The currency of the People’s Republic of China is the renminbi 人民币, literally the “people’s money.” As comedian Zhou Libo explains, the Great Helmsman appears on all banknotes worth one yuan and above, while different ethnic minorities are featured on notes of smaller denominations:
“The people” are not on the 100-yuan note;
“The people” are not on the 50-yuan note;
“The people” are not on the 20-yuan note;
“The people” are not on the 10-yuan note;
“The people” are not on the five-yuan note;
“The people” are not on the one-yuan note;Only the 50-cent* note has two people on it; the 20-cent note, two; and the 10-cent note, two;
The value of “the people” in the people’s money is 80 cents in total!
When you open your wallet, the most miserable thing is that people of all ethnicities are still there, but Chairman Mao is gone!
一百元里面没有人民，
五十元里面没有人民，
二十元里面没有人民，
十元里面没有人民，
五元里面没有人民，
一元里面没有人民，
只有五毛钱里面有两个人民，
二毛钱里面有两个人民，
一毛钱里面有两个人民。
在人民币里人民总共才值八毛!
打开钱包
最痛苦的是各族人民还在，
毛主席不见了!
What else is of “the people” in name only? Government offices, the People’s Bank of China (which actually makes monetary policy, not loans), and the broken healthcare system, according to Zhou:
In our country, the places with “the people” posted over the door are all packed with security checks, representing the grandeur of the “the people” to the greatest extent. Normally, these places which forbid people from entering and exiting freely, like “the people’s government,” “the people’s court,” etc…
You finally find a “people’s bank,” only to learn that it doesn’t offer deposit service.
Only “people’s hospitals” allow let you enter and exit freely, but it is the last place the people want to go…在我国，凡是门口挂“人民”二字招牌的地方，均岗哨林立，充分体现了“人民”的崇高。这些地方一般都是人民无法随意进出的，像“人民政府”、“人民法院”等等……
好不容易找到一个“人民银行”，还不办理储蓄业务，
只有“人民医院”的门可以随意进出，却是人民都不愿意进去的地方…
Via MalaHQ. Translation by Mengyu Dong.
* One yuan is equivalent to 10 mao or 100 fen. Since there is no equivalent to the mao in most other currencies, five mao is translated here as 50 cents. Similarly, the Fifty Cent Party (五毛党) is literally the “Five Mao Party.” Back.
