Hi all,
I got a few bills from China and recently, I could acquire this one. I am not sure about its history and any help to understand it would be greatly appreciated.
I read that the first chinese people arrived in California in 1848. Six years later, they were 11700 and then 35000 around the year 1860. In 1858, a first wave of Chinese immigrants left to Canada. Then, hundreds of Chinese people left the west coast of the United States for the valley of Fraser in British Colombia: it was the gold rush. During the next decades, chinese workers were imported for the construction of railways, and in particular the 'Canadian Pacific Railway'. In 1882, there were around 8000 Chinese on the canadian west coast...
My questions are :
How were the Chinese Railways workers paid in America ? Is this bill chinese or american ? How did it work ?
Thank you
This bank note is Chinese, since it is denominated in "Yuan of the National Coinage of the Republic of China".
It was printed by the American bank Note Co of New York, but it is still a Chinese bank note, and it was issued in Shanghai in October 1914. The issuance in Shanghai is significant.
In HK until the 1980s, a number of banks had the right to issue bank notes denominated in HK dollars. These banks included Standard Chartered Bank, and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. I assume that in this case the Bank of Communications had a similar right to issue notes in Shanghai.
While this may seem a little strange, it is not unreasonable. Remember that Shanghai was home to a number of foreign enclaves until the Japanese capture of the city over twenty years after this note was issued. As it could not be guaranteed that all the foreigners in Shanghai could read Chinese, the note may well have been printed in English as well as Chinese to ensure it would be more acceptable.
I hope this helps.
