2000 Yuan Bank of Central China

The Bank of Central China (中華銀行) was a Communist-controlled regional bank operating in the Zhongyuan liberated area during the final phase of the civil war. By 1948, the military situation was moving fast — the Huaihai Campaign alone would decide control of central China within months — and regional banks like this one were issuing high denominations to keep pace with the inflationary conditions that had already collapsed confidence in Nationalist currency.

The S-prefix placement in Pick's catalog signals a regional or provisional issue rather than a central bank note, a distinction that matters for completeness-focused collections of the period. The "b" suffix indicates a distinguishable variety within the type, likely a signature, color, or serial prefix difference from the base listing.