Beijing: China Thursday issued a new 100 yuan banknote - the largest denomination of the currency available in the world's second-largest economy - with added golden touches and more security features that will be harder to counterfeit and easier for machines to read.


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The central bank, the People's Bank of China, put into circulation the new version of 100-yuan banknote which retains most of its old features including Communist party founder Mao Zedong on one side and Beijing's iconic Great Hall of the People on the other.


The new note will be harder to counterfeit and easier for machines to read, thanks to its enhanced security features including widening of the security strip, officials said.


Also, the "100" on the bank note will now come in gold rather than in red and blue.


Manufacturers of cash receiving equipment should upgrade their products for the new bank note, the central bank announced earlier.


The old version will stay in circulation but will gradually be phased out, official media reported.


The note was issued amid alarming rate of complaints of counterfeit notes in circulation causing concern among public.


Earlier in September, police seized piles of forged 100-yuan banknotes with a face value of 210 million yuan in a raid in the southern province of Guangdong.