10 Yuan Bank of Pei Hai

The Bank of Pei Hai was a Communist Party financial institution operating under the Shandong-Jiangsu-Anhui border region government during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Its notes circulated in guerrilla-controlled territory as a direct counter to Japanese military yen and the puppet currency pushed through occupied areas — the entire purpose of the regional bank system was monetary control of liberated zones, not commercial banking in any conventional sense.

The S-prefix in the Pick reference places this firmly in the specialized Chinese regional and revolutionary issues, a notoriously difficult area to document given the fragmented record-keeping of wartime border administrations. Surviving examples often show heavy use; these notes worked in rough conditions.