Convert RMB to USD

China’s currency is the renminbi (人民币, RMB). Its unit is the yuan (元): prices are quoted in yuan, and in everyday speech people say kuai (块). CNY is the international currency code used by banks and exchange-rate data. So “RMB to USD”, “CNY to USD” and “yuan to dollars” are all the same conversion.

• Smaller units: 1 yuan = 10 jiao = 100 fen.
• Symbol: ¥ — the same sign Japan uses for the yen, so check the currency code when a price could be either. In Chinese text the character 元 is common.
• CNH is not a different currency: it is the code markets use for renminbi traded outside mainland China, mainly in Hong Kong (explained below).

Converter sites, banks and card networks all quote different numbers for the same day. The mid-market rate shown here is a reference: nobody sells you dollars at it. Every real conversion adds a margin, a fee, or both:

Reading the Bank of China rate board

Bank of China publishes its retail rates many times a day. Its English page lists five columns with no explanation and no unit. The figures are yuan per 100 US dollars, and each is from the bank’s side of the deal. Here is the US dollar row as published on 8 October 2026 at 22:01 Beijing time:

On that day the cash and transfer prices for dollars were the same; for some currencies and on some days they differ. The gap between buying and selling (2.81 per $100, about 0.42%) is what a round trip — yuan to dollars and back — would cost you at the bank.

Worked example: ¥10,000 to US dollars

At the Bank of China selling rate (6.7212): ¥10,000 → $1,487.83. At the mid-market reference (6.7000): $1,492.54. The difference — $4.71, or 0.32% — is the bank’s margin on that conversion. In the other direction, $1,000 at the buying rate gave ¥6,693.10 against ¥6,700.00 at mid-market.

Use the mid-market figure as your benchmark: ask any bank or transfer service what you will receive after fees, and compare that amount with the converter above.

The renminbi is not freely floating and not fixed. Every trading day at 9:15 a.m. Beijing time the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) publishes a central parity rate, often called the “fixing” (中间价). In the onshore market the yuan may then trade up to 2% either side of that day’s fixing — a band in place since March 2014. Since January 2023 the onshore interbank market has traded from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. the next morning.

Because the fixing anchors each day, the yuan tends to move less than many currencies. The fixing is not the same as the market rate: on 8 October 2026 it was 6.7367 per dollar while market rates were about 6.70, so the fixing was set about 0.55% weaker than the market. In 2023–2025 it was the other way round, with the fixing stronger than market rates. That is why a page should always say which rate it shows: this one shows market-based reference rates, not the fixing.

Mainland China also has no fixings on its public holidays — the National Day “Golden Week” (1–7 October 2026) had none — while markets outside China keep trading.

CNY is the renminbi traded inside mainland China, within the 2% band around the fixing. CNH is the same currency traded offshore — Hong Kong is the largest centre — with no band. Hong Kong banks have offered renminbi services since 2004, and the offshore market grew after the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority revised their clearing arrangements in July 2010.

The two rates are usually very close but not identical. Research by the Bank for International Settlements found that differences in liquidity between the two markets explain the size of the gap, and that global risk aversion makes it more volatile. For travel money, shopping or a salary transfer the difference rarely matters; it matters to businesses and traders moving large sums.

Key moments, using the US Federal Reserve’s daily H.10 rates and the CFETS fixing (a higher number of yuan per dollar means a weaker yuan):

Yearly averages

Over the year to 8 October 2026 the yuan rose about 6.3% against the dollar (from 7.1195 to 6.70 per dollar). ¥1 ranged from $0.14023 (14 October 2025) to $0.14944 (21 September 2026). Over five years the range was $0.13617 (9 April 2025) to $0.15850 (1 March 2022). Past movements are history, not a forecast.

Visiting China

• Mobile payments with a foreign card. Since March 2024 foreign visitors using mobile payment can spend up to US$5,000 per transaction and US$50,000 a year. WeChat Pay with a foreign card charges no fee on payments under ¥200 and a 3% fee above that, with a 60-day introductory waiver on payments under ¥1,000 for new card users (Beijing government guide, March 2026). Alipay sets its own terms for foreign cards — check them in the app before you pay.
• Pay in yuan. If a card terminal offers to charge you in US dollars, decline: the conversion is done at the merchant side’s rate, which is usually worse than your card network’s.
• Divide a yuan price by today’s rate (about 6.70) for a quick dollar estimate: ¥200 ≈ $30.

Leaving China with cash

Travellers entering or leaving China must declare cash over ¥20,000, or foreign currency worth more than US$5,000 (Shanghai government customs guide, updated October 2025). Larger amounts of foreign cash need extra paperwork from a bank, so it is simpler to change leftover yuan at a bank before you leave.

Moving money out of China

Individuals in China — Chinese citizens and foreigners alike — can buy up to US$50,000 of foreign currency per calendar year with just their ID. Above that, banks ask for documents showing where the money comes from, such as employment and tax records. China’s foreign-exchange regulator (SAFE) restated this quota in 2024. Ask your bank which documents it needs before your last month in China, not during it.

Shopping and invoices in yuan

Prices on Chinese marketplaces and supplier invoices are often in yuan. The converter gives the mid-market value; your card or payment provider will apply its own rate and fees, so treat the result as a close estimate rather than the final charge. Unit conversions for product specs — cm to inches or kg to pounds — work the same way.

• Reserves: the renminbi made up 2.11% of the world’s allocated foreign-exchange reserves in the second quarter of 2026, against 56.70% for the US dollar (IMF COFER, released 30 September 2026).
• SDR: the renminbi joined the IMF’s Special Drawing Right basket on 1 October 2016; since 1 August 2022 its weight is 12.28%, third after the US dollar and the euro.
• Trade: in 2025 the United States exported $106.0 billion of goods to China and imported $308.7 billion, a deficit of $202.7 billion (US Census Bureau).