100 Yuan Bank of Chinan

The Bank of Chinan was a regional bank established by the Japanese-backed Reformed Government of the Republic of China, operating primarily in Shandong province during the occupation period. Its notes circulated as a parallel currency alongside the Central Reserve Bank issues, part of a deliberate strategy to fragment Chinese monetary authority across puppet financial institutions rather than consolidate it.

The S-prefix Pick reference confirms this as a regional issue. Surviving examples from the 1939 series are unevenly distributed in collections — Shandong saw heavy military activity throughout the early 1940s, and much of the paper currency in circulation was destroyed, reissued, or simply abandoned as front lines shifted.