20 Yuan Bank of Chinan

The Bank of Chinan — Jinan Bank in pinyin rendering, though that translation is misleading — was established in 1939 by the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Border Region government, the communist-administered territory spanning parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was not a conventional bank in any peacetime sense; it functioned primarily as a monetary weapon, issuing currency to displace Japanese puppet money and finance guerrilla operations behind enemy lines.

The 1939 issues, including this 20 Yuan note, were among the earliest from the institution and were printed under considerable logistical difficulty — the border region lacked industrial printing facilities and relied on improvised presses. Paper quality and ink consistency vary noticeably across surviving examples as a direct result.