A veteran teacher with nearly three decades in the classroom has noticed something odd among first graders. Over the past five cohorts, more children arrive unable to recognize cash. They do not simply fail to identify notes and coins; they also do not understand how money is used, what it means to exchange a larger note for smaller ones, or how change works. In primary school, the lesson once treated as simple—learning about renminbi—has taken on new weight.
This is not a random gap. Children see cash less often. By the end of 2023, mobile payment penetration in China reached 86%, according to People's Bank of China statistics. Many children may encounter a 100-yuan note only during Lunar New Year, when they receive lucky money; other denominations are even more unfamiliar. Less contact means fewer chances to learn.
But the fact that cash is disappearing from daily life does not make children's unfamiliarity normal. During childhood, a lack of direct, physical sense of money can have consequences that are easy to overlook.
Adults who grew up with cash may now rely on screens too, but they once felt the difference between having a little and having a lot. Ten thousand yuan in cash is a thick stack; on a phone it is just a number. The two experiences are not the same.
For today's children, the first idea of money is often a number on a display. They have little concrete sense of how money is spent or where it comes from. That helps explain a common child's logic: 'How could the money be gone? Isn't it in the phone? You just swipe and it comes back.'
Reports of children spending thousands or tens of thousands of yuan on mobile games are a case in point. Platforms and parents bear responsibility, but children's lack of basic consumer awareness about money is also part of the story. If children have no sense of how much money is, or how hard it is to earn, it is difficult for them to develop respect for it or to treat it carefully.
This does not mean digital payment should be blamed. Still, learning about money in a direct way from an early age can help children build a more sensible understanding of money and personal finance.
In practice, physical currency is hard to replace as a teaching tool. Teaching children to recognize renminbi also helps them understand its status as legal tender. As digital payments spread, cases of businesses refusing cash have increased. But cash remains the most basic payment tool, and cash services are the most basic financial services. 'Refusing renminbi cash is illegal' should become common knowledge, starting with children.
Digital payment is the broader trend, consistent with the long development of money from shells to metal coins to paper notes to virtual currencies—each step making exchange simpler and more convenient. But when children's main idea of money comes from a phone, their understanding of money and wealth will inevitably differ from that of previous generations.
At the very least, to balance such a rapid shift, children should be guided early to recognize cash and use it appropriately. In the long run, that guidance is part of helping a generation form a sound view of money, spending, and money management.