100 Yuan enhanced security

The 2015 issue was the first significant security upgrade to the 100 Yuan since the fifth series launched in 1999. China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation added a holographic stripe and upgraded the optically variable ink on the numeral, responding directly to a sustained counterfeiting problem that had drawn public complaints and periodic warnings from the People's Bank throughout the 2000s. The security thread was also changed — wider, with a color-shift effect visible under tilt.

Pick 909 circulated alongside unmodified fifth-series 100 Yuan notes, which remained legal tender, creating a two-variant situation in everyday commerce that lasted several years.