Old Taiwan dollar

Old Taiwan dollar
舊臺幣 (Chinese)
User(s)	Taiwan (province of Republic of China)
Symbol	TW$
Coins	None
Banknotes	1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10 000, 100 000 dollars
Central bank	Bank of Taiwan
Website	www.bot.com.tw
Printer	China Engraving and Printing Works
Website	www.cepp.gov.tw
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The Old Taiwan dollar (Chinese: 舊臺幣 or Chinese: 舊台幣), sometimes called Old Taiwan yuan, was the currency of Taiwan, Republic of China from 1946 to 1949. It was issued by the Bank of Taiwan.

History

Inflation caused by the Chinese Civil War forced authorities to issue bearer's checks denominated one million dollars in 1948.

Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945 and used Taiwan yen during this period.

In 1945, after Japan was defeated in World War II, the Republic of China (ROC) assumed control of Taiwan (see Political status of Taiwan). Within a year, the ROC government resumed the duty over the Bank of Taiwan and issued Taiwan dollars (also known as Taiwan Nationalist yuan or TWN) as a "provisional" replacement for the Japanese Taiwan yen at the rate of one to one. The new banknotes were initially printed in Shanghai, and were shipped to Taipei. In the later years, the banknotes were printed in Taipei.

Due to the Chinese Civil War, Taiwan like mainland China suffered severe inflation in the late 1940s. As inflation worsened, the government issued banknotes at higher and higher denominations, up to one million yuan, to handle the inflation on the island. Because the inflation of the Old Taiwan dollar was only a side effect of the inflation of gold yuan and silver yuan of mainland China, it had depreciated at a slower rate than the gold yuan and silver yuan. This currency was not subdivided.

The old dollar was replaced by the 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 and inflation abated shortly afterwards.

Coins

No coins were issued.

Banknotes

The denominations of the Old Taiwan dollar in circulation were

Orientation	Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue
Horizontal Style Banknotes	1 dollar	130 × 70 mm	Blue	Sun Yat-sen, Bank of Taiwan, map of Taiwan	Naval Battle Against the Dutch	1946	May 22, 1946
	5 dollars	135 × 73 mm	Red
	10 dollars	141 × 77 mm	Green-Gray
	50 dollars	144 × 77 mm	Brown				September 1, 1946
	100 dollars	154 × 82 mm	Green
	500 dollars	158 × 84 mm	Red				May 17, 1948
	100 dollars	154 × 81 mm	Green			1947	February 1, 1948
	1000 dollars	158 × 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 × 86 mm	Dark Green				December 11, 1948
	10 000 dollars	143 × 67 mm	Red	Sun Yat-sen, map of Taiwan	Bank of Taiwan	1949	May 17, 1949
	100 000 dollars	146 × 63 mm	Red				Never
Vertical Style Bearer's Checks	5000 dollars	60 × 147 mm	Orange	Bank of Taiwan	None (unifaced)	None	May 3, 1948
	10 000 dollars	61 × 150 mm	Blue				June 1, 1948
	100 000 dollars		Red				September 3, 1948
	1 000 000 dollars		Red-Brown				December, 1948

See also

• Economy of Taiwan
• History of Taiwan
• History of the Republic of China

External links

• (Chinese) (English) SinoBanknote

• Currency Issuance — Central Bank of China
• 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
• The Taiwanese hyperinflation and stabilization of 1945 - 1952

Preceded by: Taiwan yen Reason: Administration of Taiwan transferred to Republic of China Ratio: at par

Currency of Province of Taiwan of the 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