A vegetable store supports digital yuan payment in Shanghai. Photo: Qi Xijia/GT

Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, will cooperate with Shanghai to hold the "Five-five shopping festival." The use of digital yuan will become a major highlight of the event, which will be the first large-scale digital yuan test in Shanghai.

Six of China's state-owned banks taking part in the distribution of digital yuan have begun connecting with participating merchants to launch promotions to stimulate consumption, Suzhou government's official Weibo account posted the announcement on Monday,

The use of digital yuan will be further expanded during the festival, said the statement, adding that residents participating in the digital yuan test can make their payments with the digital yuan, and the merchants will be accepting the digital payment in Suzhou and Shanghai . 

Shanghai's commerce and trade industry have been included in the digital yuan application scenarios at the end of 2020, Liu Min, deputy head of the Shanghai bureau of commerce said at a press conference on Tuesday, noting that the digital yuan test in Shanghai involving the city's major business districts, commercial streets, while the payment acceptance environment there is continuously optimized.

Shanghai has been testing digital yuan and gradually extending it to more city districts. More than 500 residents in a local community, located in Putuo district, are paying property management fees and parking fees, and order express delivery services, using the digital yuan.

Global Times