5 Yuan Bank of Central China

The Bank of Central China was established in 1945 under the auspices of the Central China Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, operating in the Liberated Areas as a deliberate counterpart to Nationalist financial infrastructure. These regional Communist-issued notes circulated in parallel with — and in direct competition against — Kuomintang currency and the puppet bank notes still lingering in areas recently vacated by Japanese occupation forces. The monetary situation in central China in 1946 was genuinely chaotic, with multiple competing currencies circulating simultaneously and exchange rates between them shifting on political as much as economic grounds.

Survival rates for this series are uneven. Notes that circulated in active combat zones often disappeared entirely, while others were methodically withdrawn once the People's Bank of China consolidated regional issuers after 1948.