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5000 Yuan Central Bank of China
| Issuer | Central Bank of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5000 Yuan |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 中央銀行 伍仟圓 SP 186477 中華民國三十六年印 中央印製廠 (Translation: Central Bank of China / 5000 Yuan / Serial number SP 186477 / Printed in the 36th year of the Republic of China / Central Engraving and Printing Plant) |
| Reverse description | Intricate green guilloche design covers the entire field, with four corner vignettes bearing urn motifs and arabesque ornamental borders. The denomination 伍仟圓 is repeated in a central oval medallion, with the numeral 5000 printed in each corner. Two manuscript signatures of bureau chiefs appear at left and right of centre. |
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| Comments |
By 1947, the Central Bank of China was printing in denominations that would have been unthinkable five years earlier. This 5,000 Yuan note emerged mid-hyperinflation, a crisis driven by wartime deficit spending and the cost of fighting both Japan and the Communists simultaneously — the money supply had expanded roughly 300-fold between 1937 and 1945 alone, and the trajectory only worsened afterward.
The Central Engraving and Printing Plant struggled to keep pace with demand, and quality control across the series is inconsistent. Notes from this period frequently show uneven ink distribution and misaligned overprints — not errors per se, but predictable consequences of a facility running beyond its designed capacity.
The 1948 currency reform replaced the Yuan with the Gold Yuan at 3,000,000 to 1, rendering this note worthless within months of issue.