Starting May 2023, Changshu City in Jiangsu Province, East China, will begin paying all its public sector personnel in digital yuan or e-CNY. This move aims to promote the digital yuan, China’s official digital currency, and will impact government employees, healthcare professionals, journalists, teachers, technicians for accredited media outlets, and state-owned business staff members.
The adoption of digital yuan payments in Changshu City is part of China’s broader initiatives to advance its centralized digital currency. Pilot programs for digital yuan have already been implemented in the city, and many consumption scenarios can already use digital yuan payments. Additionally, the digital yuan app is linked to popular payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, allowing users to make payments with their digital yuan wallets on WeChat’s mini-programs. The feature will be available in more scenarios soon.
Changshu City has been using digital yuan since June 2022 to pay overtime fees for around 4,900 state enterprise employees, amounting to 2.5 million yuan. Furthermore, it has been used to pay for housing expenses, high-tech company payments, and transportation for local government employees.
