100 Yuan Tung Pei Bank of China, red

The Tung Pei Bank of China was a regional communist-backed institution operating in Manchuria — "Tung Pei" meaning Northeast — established during the Soviet-assisted period following Japan's 1945 surrender. By 1947 the bank was issuing notes to fund PLA military operations in the region at a time when Nationalist and Communist forces were actively contesting control of Manchuria. Currency was a weapon as much as a financial instrument; inflationary pressure was deliberate policy in contested zones.

The S-prefix Pick number places this firmly in the specialized regional issues, outside the main Chinese national series. The red color variant designation matters here — multiple color printings of this denomination exist, and color differentiation is the primary collector distinction between otherwise nearly identical notes.