Old Taiwan dollar

Old Taiwan dollar
舊臺幣 (Chinese)
Denominations
Symbol TW$
Banknotes 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000 dollars
Demographics
Date of introduction 1946
Replaced Taiwanese yen
Date of withdrawal 1949
Replaced by New Taiwan dollar
User(s) Taiwan Taiwan Province, Republic of China
Issuance
Central bank Bank of Taiwan
 Website www.bot.com.tw
Printer China Engraving and Printing Works
 Website www.cepp.gov.tw
Valuation
Value TW$40 000 = NT$1
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The Old Taiwan dollar was in use from 1946 to 1949, beginning shortly after Taiwan's handover from Japan to the Republic of China. The currency was issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation prompted the introduction of the New Taiwan dollar in June 1949, shortly before the Nationalist evacuation from mainland China in December.

History

Bearer's check of 1,000,000 Taiwan Dollars (TW$1,000,000) issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation led authorities to issue bearer's checks denominated at one million dollars in 1948.

Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945 and the colonial government of Taiwan issued Taiwanese yen during this period through the Bank of Taiwan. In 1945, after the Japanese Empire was defeated in World War II, Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China (ROC). Within a year, the Nationalist government assumed control of the Bank of Taiwan and issued Taiwan dollars (also known as Taiwan Nationalist yuan or TWN) as a "provisional" replacement for the Taiwan yen at the rate of one to one. The new banknotes were initially printed in Shanghai, and were shipped to Taipei. After the Nationalists consolidated their control over Taiwan the banknotes were printed in Taipei. The currency was not subdivided (no cents), and no coins were issued.

Due to the Chinese Civil War in the late 1940s, Taiwan, like mainland China, suffered from hyperinflation. As inflation worsened, the government issued banknotes at higher and higher denominations, up to one million yuan. Because the inflation of the Taiwan dollar was only a side effect of the inflation of Chinese yuan of mainland China, it depreciated at a slower rate than the currency used on the mainland.

The Taiwan dollar was replaced by the New Taiwan dollar on 15 June 1949, at the rate of 1 new dollar to 40,000 old dollars. The Nationalists were defeated by the Communists in December of the same year and retreated to Taiwan. The government then declared in the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion that dollars issued by the Bank of Taiwan would become the new currency in circulation.[1]

Banknotes

The denominations of the Old Taiwan dollar in circulation were:

Orientation ValueDimensionsMain ColorDescriptionDate of
ObverseReverseprintingissue
Horizontal Style Banknotes 1 dollar130 × 70 mmBlueSun Yat-sen, Bank of Taiwan, map of TaiwanNaval Battle Against the Dutch194622 May 1946
5 dollars135 × 73 mmRed
10 dollars141 × 77 mmGreen-Gray
50 dollars144 × 77 mmBrown1 September 1946
100 dollars154 × 82 mmGreen
500 dollars158 × 84 mmRed17 May 1948
100 dollars154 × 81 mmGreen19471 February 1948
1000 dollars158 × 86 mmBlue-Gray194817 May 1948
1000 dollarsSun Yat-sen, Bank of Taiwan, map of Taiwan, Sugarcane17 August 1948
10 000 dollars160 × 86 mmDark Green11 December 1948
10 000 dollars143 × 67 mmRedSun Yat-sen, map of TaiwanBank of Taiwan194917 May 1949
100 000 dollars146 × 63 mmRedNever
Vertical Style Bearer's Checks 5000 dollars60 × 147 mmOrangeBank of TaiwanNone (unifaced)None3 May 1948
10 000 dollars61 × 150 mmBlue1 June 1948
100 000 dollarsRed3 September 1948
1 000 000 dollarsRed-BrownDecember 1948

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chuang, Chi-ting (February 17, 2001). "Legislator pans new bank notes". Taipei Times. p. 4.
Preceded by:
Taiwan yen
Reason: Administration of Taiwan transferred to Republic of China
Ratio: at par		 Currency of Taiwan Province, Republic of China
1946 – 1949
Note: Taiwan dollar was initially intended to be a temporary and local currency		 Succeeded by:
New Taiwan dollar
Reason: inflation
Ratio: 1 new dollar = 40,000 old dollars
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.