They are both pronounced yuán in Mandarin but have different pronunciations in Taiwanese Hokkien (îⁿ, goân) and Hakka (yèn, ngièn).

The name 仙 in Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka for cent is a loanword borrowed from English.

The first goal of the New Taiwan dollar was to end the hyperinflation that had plagued Nationalist China due to the Chinese Civil War.

After the communists captured Beijing in January 1949, the Nationalists began to retreat to Taiwan.

The government then declared in the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion that dollars issued by the Bank of Taiwan would become the new currency in circulation.

When the Temporary Provisions were made ineffective in 1991, the ROC lacked a legal national currency until the year 2000, when the Central Bank of China (CBC) replaced the Bank of Taiwan in issuing NT bills.

The exchange rate compared to the United States dollar has varied from less than ten to one in the mid-1950s, more than forty to one in the 1960s, and about twenty-five to one in 1992.

The current series of banknotes for the New Taiwan dollar began circulation in July 2000.

The conspiracy states that putting Chiang Kai-shek on a rarely used banknote would "practically" remove him from the currency while "nominally" including him on the currency would not upset supporters on the other side of the political spectrum that much (the Pan-Blue Coalition)[citation needed].

The red paper note measures 145 × 70 mm and features a portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen on the front and the Chung-Shan Building on the back.