Will going digital transform the yuan’s status at home and abroad?
Don’t count on it: the new yuan will be a lot like the old yuan
WITH A FEW taps on her phone, Lu Qingqing, a 24-year-old office worker, leapt into the monetary future. She was one of 50,000 people in Shenzhen selected late last year for a trial of China’s digital currency, called eCNY. She downloaded an app, received 200 yuan ($30) from the government and went shopping for books. The app’s display showed a traditional banknote. “It felt like real money,” she says.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The new yuan: a lot like the old yuan”
Finance & economics May 8th 2021
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