5 Jiao

The 1980 series — the fourth series of Renminbi — was the first to be designed entirely under post-Mao reform conditions, authorized as China reopened to foreign trade and began dismantling the command economy. The 5 Jiao denomination circulated heavily in daily transactions throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, when small-value notes took real punishment from street markets and transport fares.

Printed entirely domestically, unlike some earlier series issues that relied on Soviet assistance or foreign presses. The fourth series was also notable for reintroducing ethnic minority imagery after years of ideological suppression — a deliberate political gesture by the reform-era government.