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20 Yuan
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中央銀行 貳拾圓 (Translation: Central Bank of China Twenty Yuan) |
| Reverse description | Vignette of the Municipal Building in Nanking at left, rendered in fine intaglio line work against a guilloche background. Denomination numerals '20' appear at left and right flanking the central text panel, with the bank name in English across the top and the year '1948' at the bottom center. Two signature facsimiles appear below the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
By mid-1948, the Central Bank of China was printing notes faster than the economy could absorb them. The Gold Yuan reform of August that year attempted to replace the collapsing Fabi currency at a rate of 3 million Fabi to 1 Gold Yuan — but even the replacement currency was being outpaced by inflation within weeks. Notes like this 20 Yuan piece had negligible purchasing power almost from the moment of issue.
Guo Taiqi had served as Chinese ambassador to Britain before his appointment as bank governor, a diplomatic rather than financial pedigree that reflected the institution's increasingly political character in its final years on the mainland.