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25 Yuan Bank of Pei Hai
| Issuer | Bank of Pei Hai (北海银行) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red-brown ink, the obverse carries a central landscape vignette with sheep grazing amid hills and trees, framed by a decorative scalloped border. The bank name 北海銀行 (Bank of Pei Hai) is inscribed across the upper portion, flanked by the serial number on both sides, with the denomination 貳拾伍圓 (Twenty-Five Yuan) rendered in large Chinese characters to the right. Two red seal impressions appear in the lower register alongside the branch designation 山東. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in pale brown ink, the reverse presents an elaborate guilloche underprint with ornate symmetrical scrollwork filling the entire field. The English inscription TWENTY FIVE YUAN appears across the top, with the numeral 25 repeated at the left and right within decorative cartouches, and two cursive signature lines are positioned in the lower central area. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Pei Hai was a Communist-controlled regional bank operating in the Shandong-Bohai base area during the civil war period, and its notes circulated in direct competition with Nationalist currency as part of a deliberate economic strategy to consolidate CCP financial control over liberated zones. This 25 yuan denomination is an unusual unit — not a round figure by conventional banking logic — likely chosen to facilitate specific local commodity transactions or grain pricing in the rural economy the bank was designed to serve.
Pei Hai notes were eventually absorbed into the unified Renminbi system when the People's Bank of China was established in December 1948, at which point most outstanding notes were redeemed and destroyed. Survivors are disproportionately scarce relative to original print runs.