Old Taiwan dollar
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The Old Taiwan Dollar (舊臺幣 or 舊台幣), sometimes called Old Taiwan yuan, was the currency of the Taiwan, Republic of China from 1946 to 1949. It was issued by the Bank of Taiwan.
Overview
The denominations of the Old Taiwan dollar in circulation were- Horizontal style banknotes
| Value | Dimensions | Color | Obverse | Reverse | Printed Year | Issued Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 dollar | 130 x 70 mm | Blue | Sun Yat-sen, Bank of Taiwan, map of Taiwan | Naval Battle Against the Dutch | 1946 | May 22, 1946 |
| 5 dollars | 135 x 73 mm | Red | ||||
| 10 dollars | 141 x 77 mm | Green-Gray | ||||
| 50 dollars | 144 x 77 mm | Brown | September 1, 1946 | |||
| 100 dollars | 154 x 82 mm | Green | ||||
| 500 dollars | 158 x 84 mm | Red | May 17, 1948 | |||
| 100 dollars | 154 x 81 mm | Green | 1947 | February 1, 1948 | ||
| 1000 dollars | 158 x 86 mm | Blue-Gray | 1948 | May 17, 1948 | ||
| 1000 dollars | Sun Yat-sen, Bank of Taiwan, map of Taiwan, Sugarcane | August 17, 1948 | ||||
| 10,000 dollars | 160 x 86 mm | Dark Green | December 11, 1948 | |||
| 10,000 dollars | 143 x 67 mm | Red | Sun Yat-sen, map of Taiwan | Bank of Taiwan | 1949 | May 17, 1949 |
| 100,000 dollars | 146 x 63 mm | Red | Never |
- Vertical style bearer's checks (unifaced)
| Value | Dimensions | Color | Obverse | Issued Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5000 dollars | 60 x 147 mm | Orange | Bank of Taiwan | May 3, 1948 |
| 10,000 dollars | 61 x 150 mm | Blue | June 1, 1948 | |
| 100,000 dollars | Red | September 3, 1948 | ||
| [1,000,000 dollars] | Red-Brown | December, 1948 |
History of Old Taiwan dollar
Taiwan was under Japanese colonization before 1945 due to the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895). Taiwan used Taiwan yen during this period.
In 1945, after Japan was defeated World War II, Taiwan was returned to China, at the time ruled by the government of the Republic of China (ROC). Within a year, the ROC government took over the Bank of Taiwan and issued Taiwan dollars (also known as Taiwan Nationalist yuan or TWN), replacing the Japanese Taiwan yen at an exchange rate of one to one. The new banknotes were printed in New York at the government's order, and were shipped to Taipei by way of Shanghai. The Taiwan Nationalist Yuan was independent from the Chinese Nationalist Yuan used on Mainland China, since it had been tied to the yen and therefore had depreciated at a slower rate than the Nationalist Yuan.
Partly due to the corruption of the Governor-General of Taiwan, Chen Yi, and the 228 Incident, Taiwan suffered severe inflation in the late 1940s. There are also reports that the Bank of Taiwan under ROC administration did not actually have kept accurate records of the total issuance, and that it printed more notes than was legally allowed [link]. As inflation worsened, the government issued banknotes at higher and higher denominations, up to one million yuan, to handle the inflation on the island.
The old dollar was replaced by a new dollar on June 15, 1949 at the rate of 1 new dollar = 40,000 old dollars. The ROC Nationalists were defeated by the communists in the same year and retreated to Taiwan. Inflation stabalized afterwards.
See also
External links
- [Currency Issuance — Central Bank of China]
- [Sinobanknote]
- Virginia Sheng, ["Notes from a Small Island"], Taipei Review, September 1, 2000
- Chuang Chi-ting, ["Legislator pans new bank notes"], Taipei Times, February 17, 2001
- [History of Taiwan currency]
- [The Taiwanese hyperinflation and stabilization of 1945 - 1952]
- Kurt Schuler, [Tables of Modern Monetary History: Asia]
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