Chinese border region currency printed on Vietnamese money paper

Mai Ngọc Phát, Vietnam Numismatics #1 (10-2017), p23-25

The currency of the Chinese border regions was used in the communist-controlled areas, starting from the 1930s to the end of 1949 when China expelled the Japanese and Guomindang and established the present-day People's Republic of China. Many border regions used their own types of currency with distinct designs.

This article is about the currency used in the Yunnan-Guangxi-Guizhou Border Region (滇黔桂边) of China. This region issued a currency for the Chinese People's Liberation Army to spend and trade with neighboring countries, including Vietnam.

"In mid-1949, when the People's Liberation Army of China lacked the ability to print money to spend in the newly acquired area, Vietnam used a printing facility in Việt Bắc to print 510 million Liberation Yuan and sent them to assist the People's Liberation Army of China in meeting military needs. On July 13, 1949, the total amount of money above was delivered to the Chinese side as requested"^[1]

The distinctive feature here is that this money was printed on Vietnamese money paper, a type of straw paper with a watermark of a five-pointed star in a circle, containing the letters VN (Viet Nam). The front of the note is reddish-brown with an image of Mao Zedong, and the back is gray or purple. The color scheme is simple, with only two colors for both sides of the note. The notes also include propaganda messages for the People's Liberation Army of China. The design of this currency is less elaborate than the one of the Vietnamese banknotes in the same period.

After years of research, we have contacted several Chinese collectors, and so far, only two denominations have been found: One Yuan and Five Yuan. These are rare samples of foreign currency printed on Vietnamese money paper before the establishment of the State Bank.

During the early revolutionary days, the neighboring countries of Vietnam and China faced certain difficulties in finance, infrastructure, and currency printing equipment. Vietnam's generous and goodwill assistance holds great significance, marking an important historical period for both countries, especially in the history of printing and issuing currency.

^[1] Đinh Thị Thu Cúc (2017): Lịch sử Việt Nam (Tập 10: Từ năm 1945 đến năm 1950). NXB Khoa học xã hội, Vietnam, 2017.
http://thuvien.ajc.edu.vn:8080/dspace/handle/123456789/9912