yuan

Etymology

From Mandarin 元 (yuán), from 圓／圆 (yuán, “circle > round coin”) referring to the piece of eight. Compare Japanese 円(えん) (en), Korean 원(圓) (won). Doublet of yen and won.

noun

1. The basic unit of money in China.
   Sung paused to show me some of the notes. They were in issues of five yuan (a Chinese dollar, equal at this time to a little less than one American dollar), one yuan, twenty and ten cent denominations. 1940, Evans Fordyce Carlson, “Test Tube for New China”, in Twin Stars of China: A Behind-the-Scenes Story of China's Valiant Struggle For Existence By A U. S. Marine who Lived & Moved with The People, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, →OCLC, page 219
   A ticket to these Saturday and Sunday night dances costs 15 yuan, or $5.35, which is a lot when one considers that the average Peking worker makes 60 to 70 yuan ($21 to $25) a month. April 29, 1985, Daniel Southerl, “Saturday Night Fever in Peking”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-27
   Donations to the mosque come from a village considered fairly poor by regional standards, with an average annual income of 300 yuan (about U.S. $100) per household. The 1982 average per capita annual income in Yongning County was substantially higher, 539 yuan according to the Population Census Office (1987:206). 1998, Dru C. Gladney, “Getting Rich is Not So Glorious: Contrasting Perspectives on Prosperity Among Muslims and Han in China”, in Robert W. Hefner, editor, Market Cultures: Society and Morality in the New Asian Capitalisms, Westview Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 110
   In Pinggu, a suburb of Beijing, residents were told that they would receive 50-yuan ($7.60) prizes in cash or merchandise once they had been fully vaccinated. April 5, 2021, Lily Kuo, Lyric Li, “China’s covid vaccine drive is lagging. Free food could help turn things around.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-04-05, Asia & Pacific