Chinese yuans timeline

U.S. President Barack Obama has promised to raise the issue of the yuan's exchange rate when he visits China from Nov. 15-18, putting the spotlight on a major bone of contention which has the potential to shake currency markets and diplomatic ties.For a factbox on Obama's Asian itinerary see For a Q+A on what is at stake in the U.S.-China yuan tussle see for recent comments on the yuan by U.S., European and Chinese officials, see For Reuters columns on the yuan seeAs China's economy has regained much of its pre-crisis strength, debate over the appropriate exchange rate for the yuan, or remninbi is simmering again among policymakers and traders.Paired with voracious debt-financed spending by U.S. consumers, the competitive rate of the yuan has been pinpointed as one of the main causes of the imbalances in trade and investment that ushered in the global financial crisis. Here is a timeline of how China's currency has developed."people's currency" is issued as the People's Bank of China (PBOC) is founded. It circulates as civil war rages between Mao Zedong's Communist rebels and the ruling Kuomintang Chinese Nationalist Party.Oct. 1, 1949: The victorious Mao founds the People's Republic of China. Yuan established as sole unified legal currency, as communists seek to end the hyperinflation that has plagued China.March 1, 1955: PBOC issues second RMB series.1955-1971: Exchange rate set at 2.46 yuan to the dollar until 1971, the year China takes its seat at the United Nations.1962: Third series of RMB issued.1960s-1970s: Yuan stable in terms of inflation, as government sets wages and prices in centrally planned economy.1972-79: RMB gradually revalues to 1.50 yuan to the dollar.1978: Two years after Mao's death, Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, architect of the "socialist market economy" that supersedes the centrally planned economy, begins reforms.1979: As part of China's opening up, government begins foreign exchange retention quota system to encourage exports, allowing firms to retain a percentage of foreign exchange claims.Jan. 1981: First round of yuan devaluation. State Council introduces "internal settlement rate" of 2.80 yuan/dollar. The more realistic exchange rate is based on China's average export cost per dollar plus a 10 percent margin.