10 Yuan Bank of China

The Bank of China was reorganized in 1928 under Nationalist government authority, shifting from its earlier role as a foreign exchange and note-issuing bank under the Beiyang regime to a more narrowly defined international trade and exchange institution. By 1935, it was one of only four banks still permitted to issue notes under the fabi currency reform introduced that November — the same reform that nationalized silver and forced its surrender to the government. This note entered circulation at precisely the moment the old commodity-backed system was being dismantled.

Thomas De La Rue's London production meant the physical note stock was vulnerable to wartime supply disruption; Japanese naval and air pressure on shipping routes after 1937 complicated the resupply of printed currency from British printers, pushing the Bank of China toward alternative sources for later issues.