China's plan to replace one yuan notes with coins may be a blessing to the country's piggy banks, but many small traders bemoan a bloating stockpile of coins they can't dispose of.
Many Chinese banks already have problems recycling coins smaller than one yuan (worth 0.15 U.S. dollar) due to a lack of counting machines, so there are fears that the influx of more coins may worsen the situation.
A farewell to the olive-green banknotes was made definite after Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said Monday coins will replace one yuan bills nationwide. Five cities in Shandong Province have begun pilot programs and the results will decide the timetable of the national reform.
China has a large volume of small-denomination banknotes in circulation, including one yuan, five jiao (0.5 yuan) and one jiao (0.1 yuan). Coins, believed to be cleaner and more environmentally friendly, are already replacing jiao in Shandong and many southern provinces.
But not everyone is a big fan of metal money. Customers in a food market in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, told Xinhua reporters they hate to carry coins, which "make wallets bulgy and heavy."
As a result, peddlers and store owners say customers often dump coins at their hands and refuse to take them. "Sometimes my patrons just told me to keep the change," said Yang Ping, a vegetable seller.
Yang Jianzhong, owners of a fish stand, said he had got five bags of coins, weighing 10 kilograms, over the past year.
"There is at least 400 yuan in them, but how am I supposed to spend them?" he said.
The inflating prices and popularity of credit cards and e-payment have made coins increasingly shunned by consumers. Even banks are reluctant to receive them, citing the high cost of counting coins.
Requests of exchanging 10 kilograms of coins for bills, made by Xinhua reporters in the capacity of ordinary customers, met cold shoulders at three banks in Hangzhou.
