real government of China - a viewpoint diametrically opposed by Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province.
As you can see, it is a very complicated picture, and that is where the phrase "Greater China" comes in handy - it allows us to talk about China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Taiwan without getting political!
The map to the right hand side shows the location of each part of "Greater China".
Different parts of "Greater China" follow different financial systems, business registration systems, laws and indeed, currencies.
Here are 4 currencies in daily use in the various parts of "Greater China" starting with the money used by the vast majority of people and companies, Mainland China's renminbi:
So now you know the four Chinese currencies, you might be wondering what they are worth?
Well, here are the live currency cross rates for each Chinese currency against the United States Dollar and the Euro:
The China company operating period is usually represented by two dates, which are specified on a Chinese business license.
It is the span between the date of incorporation - the first of these dates - and the expiry date of the company's registration - the second.
In some cases, a China company operating period may be open-ended meaning no specific expiry date is specified. Learn more about this here.
This article takes a look at the 6 different China city types and the various levels of autonomy and power each type holds.
China has over 700 official cities, from the metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong down to the smaller cities of Beihai, Shangrao and Qufu, but they are not all governed equally.
Read this guide if you want to understand the difference between China city types, including municipalities, prefecture-level cities, county-level cities and more.
Launched by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, the decades long process of Chinese economic reform has transformed China beyond recognition.
This article highlights some of the most significant events during this period in the form of a year by year timeline.
Matt Slater
Author
Hi there, I'm Matt, the Founder & CEO of China Checkup. Originally from the UK, I am now based in Brisbane, Australia.
Frustrated by the scarcity of concise, high-quality and timely information about Chinese companies, I setup China Checkup whilst living in Shanghai in 2013.
My team are proud that China Checkup's company verification reports have now helped thousands of clients from all corners of the world to do business in China more safely.