50 Fen

Manchukuo's fen-denominated notes occupy an awkward place in the monetary history of the puppet state — by 1941, rampant wartime inflation was already eroding small denominations into near-uselessness, yet the Central Bank continued issuing fractional notes to maintain the fiction of a functioning, stable currency. This 50 Fen note appeared the same year Japan dramatically expanded its military commitments across the Pacific and Southeast Asia, with Manchukuo's economy increasingly stripped to feed the Imperial war machine.

The watermark security feature is notable given how sparingly it was applied across the fen series — higher-denomination yuan notes received more elaborate protection, and the inclusion here reflects a deliberate, if largely symbolic, effort at formal banking credibility.