The Ta-Ching Government Bank redeemable notes bearing the portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China overprint (hereinafter referred to as the overprinted Li Hungchang notes) were the earliest currency issued by the Bank of China. The Bank of China should have issued its first banknotes by itself, while it issued these notes by overprinting on the TaChing Government Bank redeemable notes bearing the portrait of Li Hungchang (hereinafter referred to as the Li Hungchang notes) in the vault of the main branch of the Ta-Cing Bank, as there were only twelve days from the approval by the newly established Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China Government to the opening of the Bank of China. At this time, the Bank of China had just opened and replaced the Ta-Ching Government Bank that had ended its business, so the banknotes printed by the Ta-Ching Government Bank could not be issued. Moreover, the market needed enough banknotes as a balance against the political situation which was not yet stable. Therefore, it was too late for the Bank of China to make new banknotes. The Bank of China was established on the basis of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, and it had taken over most of its resources, including the Li Hungchang notes that the Ta-Ching Government Bank commissioned the American Banknote Company to print. When the Qing Government was in power, only a portion of the printed Li Hungchang notes were issued and circulated in the northeast, with many unissued notes of this kind held in the vault. The quickest and most convenient way to meet the urgent needs in the market was to issue the Li Hungchang notes held in the vault for circulation after overprinting
The establishment of the Bank of China was prompted by the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution on October 10, 1911. After the outbreak of the revolution, revolutionaries and local officials made active responses. Many places were restored by revolutionaries, and a number of local officials came forward to take a stand and declare independence. The Ta-Ching Government Bank was a joint-stock bank between the government and private businesses with many branches and agencies throughout the country. The shareholders who owned commercial shares of the bank realized that the change of regime would pose the threat of significant losses to their investment in the bank, and this awareness of investment risk made these shareholders realize that they must take immediate action to protect their investment interests. On November 5, 1911, the shareholders of the TaChing Government Bank established an organization, Union of Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, in Shanghai, to unite the power of the commercial shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank and to protect their investment interests in the shares. Later, the commercial shareholders found that the name of the organization, Union of Shareholders of The Ta-Ching Government Bank, could not distinguish them from the Qing Government, and it could not show clearly that they are commercial investors. On December 4, 1911, the shareholders of the commercial shares changed the name from the Union of Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank to the Union of Commercial Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (hereinafter referred to as the Union), so that the name of the organization could not only draw a clear line with the Qing Government but also cater to the future policy arrangements of the new government.
On January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) was sworn in as the first provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanking and the capital was set up in Nanking. At this time, the Nanking Government, which had started everything from scratch, did not yet have a central banking institution belonging to the government. Against this backdrop, the members of the Union aimed at this once-in-alifetime opportunity, so they wrote to Dr. Sun Yatsen in the name of the Union in early January 1912, pointing out that since the new government had been established, while the market was still in a state of uncertainty, a government central bank should be set up immediately. They also stated that given the TaChing Government Bank was the central banking institution of the Qing Government, the original TaChing Government Bank was renamed the Bank of China which became the central bank of the new governmen. Moreover, the Ta-Ching Government Bank had many branches throughout the country, with a mature and stable business as well as good experience in acting as the Treasury, so it was the best basis for being restructured into the central bank of the new government. On January 24, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen authorized the Ministry of Finance to reply to the Union, approving the change of the original Ta-Ching Government Bank into the Bank of China. At the same time, Wu Ting-ch'ang (吳鼎昌) and Hsueh Sung-ying (薛頌贏) were appointed as the supervisor and deputy supervisor to establish the Bank of China in Shanghai. On January 28, 1912, the Union held a meeting in Shanghai. It was decided that the shareholders would form the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors of the Bank of China, assisting Wu and Hsueh appointed by the Nanking Government in formulating the Liquidation Department of Ta-Ching Government Bank and that the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors would be given the authority to manage all the affairs of the Bank of Chin
On February 1, 1912, the Bank of China published for the first time in the Shun Pao (《申報》), under the name of the Bank of China, an advertisement for a ceremony to be held on February 5, 1912, at the former site of the Ta-Ching Government Bank at 3 Hankow Road, Shanghai, and its commencement of business to the public. On the same day, the TaChing Government Bank also published in the Shun Pao that the Union of the Ta-Ching Government Bank shareholders had jointly resolved that the TaChing Government Bank would close its accounts, cease operations, and liquidate its business on February 2, 1912. At 10:00 a.m. on February 5, 1912, the Bank of China held its inaugural ceremony at the former site of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, 3 Hankow Road, Shanghai, with the Financial Minister Chen Chintao (陳錦濤) and Wu Ting-ch'ang, the first Supervisor of the Bank of China, presiding over the opening ceremony. Wu recommended Song Han-chang (宋漢章), former manager of the Shanghai branch of the TaChing Government Bank, to be the first Manager of the Bank of China. On the same day, it was officially opened to the public.
