The yuan 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.

The renminbi; sign: 元, ¥; ISO 4217: CNY is the official currency of the People's Republic of China.

Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the US dollar. As China pursued its transition from central planning to a market economy, and increased its participation in foreign trade, the renminbi was devalued to increase the competitiveness of Chinese industry. It has previously been claimed that the renminbi's official exchange rate was undervalued by as much as 37.5% against its purchasing power parity. More recently, however, appreciation actions by the Chinese government, as well as quantitative easing measures taken by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks, have caused the renminbi to be within as little as 8% of its equilibrium value by the second half of 2012. Since 2006, the renminbi exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it will gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the world's 8th most traded currency in 2013, and 5th in 2015.

On 1 October 2016, the RMB became the first emerging market currency to be included in the IMF's special drawing rights basket, the basket of currencies used by the IMF (reserve currency).

In Standard (Mandarin) Chinese, yuán literally means a "round object" or "round coin". During the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a round coin made of silver.

In informal contexts, the word is written with the simplified Chinese character 元, that literally means "beginning". In formal contexts it is written with the simplified character 圆 or with the traditional version 圓, both meaning "round", after the shape of the coins. These are all pronounced yuán in modern Standard Chinese, but were originally pronounced differently, and remain distinct in Wu Chinese: 元 = nyoe, 圓 = yoe.

In the People's Republic of China, '￥' or 'RMB' is often prefixed to the amount to indicate that the currency is the renminbi (e.g. ￥100元 or RMB 100元).

The first series of Renminbi banknotes was introduced during the Chinese Civil War by the newly founded People's Bank of China on December 1, 1948, nearly one year before the founding of the People's Republic of China itself. It was issued to unify and replace the various currencies of the communist-held territories as well as the currency of the Nationalist government.

This series also called "Old Currency", which 10000 yuan is equal to 1 yuan of the 2nd series and later(called "New Currency").

Due to the turbulent political situation at the time, the first series is rather chaotic, with many versions issued for each denomination. The banknotes show a mixture of agricultural and industrial scenes, modes of transportation, and famous sites.

The notes were issued in 12 denominations: ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥20, ¥50, ¥100, ¥200, ¥500, ¥1,000, ¥5,000, ¥10,000 and ¥50,000, with a total of 62 designs. They were officially withdrawn on various dates between April 1, 1955 to May 10, 1955.

Some of these notes have words "Republic of China" (Chinese: 中華民國) on them to show the issuance year in the Republic of China Era. Though the PRC adopted the Common Era to replace the ROC Era in 1949 and have been avoiding using "Republic of China" in any possible circumstance, these notes were issued and used until 1955, when a revaluation of Reminbi took place.

The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China, and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC). The civil war began in August 1927, with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, and essentially ended when major hostilities ceased in 1950. It can generally be divided into two stages; the first being from 1927 to 1937, and the second being from 1946 to 1950 with the Second Sino-Japanese War separating them. The war was a major turning point in modern Chinese history, with the CPC gaining control of almost the entirety of Mainland China, establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC) to replace the KMT's Republic of China (ROC). It also caused a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all of China.

The war represented an ideological split between the Communist CPC and the KMT's brand of Nationalism. It continued intermittently until late 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front to counter the Japanese threat and prevent the country from crumbling. China's full-scale civil war resumed in 1946, a year after the end of hostilities with Japan. Four years later came the cessation of major military hostilities, with the newly founded People's Republic of China controlling mainland China (including Hainan) and the Republic of China's jurisdiction being restricted to Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, Matsu and several outlying islands.

To this day no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed, and there is debate about whether the Civil War has legally ended. Cross-strait relations have been hindered by military threats and political and economic pressure, particularly over Taiwan's political status, with both governments officially adhering to a "One-China policy." The PRC still actively claims Taiwan as part of its territory and continues to threaten the ROC with a military invasion if the ROC officially declares independence by changing its name to and gaining international recognition as the "Republic of Taiwan". The ROC mutually claims mainland China, and they both continue the fight over diplomatic recognition. Today the war as such occurs on the political and economic fronts in the form of cross-Strait relations without actual military action; however, the two separate governments in China have close economic ties.