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20 Cents / 20 Fen Hainan Bank
| Issuer | Hainan Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Size | 103 × 51 mm |
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| Obverse description | Green on light green underprint. Oval intaglio portrait vignette of Sun Yat-sen at left, set within an ornate guilloche border. A large central rosette guilloche cartouche carries the denomination in Chinese characters, flanked by two red seal stamps; the serial number is printed in red above center. The bank name in Chinese reads along the top, with the Republic of China year inscription along the bottom margin, and the printer's imprint in small text beneath. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 海南銀行 (Hainan Bank) / 貳角 (Twenty Cents) / 兌現 / 銀圓 / 中華民國三十八年 (Year 38 of the Chinese Republic) |
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| Comments |
Hainan Bank was a short-lived institution tied directly to the Nationalist government's increasingly desperate effort to maintain financial control over Hainan Island as the People's Liberation Army closed in on the mainland. By 1949, the GMD administration had retreated to pockets of territory where it could still issue paper, and Hainan was one of the last such outposts. The bank's notes circulated only briefly before the island fell in May 1950.
Having the notes printed in Hong Kong — beyond the reach of the advancing communist forces — was a practical necessity, not an administrative choice. The Hongkong Printing Press handled several such emergency contracts for Nationalist-affiliated issuers during this period.