1 Tael Ta-Ching Government Bank, Shansi branch

The Ta-Ching Government Bank was established by imperial decree in 1905 as the Qing dynasty's first attempt at a centrally controlled state bank, replacing the earlier Hu Pu Bank. The Shansi branch issue is particularly pointed in its timing: notes dated 1911 were circulating — or being printed — in the same year the Wuchang Uprising ended the dynasty entirely. The bank collapsed with the empire, and branch issues from provincial offices like Shansi were among the last paper authorized under the Qing financial system.

The tael denomination rather than yuan marks this as pre-Republican monetary thinking. The tael was a weight-based silver unit, never fully standardized across provinces, which complicated redemption even before the political crisis made it moot.