On July 12, the Longquanyi District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, sentenced a man to execute a settlement agreement. The man used coins to pay ten thousand yuan (RMB) as settlement money and was fined an additional 2000 yuan. This news was reported by several mainstream media outlets in China and made it to the trending topics on the Chinese search engine Baidu on July 13, sparking discussions among netizens.
The incident dates back to September 2023 when a man, named Wan, failed to fulfill his obligations as determined by a legally binding document. Wan requested the court to enforce the judgment through Wang, the enforcer. Eventually, they reached a settlement agreement, but Wan failed to comply. In March 2024, Wang applied to resume enforcement. After mediation by the enforcement judge, Wang agreed to settle the case with Wan paying a one-time sum of 20,000 yuan. However, Wan claimed he could only pay 10,000 yuan in court, promising to bring the remaining sum in two days.
Two days later, Wan arrived at the court with a pile of one fen coins, along with scattered banknotes. Due to the difficulty in counting the coins, which made it impossible to verify the total amount, Wang rejected the previous settlement proposal. That afternoon, court staff and Wan went to a bank in Chouzhou Town, Longquanyi District, Chengdu to count and exchange the coins.
As a result, the Longquanyi District Court imposed a fine of 2000 yuan on Wan. Eventually, Wan paid the full fine on the same day.
Regarding the decision to fine Wan 2000 yuan, the Longquanyi District Court stated on its official WeChat account on July 10 that Wan’s intentional hindrance of enforcement and malicious behavior of using a large amount of one fen coins not only seriously affected the court’s work but also wasted a significant amount of judicial and public resources.
After media reports on the incident, a large number of netizens expressed dissatisfaction and began discussions. Nearly 600 netizens participated in the discussion on Baidu alone. Most netizens were unhappy about the situation.
User “tyb40378042” asked, “Aren’t coins considered money?”
User “巴寄松7L” also questioned, “Aren’t coins and small change considered RMB?”
User “剛剛好1127” expressed confusion, “Is it illegal to use circulating currency?”
User “騎毛驢上珠峰” believed, “Coins and banknotes, as legal tender, should be allowed for reasonable use!”
User “機珈藍歆gh” commented, “By this logic, if I pay with small change, can a store refuse to accept it?”
User “無承72” stated, “If a debtor repays me one penny at a time, I should be grateful. Do not disrespect the RMB; this decision is illegal!”