Beijing - China has printed commemorative banknotes for the Olympics without the face of former leader Mao Zedong, who currently decorates all but the lowest value notes, the central bank said on Monday.

The People's Bank of China said it would issue six million special 10-yuan (1.46 dollars) notes from Tuesday, to be circulated along with existing 10-yuan notes bearing Mao's portrait.

The new note is slightly larger and a different colour to the usual 10-yuan note, featuring a picture of the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium on the front and a statue of Discobolus, the Olympic discus thrower, on the reverse side.

The red seal-style Beijing 2008 Olympic logo also appears on the front of the new note.

Sophisticated water marks and other anti-counterfeiting technology were used in the production of the notes, the bank said.

Mao's picture currently appears on China's 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan notes, but not on the smaller 5 jiao (7 cents), 2 jiao (3 cents) and 1 jiao (1.5 cents) notes. (dpa)