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10 Yuan Southern People's Bank
| Issuer | Southern People's Bank (南方人民銀行) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette within an oval guilloche frame presents a traditional Chinese open-sided pavilion (gazebo) set amid rockery and garden scenery, rendered in green intaglio. The bank title 南方人民銀行 (Southern People's Bank) is inscribed in a decorative cartouche at the top, while the denomination characters 拾圓 (Ten Yuan) appear in large red script to the left and right of the vignette. The date 中華民國三十八年 (Republic of China Year 38, i.e. 1949) runs along the lower margin, and an oval red control seal is affixed over the lower portion of the central vignette. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in green and consists of an elaborate geometric and floral underprint. A large central lozenge-pattern guilloche medallion dominates the field, surrounded by dense acanthus-scroll corner ornaments and four circular rosette medallions at the corners. A fine horizontal register panel runs along the top edge, and a row of small square ornaments lines the bottom border, the whole design serving as an intricate anti-counterfeiting underprint with no denomination or text inscription. |
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| Comments |
The Southern People's Bank (南方人民銀行) was one of several regional Communist-controlled banks operating in South China during the final phase of the civil war. These institutions issued their own notes in parallel with — and in deliberate competition against — Nationalist currency, which was in catastrophic freefall by 1949. The hyperinflation of the Gold Yuan had so thoroughly destroyed public confidence in Kuomintang paper that even unfamiliar Communist regional notes were frequently preferred by ordinary people in liberated areas.
With the establishment of the People's Bank of China and the renminbi as the unified national currency later in 1949, regional issues like this one were rapidly withdrawn and exchanged. Surviving examples are consequently scarce.