500 Yuan Bank of China

The Bank of China was reorganized under Nationalist government control in 1935, but by 1942 the wartime situation had fractured Chinese banking to such a degree that multiple government-affiliated institutions were issuing high-denomination paper simultaneously, each feeding an inflation spiral that would eventually consume the entire Republican currency system. This note was printed in New York — a practical necessity, since American Bank Note Company's intaglio capabilities far exceeded anything accessible in wartime China.

The 500 Yuan face value, substantial at the time of printing, lost purchasing power so rapidly in circulation that denominations of this size became routine within a year or two of issue.