The Tung Pei Bank of China was a communist-controlled regional bank operating in Manchuria — "Tung Pei" being the Chinese name for the Northeast — established to fund and administer liberated zones during the final phase of the civil war. By 1948, the People's Liberation Army had largely secured Manchuria from Nationalist forces, and the bank's higher-denomination issues reflect the inflationary pressure that plagued both sides of the conflict in those years.
The S-prefix in the Pick reference places this firmly in the specialized Chinese regional category, distinct from central government issues. Regional communist bank notes from this period were absorbed and demonetized after the People's Bank of China consolidated currency in 1949, keeping survival rates unpredictable.
The Tung Pei Bank of China was a communist-controlled regional bank operating in Manchuria — "Tung Pei" being the Chinese name for the Northeast — established to fund and administer liberated zones during the final phase of the civil war. By 1948, the People's Liberation Army had largely secured Manchuria from Nationalist forces, and the bank's higher-denomination issues reflect the inflationary pressure that plagued both sides of the conflict in those years.
The S-prefix in the Pick reference places this firmly in the specialized Chinese regional category, distinct from central government issues. Regional communist bank notes from this period were absorbed and demonetized after the People's Bank of China consolidated currency in 1949, keeping survival rates unpredictable.