Banknotes of Manchukuo 1 Yuan Five-color Flag note ND (1932)
Central Bank of Manchukuo, Pick J125a
Obverse: National flag of Manchukuo at left, Qinmin Building of former Imperial Palace of the Manchu State at right, Bank name at upper center (Man Chou Chung Yan Yin Hang - Central Bank of Manchukuo).
Reverse: 1 YUAN on both sides of the note.
The "Silver One Yuan" watermark remains particularly strong on this popular design.
Banknotes of Manchukuo
China Puppet Banks - Central Bank of Manchukuo ND (1932-1933) Issue
Manchukuo yuan
The Manchukuo yuan was the official unit of currency of the Empire of Manchukuo, from June 1932 to August 1945.
The monetary unit was based on one basic pure silver patron of 23.91 grammes. It replaced the Chinese Haikwan tael, the local monetary system in common and regular use in Manchuria before the Mukden incident, as legal tender.
Initially bank notes and coins were produced minted by the Bank of Japan, but were later issued from the mint of the Central Bank of Manchou in the Manchukuo capital of Hsinking (now Changchun). Due to worldwide fluctuations in the price of silver during the 1930s, Manchukuo took the yuan off the silver standard in 1935 and subsequently pegged the yuan to, and later reached approximate exchange parity with, the Japanese yen. In 1940 the Manchukuo yuan was being used to measure Manchukuo exports and imports to countries that included America, Germany and Japan.
Throughout this period about half the value of the issued notes was backed by specie reserves. The notes issued were in five denominations, one hundred, ten, five and one yuan and five chiao (one-half yuan), and typically depicted Qing dynasty rulers of China on the obverse. To keep up with the inflationary pressures typically experienced by Japanese-controlled areas towards the end of World War II, a 1,000 yuan note was issued in 1944.
The Yuan was subdivided into 10 chiao, 100 fen or 1000 li. Coins were issued in denominations of 5 li up to 10 fen.
In 1944 and 1945, Manchukuo issued coins (1 and 5 fen) made of what the "Standard Catalog of World Coins" describes as "red or brown fiber", resembling cardboard. These are a rare example of non-metallic coins.
In 1948, after the end of World War II, approximately 12 billion yuan of Central Bank of Manchou notes were redeemed by the Tung Pei Bank.