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100 Yuan
| Issuer | Federal Reserve Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette of a dragon in flight above clouds, set over a rural landscape with peasant farmers, watercraft, and a distant pagoda. An oval portrait of a Chinese emperor in full ceremonial court regalia and tiered headdress is positioned to the right. Denomination numerals and Chinese characters occupy ornate cartouches at the corners, with the bank title running across the upper field and the date inscription along the lower border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is executed in brown and grey tones, centred on a bold large numeral '100' set within an elaborate guilloche underprint of interlocking floral and scroll motifs. The bank title in Chinese characters appears along the upper register, flanked by vertical denomination panels within cloud-and-scroll cartouches on each side. The Roman-letter inscription '100 YUAN' runs along the lower central border. |
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| Comments |
The Federal Reserve Bank of China was not a sovereign institution in any meaningful sense — it was established in 1938 under Japanese occupation authorities in North China, headquartered in Beijing (then called Peiping), and functioned as the monetary arm of the Japanese-backed provisional government. Its notes were imposed on occupied territories as a replacement for legal tender, part of a deliberate strategy to drain economic resources from the region by absorbing existing currency reserves at manipulated exchange rates.
The J-series Pick numbers assigned to this issuer group these notes alongside other Japanese occupation currencies, a classification that reflects their political reality more honestly than their official name ever did.