10 Yuan Bank of Shansi, Chahar, & Hopei

The Bank of Shansi, Chahar & Hopei was a Japanese-sponsored institution established in 1938 to manage currency in the occupied northern Chinese provinces — part of a deliberate strategy to displace Nationalist-issued fiat and bind the regional economy to Japanese military interests. Its notes circulated alongside, and were intended to supplant, the legal tender of the Nationalist government in areas under puppet administration.

By 1940 the bank was issuing across multiple denominations to meet both military expenditure and civilian transaction needs in the occupied zone. Wartime paper quality across this series is inconsistent, and surviving examples frequently show stress along fold lines due to heavy use in active circulation under occupation conditions.