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500 Yuan
| Issuer | People's Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1949 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | First Rénmínbì (1949-1955) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中國人民銀行 伍佰圓 一九四九年 (Translation: People's Bank of China 500 Yuan Year 1949) |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in brown tones and centers on a large numeral "500" set within an elaborate guilloche rosette, flanked symmetrically by two ornate floral medallions each bearing the denomination 伍佰圓 in Chinese characters. The issuer's name 中國人民銀行 is inscribed at the top, and the year 1949 appears at the base of the central design. The overall layout is executed in a dense lathe-work underprint pattern characteristic of mid-20th century Chinese banknote printing. |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to the First Series Renminbi (第一套人民币), a heterogeneous emergency currency produced under wartime conditions across multiple liberated zones before the People's Republic was even formally proclaimed. The First Series was never printed at a single facility — different denominations came from different presses in different cities, and the 500 Yuan was among the higher denominations needed to cope with the severe inflation inherited from the Nationalist-era fabi and gold yuan collapses.
The entire First Series was withdrawn in 1955 when the Second Series introduced a new Renminbi at 10,000 old yuan to 1 new yuan, wiping out the purchasing power these notes nominally represented. Survivors of the 1955 redemption are the primary source of collectible specimens today.