2 Jiao 5 Fen / 25 Cents Central Bank of China

The Central Bank of China's 1931 fractional issues were printed domestically by Chung Hwa Book Co. at a moment when the Nationalist government was actively trying to consolidate currency authority away from the proliferating provincial and commercial banks that had long dominated Chinese note circulation. Chung Hwa, better known as a publisher, had expanded into security printing and handled several government contracts during this period — a reminder that the boundary between commercial printing and banknote production was more porous in Republican China than elsewhere.

The 25-cent denomination reflects the bimetallic realities of the time: fractional notes were issued partly because small silver coinage was being hoarded and melted as silver prices fluctuated ahead of China's eventual abandonment of the silver standard in 1935.