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50 Fen
| Issuer | Federal Reserve Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Fen (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中國聯合準備銀行 伍角 中華民國三十三年印 伍角 (Translation: Top Center: Federal Reserve Bank of China Large Center Text: Five Chiao / 50 Cents Bottom Text: Printed in the 33rd year of the Republic of China Corners: Five Chiao) |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in dark blue on an unadorned cream ground and centres on a bold diamond-shaped guilloche panel bearing the large Chinese characters 伍角 (fifty cents). Two ornate scallop-edged rosette medallions, each enclosing an oval counter with the numeral 50, flank the central panel on left and right. The printer's inscription 華北政務委員會財務總署財務廳印刷局製 appears in a single line along the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Federal Reserve Bank of China was a Japanese-sponsored institution established in 1938 to manage currency in the Japanese-occupied territories of northern China. Its notes were instruments of wartime economic control — designed to displace Chinese Nationalist and existing regional currencies and extract resources from occupied populations through monetary policy.
By 1944, with the Pacific war deteriorating for Japan, inflationary pressure on the occupied zone was severe. Small-denomination issues like this 50 Fen saw heavy circulation as prices climbed and higher-value notes grew scarce for everyday transactions. The printer — the North China Political Affairs Commission's own financial bureau — reflects Japan's effort to consolidate all fiscal machinery of the occupation under a single administrative structure rather than relying on commercial printers.