This article that I found explains, briefly, the history of Chinese currency. It is fascinating that China is reportedly the first nations that created currency and used it in lieu of trading two goods. They also were one of the firsts to experiment with paper currency, and through the Silk Road, it gained popularity in Western countries. It could be said that China was one the biggest influences for today’s currency exchange. It was also mentioned that the Communist Party fixed the high inflation that plagued the country when they assumed power in the 40s. They had an interesting idea of introducing a new Yuan, balancing the economy. I believe that this helped pave the road to the robust and powerful country that they have become now, because they were able to fix their economic crisis, providing an excess of money that could be invested within the country.
http://currencyinformation.org/history-of-the-chinese-yuan
It is interesting to see two different approaches to currency that played out between the US Dollar and the Chinese currency. Having that fixed rate made their currency eventually depreciate pretty low, and having their current currency fluctuating as such, it will be interesting to see what solutions that bring out to correct this time. Very interesting article!