100 Yuan 100th Anniversary Bank of Communications

The Bank of Communications, founded in 1908 under the Qing dynasty, was one of only two banks authorized to issue national currency before the Republic of China period — the other being the Hu Pu Bank, later renamed the Bank of China. It survived the fall of the empire, two changes of government, and the Communist consolidation of 1949, making it one of the oldest continuously operating financial institutions in the country. The centennial issue arrived the same year Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics, a deliberate pairing of institutional longevity with national projection.