For most languages, base sets didn't have expansion symbols until Sixth Edition, which had "VI" on each card. But Simplified Chinese Fifth Edition was printed with a "V" symbol on each card. Simplified Chinese was the only language of the ten in which the set was printed to feature an expansion symbol.

It was released in 1998, about halfway between the releases of Fifth and Sixth Editions in English, and the expansion symbols were color-coded for rarity just like they are in all recent sets.