2 Chiao Chinese Soviet Republic Government Bank, Northwest Branch

The Northwest Branch of the Chinese Soviet Republic Government Bank was established to serve the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region during the Long March period, when the Communist forces under Mao Zedong were consolidating their base areas in the northwest. Cloth was used as a substrate because paper was in critically short supply in remote interior regions — the same logistical isolation that defined the entire northwestern Soviet zone.

Pick S3278 is among the rarer emissions from this short-lived issuing authority, which was effectively defunct once the Second United Front reorganized Communist financial structures after 1937.