10 Yuan

This note belongs to the fourth series of Renminbi (第四套人民币), launched in 1987 though backdated to 1980 — a gap explained by the sheer logistical complexity of rolling out a complete series across China's distribution network. The fourth series was the first to use multi-ethnic minority figures as the primary design theme, a deliberate policy decision reflecting post-Cultural Revolution efforts to rehabilitate minority representation in official imagery.

The watermark on fourth-series notes is a repeating floral pattern — less sophisticated than the security infrastructure that would follow in the fifth series, but a significant step up from the third series' minimal protections during a period when domestic counterfeiting was a genuine concern for the People's Bank.