The
yuan ( or ;
sign:
¥; ; ) 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.)