10 Yuan / Dollars

By 1949, the Central Bank of China was printing currency in a collapsing economy — the Gold Yuan reform of 1948 had already failed catastrophically, wiping out savings across the country and destroying public confidence in government paper. This note belongs to the chaotic final phase of Nationalist monetary administration, issued as the People's Liberation Army advanced on major cities. Chung Hwa Book Co. was a Shanghai commercial printer pressed into currency production as the government's own facilities became overwhelmed or fell behind enemy lines.

Shanghai itself fell to Communist forces in May 1949. Notes printed there in the final months exist in large numbers — never meaningfully circulated, simply overtaken by events.