To foreigners and to meet the needs of returned overseas Chinese, the State Council on April 1, 1980 authorized the Bank of China issued foreign exchange certificate, foreign nationals held in foreign currency shall be converted into foreign exchange certificates, and within the range of the RMB equivalent of the designated use.
Foreign Exchange Certificates can only be used in specific areas, such as hotels, Friendship stores, duty free shops and so on; also the only places where people can buy at that time regarded as luxury foreign goods – Remy’s wine, Marlboro cigarettes, Japan’s color TV, Swiss watches.
Foreign Exchange Certificates of the privilege raises a lot of worries, fears and even foreigners. September 11, 1980, “People’s Daily” published the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Richard Robertson’s letter: “I recently made a two-week visit to China, has just returned to the United States. Wherever he went, the Chinese people The dynamic left me a very deep impression. but I must admit that the preferential treatment of foreigners and Chinese citizens, I am deeply disturbed by the discrimination. I refer to the foreign exchange certificate. This system is reminiscent of 19 World Jishi Qing government granted the privilege of foreigners. ”
In 1994, China stopped issuing foreign exchange certificates, but the ordinary Chinese people can hardly be in the hands of the Renminbi into foreign currencies. Until 1998, China began to open individual purchase of foreign exchange, the situation began to change. February 1, 2007, Chinese residents in foreign currency exchange limit is increased to 50 thousand U.S. dollars. This series of changes before they let the Chinese people to become carries cash around the world to shop, “God.”
