China Occupation Currency & Banknote Values

After the establishment of the state of Manchukuo in 1932, the Japanese escalated their interference in the Republic of China, with the aim of creating a bu er zone between Manchukuo and the Nationalist Government of Chang Kai-shek in Nanjing. e rst bu er government to be created was the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Anti-Comintern Government in 1935 (B5101-). is was followed by a string of similar political entities across northern and northeastern China, culminating in the Reorganized Government of the Republic of China (B5601-), founded in 1940, centered in Nanjing, and claiming jurisdiction over all its precursors. Together, these political entities are frequently known as “Japanese puppet governments” and the banks they established to strengthen their economic control as “Japanese puppet banks.” ese puppet governments, along with their corresponding puppet banks, are listed in the following table, ordered chronologically by the date individual banks began operations. Be aware that some regional banks also issued banknotes within the territory controlled by the various Japanese puppet governments. From late 1937, so-called “military yen” issued by the Greater Japan Imperial Government also circulated in Japanese puppet government territories (B5018-), while towards the end of war and shortly thereafter, military banknotes were issued by both the Greater Japan Southern Expeditionary Army Headquarters (B5701) and the Red Army Headquarters (B5801-), the latter circulating also in what had been Manchukuo.