Published by Swiss James on 04 Jul 2007
Counterfeit bills
Last night I was paying for some sandwiches (alcohol-free sandwiches, 3 days on the wagon so far) when the lady behind the counter informed me I’d given her a fake 10RMB bill.
When she gave me it back, I could tell that she was indeed telling the truth. So to help out other poor suckers like me, here are a few ways to spot fake bills in China.
The first sign is the feel of the paper. Real notes are made from mashed up Panda fur and fold easily to the touch, the fake ones are just old cigarette papers and glue. They’re as stiff as (very thin) cardboard and will slice your hand open before you can say ‘Jack Knife’.
The second sign is the water mark; the real McCoy has the delicate hue of lightly toasted bread and depicts the petals of a rose. The no-good faker is a ditchwater brown with some kind of childish squiggle.
The third sign is the markings on the far right of the note- the 12 reed-like lines are hard to reproduce on even modern laser printers and tend to come out dark and smudged. As you can see here, the counterfeit note has completely forgotten to include them. A schoolboy error.
Be careful out there.