The Currency of the Republic of China on Mainland
The Republic of China (ROC) was established in 1912 following the collapse of the Qing dynasty, and its official currency was the Chinese Yuan. During the Republican era from 1912 to 1949, there were several different forms of currency issued by the Republic of China.
The official currency of the Republic of China was the silver yuan (also known as the silver dollar) used in mainland China and Taiwan. The silver yuan was based on an international silver standard and was the only type of money issued by the government that was outright accepted by merchants and other local governments. Silver coins were issued in denominations of one, five, ten, and fifty yuan.
In addition to the silver issuances, other forms of currency were used in the country during this era. Banknotes known as huo-yuan were issued by various private and government-owned banks. The face value of huo-yuan notes was fixed in yuan and fractional Chinese coins were often used as a supplement. Huo-yuan were gradually phased out in the 1930s.
In 1924, the first official paper money of the Republic of China, the yuan, was issued. The yuan originally came in denominations of one, five, and ten, and was eventually increased to fifty yuan notes with the addition of a new issue in 1936. Paper money was issued on the Sino-Japanese currency exchange rate, so the exchange rate for the silver yuan was fixed at 1:1 in favor of the yuan.
During the period of warlordism in the Republic of China, various warlords and banks issued their own local currencies. These local currencies often carried the portrait of the issuing warlord and could only be used within the warlords area of influence. The most common of these currencies were coins issued in the name of a warlord or private bank followed by paper bills issued by large companies or banks.
The currency of the ROC was highly unstable, due to the fact that various local warlords continued to issue their own currencies and currencies across different local regions were often exchanged at a different rate. In addition, paper money issued during this period was not always backed by a real asset and could be subject to devaluation and hyperinflation.
By the time of the Japanese invasion in 1937, the ROC had experienced multiple currency collapses and shifted from one form of currency to another several times. After the Chinese defeat in 1945, the Republic of China returned to use the silver yuan as its official currency until 1949 when the new Communist government of the Peoples Republic of China officially replaced it with the renminbi.
