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50 Yuan
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 152 x 67 mm |
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| Obverse description | A central oval vignette presents a bust portrait of Chiang Kai-shek in military uniform, facing right, set against a fine guilloche underprint in olive-green tones. The bank title in Chinese characters (中央銀行) appears across the top, with the denomination in Chinese script (伍拾圓) repeated in the upper and lower margins and at left and right. Red seal impressions and serial numbers flank the central portrait. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA FIFTY YUAN 50 1948 THOMAS DE LA RUE & COMPANY, LIMITED |
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| Comments |
By mid-1948, the Nationalist government's finances were in terminal collapse. The Central Bank had been printing at a pace that made individual denominations obsolete within weeks of issue, and the 50 Yuan note was effectively a transitional stopgap — the Gold Yuan reform that August would render the entire existing paper currency worthless, converting at a rate of three million old Yuan to one Gold Yuan.
De La Rue's London production was standard practice for Nationalist-era high-denomination issues, though the logistical absurdity of shipping currency from England to a country mid-collapse was not lost on contemporaries.