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5 Yuan Southern People's Bank
| Issuer | Southern People's Bank (南方人民银行) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 南方人民銀行 伍圓 中華民國三十八年 |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely covered by an elaborate interlocking network of fine-line engraved guilloche ornamental scrollwork in a reddish-brown tone, arranged symmetrically around a central diamond-shaped medallion with radiating floral lathe work. Four large circular guilloche rosettes occupy the corner areas, connected by dense acanthus-scroll borders. No denomination figures or text appear on the reverse; the design relies entirely on intricate geometric and foliate engraving as a security measure. |
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| Comments |
The Southern People's Bank (南方人民银行) was a short-lived regional issuer operating under Communist Party authority in southern China during the final phase of the civil war. Its notes were issued in the chaotic months of 1949 as the People's Liberation Army swept through Guangdong and surrounding provinces, and were intended to replace Kuomintang currency in newly "liberated" areas before the People's Bank of China could establish full coverage. The institutional life of the Southern People's Bank was measured in months, not years.
That brevity makes surviving notes genuinely uncommon. P#S3488 sits in a narrow window of wartime provisional issues that were quickly superseded and largely pulled from use once the PRC's unified currency system took hold after October 1949.