Foreign Exchange Certificate
The Foreign Exchange Certificate (FEC) was a replacement currency in circulation from 1980-1994 for foreigners residing in the People's Republic of China . It was intended to facilitate state control over foreign exchange.
FECs were issued by the Bank of China with denominations of 1 and 5 Jiao, and 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 yuan, respectively . Payment with FEC was required for certain transactions to be carried out by foreigners temporarily staying in the People's Republic of China, including Chinese from Hong Kong , Macau , Taiwan and overseas, as well as by foreign diplomats . The transactions subject to FEC included:
- Hotel and accommodation
- Tourist services especially available to the named group of people, e.g. friendship shops etc.
- flight tickets
- Train and boat tickets between the PRC and Hong Kong / Macau
- International phone calls and parcels
- Transactions for which the central government agency for foreign exchange control has prescribed the use of the FEC.
Trading in FEC was prohibited under threat of punishment. In 1994 Deng Xiaoping abolished the FEC in the course of the further economic opening of his country. Since then, foreigners have been able to pay for all services with the renminbi (yuan), although this is still only convertible to a limited extent and may not be taken out of the country indefinitely.