2 Chiao Bank of Eastern Chekiang

The Bank of Eastern Chekiang operated in Zhejiang province during one of the most chaotic periods of wartime Chinese finance, when regional military and political factions each issued their own currency in direct competition with both the Nationalist Central Bank and Japanese puppet money. By 1945, the province had seen years of shifting occupation zones, and locally issued notes like this one served areas where central government currency either wasn't trusted or simply wasn't available.

The S-prefix Pick assignment places this firmly in the Chinese provincial and local issues category — a classification that covers an enormous range of printing quality and issuing authority legitimacy. Not all "banks" behind such notes were conventional financial institutions.