100 Yuan Central Bank of China

By 1945, the Central Bank of China was printing money faster than it could manage the consequences. This 100 Yuan note entered circulation during the final year of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when wartime expenditure and Japanese military occupation of key economic zones had already sent inflation into a steep upward spiral. The Central Engraving and Printing Plant in Shanghai — which had operated under Japanese-controlled conditions for much of the war — resumed Nationalist production as the military situation shifted.

The note belongs to a series that would be entirely overwhelmed by hyperinflation within three years. By 1948, 100 Yuan was functionally worthless, and the Gold Yuan reform wiped the entire fabi currency system from circulation.