By Frank Yu
It is true. I laundered some money in Beijing a few weeks ago and now I have big regrets. A few days ago, I discovered a 100 Yuan red note in my pocket. This is great. It's almost like finding forgotten money in your pocket since it really is finding forgotten money in your pocket. As I reached into a new pair of trousers I found a little red square of money tucked deep in the folds of the pocket. It became clear to me that the money had been through at least one wash and rinse cycle. Since I don't own a dryer, the money simply dried into a big clump square of cash as it gestated in the pocket of the trousers.

As I unfolded my new re-found wealth, I noticed that washing has caused the note to not only shrink a little but also to gain a new smooth and washed texture. For anyone who has lived in China, this is bad news. China, even with its rapid rise and development, is still more or less a cash and carry type of place for everyday needs. I laugh at tourists who tell me that they carry travelers' checks in China since even checking and credit cards are still rare in most places.

Oddly enough, the largest currency that I have seen is a 100 yuan note. There may be larger denominations but I have yet to see and touch one. This means we carry bundles of cash to pay our rent, buy a car or put a down payment on homes or expensive items. It is not unusual to see people carry suitcases full of red 100 yuan notes in order to make daily purchases or shuttle money around. If you need to make a payment of USD 10,000 or more, prepare to bring a small gym bag as your wallet.

With so much cash, counterfeiting continues to be a big problem. Most stores usually have UV or anti-counterfeit devices to check the legitimacy of your 100 yuan bills on the spot as you make payment. For those that do not, the workers are trained to examine the bills and most important to touch it for authenticity. Not even 50 and 20 yuan bills go through as much scrutiny the way the 100 yuan bills do.

With a newly washed 100 yuan note, my bill not only felt different, it even looked different since it was slightly smaller and even faded now. US dollars comprise 100% cotton rag which means that they are washable and will shrink only slightly in the dryer. Otherwise, a washed dollar bill will more or less look the same as an unwashed bill — but cleaner. Chinese renminbi seems to have a higher paper content which makes them susceptible to laundry damage and modification.

After eating a fine meal at a curry restaurant in Beijing's Wudaoko, I handed my waitress my washed out 100 bill. She looked at it, gave it a scrape of her finger and took it away. She came back a minute later and asked if I had another bill since this one was no good. Of course I had other bills but based on the principal alone I argued that this was Chinese legal tender and that they should accept it. She stood her ground, as did I, and so each of us just stared at the other. After five minutes, I told her that I can go home and get another bill. She suggested I leave my bag hostage to ensure my return, I left my phone instead. I walked around the corner, pretended to access an ATM and came back and paid for my bill using the other money hidden in my pocket. I got my phone back and headed for the new N Mart that had just opened in Beijing to try and pawn it off–errr–pass it to someone else as soon as possible.

At the store, I tried to pay for my purchases at the check out counter of N Mart. Again, my bill raised some red flags and they asked if I had another bill. Even though the store had high tech machines, they still insisted at doing the scrape test to check my bill. Again I held out and said this was all I had. As the manager came and subsequently their manager came, I was led to the cash room of the store. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be there since they were counting cash all around me but they passed my bill to 3 other people. One did ask if I washed it. I said yes. He said that my money is legal tender and that it should be accepted. Great. I walked back to the cashier where my things were patiently waiting for me. As a last ditch effort, she asked me if I had another bill instead. I said no. She reluctantly took it and off I went. The washed 100 yuan bill was no longer my problem.

I do commend the Beijing staff of N Mart for their courteous service and efforts to appease one difficult customer. If Beijing is to prepare for the Olympics and other transitions to being a world class city, it really does need to upgrade its payment systems for more electronic and smart card transactions as well as the credibility of its detection systems. Even when anti-counterfeit devices said that my bill was authentic, no one believed the machines and resorted to the scrape and touch test anyway.

I am just glad that I am no longer stuck with that bill. I now check all my pockets thoroughly prior to washing.

About the author:
Frank Yu is a Program Manager at Microsoft Research Asia's Advanced Technology Center. A Harvard graduate, Frank has worked in Hong Kong, Singapore and now Beijing for 8 years in the field of technology and banking. Views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not those of Microsoft Corporation. Frank can be contacted at [email protected]