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Maybe it is a cheaper way to buy dollars? I couldn't find the interest rates on the accounts anywhere on the site.

From the Chinese goverment point of view this is a small step (everything they do is in small steps) towards converting renminbi in a global reserve currency.

Their deep reason for that is turning Shanghai in the world's leading financial center.

All you are buying is a paper promise of yuan.

US dollars, devalued as they are, are still the reserve currency of the world and most importantly, oil is still denominated in USD.

So basically they can print up as many yuan as they can sell, and exchange paper with pretty pictures on it, for oil and other commodities they can actually use.