It only took twelve days for the Bank of China to be established, from approval to preparation, from formation to the inauguration. Due to the rushed time, it lacked sufficient conditions to print new banknotes and retrieve the defunct Qing banknotes to balance the market. At the same time, merchants and citizens were worried that the banknotes they had would become waste paper overnight and they would suffer a loss when the old and new governments changed. They all asked to cash the banknotes they had or exchange them for banknotes of the new government. Since the Bank of China had opened to the public as the central bank of the new government, it had the responsibility of being a high-level financial department, acting as the national treasury. The Bank of China must not make the merchants lose confidence in the new government's financial and currency exchange system. When the Bank of China first opened, it was imperative to issue new banknotes to balance the market in addition to dealing with the redemption of military banknotes, as it was the most effective way to prevent the collapse of the merchants' confidence in the financial and currency exchange system.
Confronted with such an urgent need, there was not enough time to print new banknotes. The Bank of China planned to overprint the unissued Li Hungchang notes in the vault to stamp for circulation as the Bank of China notes to meet the urgent needs of the financial market and to build the confidence of the merchants in the banknote exchange system. In order to issue the overprinted Li Hungchang notes to merchants and citizens, a full reserve was set up. In other words, if a merchant wanted to redeem the above-mentioned overprinted notes, the Bank of China would have full reserves to cash them at any time. Due to the full reserves and good cashability, the merchants were happy to accept and circulate the overprinted Li Hungchang notes, and the Bank of China thus had less pressure on the banknote redemption from the merchants.
The Li Hungchang notes were banknotes redeemable for silver dollars and printed by the American Banknote Company on behalf of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1908-1909). The banknote was well printed with quality paper. At that time, the TaChing Government Bank was planning to put them into circulation throughout the country. This series of notes had five denominations, namely, 1 dollar, 5 dollars, 10 dollars, 50 dollars, and 100 dollars, and the size of each note was designed according to the denomination. On the obverse, a bust of Li Hungchang, a minister of the Ching government, was printed on the left side, and different designs of famous buildings or sceneries were on the right. It was printed with "Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Note" in Chinese at the center of the note, and "printed in the first year of Xuan Tung's reign" at the bottom of the center. As for the reverse, five different scenic spots of the Qing dynasty are in the center respectively, and the full name of the bank, "THE TA-CHING GOVERNMENT BANK", was printed above the center, with the date "1st October 1909" in English at the bottom of the center. The obverse of the note had corresponding denominations in Chinese in prominent places, while the reverse was in Arabic numbers and English letters. All Li Hungchang notes were finely printed on special banknote paper developed by the American Banknote Company, which is tough and durable. Paired with the engraved steel intaglio printing technology, it produced a clear and detailed printing effect, difficult to counterfeit. When the Ta-Ching Government Bank commissioned the American Banknote Company to print this series of Li Hungchang notes, it requested the American Banknote Company to reserve the place for Chinese and English place names to be printed as well as the place for Chinese seals and signatures of the issuers on both sides, considering the fact that there was no uniformity in the exchange market throughout the country at that time, and it would cause confusion due to the difference in financial exchange rates if the notes were not differentiated by places. The full set of Ta-Ching Government Bank Li Hungchang notes was printed in a variety of colors according to the denomination, being beautiful and colorful.
