Woman Featured On China's "One-Yuan Banknote" Found After 50 Years

Nearly five decades after her face appeared on China's one-yuan banknote, the woman known across the country as the "one yuan girl" has once again drawn public attention. A recent video shared by an influencer from Guizhou province on November 26 brought her story back into focus. The video featured 65-year-old Shi Naiyin, an ordinary farmer from the Dong ethnic minority living in Congjiang county, southwestern China. Shi Naiyin belongs to the Dong community and has always lived a simple and quiet life in her village. Despite being known nationwide as the "One Yuan Girl," people in her village know her only as an ordinary peasant woman. She gained this recognition when her image appeared on a banknote, though she herself was unaware of it for many years, reported the South China Morning Post.

When Shi was just 16 years old, she went to a market in a nearby town with her friends. She was wearing the traditional Dong community dress and had shiny silver earrings in her ears. While buying needles and thread for embroidery, a man in his 30s gently took her hand and asked her to stop and turn her face slightly to the side. She was confused, but she complied. The man then began drawing her portrait. The incident faded from her mind and she never mentioned it to anyone.

After a while, people started telling Shi that she resembled the girl on the one-yuan note. Then she remembered the market incident. In 1988, China issued the fourth series of renminbi notes, featuring two women-one from the Dong community and the other from the Yao ethnic group-on the new one-yuan note. The illustrations were created by renowned artist Hou Yimin, who spent three years studying the costumes and jewelry of various communities in southwestern China.

Officials in Qingyun town, adjacent to Shi's village, said they had already suspected the girl on the note was from that area, based on her hairstyle and silver earrings. But it wasn't until around 2010 that people pointed out a striking resemblance to Shi Naiyin that her identity was finally confirmed. By then, China had issued the fifth series of renminbi notes, all of which featured Mao Zedong's image.

Even after learning that her image had once appeared on a banknote, Shi Naiyin showed no excitement. She believed life should proceed as normal. She came from a poor family and was the eldest of six siblings. She never attended school and became the family's breadwinner from a young age.

Shi was once known as the "village flower" in her village because of her thick, dark hair. At the age of 23, she married a man arranged by her parents. The two adopted the local tradition of "zhouhun," or "walking marriage," in which a couple lives separately for two years after marriage and then starts a family together. They have a son and a daughter, who live outside the home due to work.

When word got out that Shi was the "One Yuan Girl," many people sent her letters asking for financial assistance, believing she would become wealthy through her fame. But Shi says her family never used this identity to seek government aid or any other benefits. Despite her special status, she still lives a very simple and ordinary life in her village.