10 Yuan Bank of Shansi, Chahar, & Hopei

The Bank of Shansi, Chahar & Hopei was a communist-controlled regional bank operating in the Jin-Cha-Ji border region — one of the principal base areas held by the Eighth Route Army during the second Sino-Japanese War. Notes issued under this authority circulated in territory that was simultaneously contested by Japanese occupation forces and Nationalist armies, meaning the currency had to function under genuinely hostile conditions with no stable economic backing.

By 1945, the bank was actively expanding its note supply ahead of the final Japanese collapse, positioning communist-controlled currency to displace both Japanese military scrip and Nationalist fabi in the region. P#S3173 sits within a series that saw significant variation in printing quality due to wartime production constraints.