5 Jiao / 50 Cents

By mid-1948 the Central Bank of China was printing currency at a pace the domestic presses could not sustain. SBNC in Philadelphia was one of several American contractors drawn into that frantic production run, though the precise contract dates remain unclear — hence the query in the catalog record. The engagement was short-lived regardless; the gold yuan reform of August 1948 swept most of the fa bi series into obsolescence within weeks of issue.

Hyperinflation had already made small-denomination notes economically meaningless before many reached the counter. Unissued remainders from American-printed runs are consequently more common in collections than genuinely circulated examples.