5 Chiao / 50 Cents Tung Pei Bank of China

The Tung Pei Bank of China was established in 1945 after Soviet forces moved into Manchuria and Chinese Communist forces took administrative control of much of the northeast. This note was issued in 1946 during a period when the Communists were actively building a parallel financial infrastructure in the region — the Tung Pei Bank's issues were instruments of that economic consolidation, circulating in areas where Nationalist currency was being actively displaced.

The S-prefix in the Pick reference places this among specialized regional issues, and northeastern Communist-era fractional notes from this period survive in genuinely limited numbers — the region changed hands repeatedly during the civil war, and much of the currency issued there was withdrawn or destroyed as military lines shifted.