Bad Mr. Mao

Question: What do these two pictures have in common?



Answer: They're both bad!

That's right, bad ankle and bad money!!
The top picture of Mr. Mao on my counterfeited 5 rmb, which someone pawned off on me, is as bad as my purplish ankle is. Mr. Mao, who graces his likeness on possibly all chinese money, was given to me somewhere from my local haunts, and the other day I proceeded to give it back in exchange for some copies. As with alot of the money exchanged, the local proprieter takes the bill, looks at it, holds it up to the light (somewhere along the line I had heard that counterfeiting is big business, and there's a whole lotta fake quai out there), but this time, unlike all others, the gal handed me back the bill with an exchange of assorted chinese words that I dont understand, along with giggles and laughs from some standing around. At this point, I didnt think too much of it. The bill had a crease in it, and it appeared that that's what they were commenting about. I of course thought "how odd," but then again, this is China, one can't be too surprised by too much, or one may go crazy. This might be just some funny Chinese quirk, I thought, although in the back of my head I was also thinking "counterfeit." So, I simply went to a couple shops down to buy something else. I have learned in my short time here that if U dont understand what's goin' on, dont waste alot a time on it.
SO...to my not so great amazement, the gal at the second shop, after looking at the bill for a few seconds had the same reaction. This of course to the joy and laughter of the people standing back at the previous shop who had continued to talk about me as they watched me stroll away. Now ALL of them joined in a chorus of some chinese word (and giggles) that obviously was for "counterfeit." Then some crazy guy comes over, talking a million words a minute, shaking my hand while uttering "meiguo, meiguo," and then taking the bill while laughing and pointing at it.
So now, I am clear on what is happening, and i just happened to have another 5 rmb and was able to compare the two. Wow, a very small subtlety, but YEP, different!!

MY FIRST COUNTERFEIT BILL, TO MY KNOWLEDGE.
I GUESS I HAVE A SOUVENIR TO TAKE HOME.

I hope the title of this post doesn't get me sent to re-education camp.