1000 Yuan Central Bank of China

By 1945, the Central Bank of China was printing enormous quantities of high-denomination notes to keep pace with wartime inflation that had been grinding through the Chinese economy since the Japanese invasion of 1937. The 1,000 Yuan note entered circulation at a moment when its face value, once significant, was already being eroded faster than the ink could dry.

The P#297 series was produced domestically — a necessity, since wartime conditions had long since severed reliable access to foreign security printers like American Bank Note or Waterlow. Domestic production meant compromises in security features that would matter increasingly little as hyperinflation made counterfeiting almost economically pointless.

Within three years of this note's issue, currency reform would render the entire fabi system worthless.