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100 000 - Hell Bank Note
| Issuer | 天堂地府銀行 (Heaven and Hell Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Religious banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red and green on cream paper, the obverse carries a scrollwork banner at the top bearing the bank name in Chinese characters, flanked by elaborate foliate guilloche borders. To the right, a portrait vignette within an octagonal frame depicts the Jade Emperor in imperial regalia and headdress, while to the left a large rosette medallion contains the denomination characters 拾萬. Two circular seal stamps in red appear in the centre field above a green floral underprint, with the denomination 100000 repeated in each corner cartouche. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 100000 南無阿彌陀佛 |
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| Comments |
Hell money is a form of joss paper — votive currency burned as offerings so that the deceased may spend it in the afterlife. The practice blends traditional Chinese ancestor veneration with a pragmatic afterlife economy: burn it here, the recipient spends it there. The denomination arms inflation on the other end; why send 10 dollars when you can send 100,000?
These are not legal tender, never were, and no bank backs them. The "Heaven and Hell Bank" is a fiction created entirely for ritual purposes, though Hong Kong printmakers have long produced them as a small commercial cottage industry sold through temple goods shops.