China is preparing to adopt a new standard using more advanced technologies for the identification of its currency, the yuan, beginning in May 2011, officials said Monday.

The mandatory standard, coded GB 16999-2010, has been approved by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the country's top quality watchdog, and the Standardization Administration, sources said.

The new standard includes 12 technological features, the most important being the "real notes only" concept, which only recognizes authentic notes, said Chen Baoshan, a former inspector with the Currency Gold and Silver Bureau under the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

The new standard to be implemented is different and much more strict compared to the previous one, which seeks to memorize the features of various types of counterfeit notes and identify them when they fit those memorized false features, said Gu Zikun, chairman of the Hangzhou-based Tzekwan company who participated in the development of the new standard.

"Even if the notes have only extremely subtle differences, the machines will sound an alarm if they don't totally match the features of authentic notes," said Gu Zikun.

Between January and September this year, 1,2000 fake note-related crimes were investigated in China, as both the frequency and scale of such crimes have been rising in recent years, said Zhang Lingfei, an official with the country's Ministry of Public Security.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2010)