| Value | One yuan (壹圓) |
|---|---|
| Mass | 0.72 Kuping tael, or 26.857 g |
| Diameter | 39 mm (1.5 in) |
| Thickness | 2.66 millimetres (0.105 in) mm |
| Edge | reeded |
| Composition | Silver (.89 fineness) |
| Silver | 0.843 troy oz |
| Years of minting | 1914–1928, with sporadic regional production during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s |
| Obverse | |
 | |
| Design | A profile portrait of Yuan Shikai in a military uniform, facing left |
| Designer | Luigi Giorgi |
| Design date | 1914 |
| Reverse | |
 | |
| Design | The denomination 1 yuan (壹圓) surrounded by a wreath of grain |
| Designer | Luigi Giorgi |
| Design date | 1914 |
Beginning in 1914, silver coinage featuring the portrait of Chinese president and military leader Yuan Shikai was minted across the Republic of China to replace the previous Imperial coinage. The most prominent and numerous of these coins, the Yuan Shikai dollar (also known as the "Fatman dollar" by collectors) remained in production long after Yuan's death in 1916. Designed by Luigi Giorgi, the coin features a profile bust of Yuan wearing a military uniform on the obverse, with a wreath of grain and the denomination of one yuan on the reverse. It served to replace the imperial Dragon Dollar and the various foreign silver dollars in circulation in China.
The dollar coins were regularly produced by various mints across China from 1914 to 1928, with a total production run exceeding a billion coins. Until 1920, all coins were dated Republican Year 3 (1914 CE) regardless of their actual year of production. Some mints produced coins featuring new dates during the 1920s, but these only incidentally coincidence with production date; various mints produced coins of different dates, with certain dates being usable as mint marks. After the Northern Expedition, the incipient Nationalist government halted production of the coins in favor of the Memento dollar. However, regional circulation and production of the coin continued, with poorer-quality examples produced in Gansu and Communist-held areas during the 1930s. Production was curtailed by the abandonment of the silver standard in 1935, but returned in response to hyperinflation during the Chinese Civil War, with a large run of coins at Canton in 1949. The People's Republic once again produced the coin in the mid-1950s for circulation in newly-annexed Tibet.