All Li Hungchang notes commissioned to the American Banknote Company were printed and shipped back to China, and the Ta-Ching Government Bank distributed them to its branches in each province to be stocked and ready for issuance. The banknotes were first used in the northeast region on a trial basis. Although branches in other parts of the country had already received the Li Hungchang notes, they had not yet been approved by the Ta-Ching Government Bank for circulation. According to the existing Li Hungchang notes, it is known that the notes with the place names of Fengtien, Kirin, and Yingkou had been issued and circulated. After examining the numbers of existing issued and circulated notes and comparing them with the number of the existing notes overprinted with the Bank of China that have been found, it has been confirmed that only a small number of the Li Hungchang notes were issued and circulated in Northeast China at that time. Judging from the small number of issues and the few places where they were issued, the circulation period of the Li Hungchang notes must have been very short; the actual issue date must have been in the second half of the third year of Xuan Tung's reign, not immediately after the "first year of Xuan Tung's reign" as printed on the banknotes. When the banknotes circulated in Northeast China, they met the 1911 Revolution, which broke out on October 10, 1911, so their circulation had not been promoted to the whole country. As a result, the regional branches did not have the opportunity to issue the Li Hungchang notes but to keep them in the vaults. Therefore, the Bank of China established later had a considerable number of unissued Li Hungchang notes to be put into circulation after overprinting.
The Li Hungchang notes had five denominations, namely the 1 dollar, 5 dollar, 10 dollar, 50 dollar and 100 dollar. According to the needs of the situation, the Bank of China only used the notes of three denominations for circulation after overprinting, the 1 dollar, 5 dollar and 10 dollar, while the two other higher denomination notes were never used for circulation. On February 5, 1912, the Nanking Republican Government appointed Wu Ta-ch'an (吳達詮) and Hsueh Hsien-chou (薛仙舟), as the chief supervisor and deputy supervisor, to Shanghai to take the lead in reorganizing the Shanghai branch of the Ta-Ching Government Bank into the Bank of China in cooperation with members of the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors of the Bank of China. Therefore, Shanghai was the place where the head office of the Bank of China was first established, and Song Han-chang, the former manager of the Shanghai branch of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, was recommended for the position of manager of the Bank of China. In the beginning when there was no time to issue new notes, the unissued Li Hungchang notes in the bank's reverses were overprinted to be Bank of China notes and circulated in the market to solve the financial shortage in the market and fulfill the duty of the central bank of issuing banknotes. This was the earliest currency issued by the Bank of China, and the first phase for the overprinted Li Hungchang notes to be issued. The overprinted Li Hungchang notes are also known as the 'Li Portrait Banknote' due to its unique design of Li Hungchang.
From February 1912 to 1917, the Li Hungchang notes were issued seven times in two phases. To differentiate these notes, they were classified into three types according to their different forms of overprinting. Type A was issued in the first phase, during the peace negotiations between the Republic of China and the Qing Government. At the time when the Bank of China was just established, the Ta-Ching Government Bank in the areas controlled by the Qing government throughout the country were still running, while there were no branches of the Bank of China reorganized from the branches of the Ta-Ching Government Bank except for Shanghai where the Bank of China was set up and Nanking where the branch of the Bank of China was launched on February 14, 1912. During the period from February 5, 1912, to August 1, 1912, before the Peking Head Office of the Bank of China was established in Peking, there were regional limitations led by the political situation and the division of the financial system. In these circumstances, Type A banknotes were issued not only to redeem military notes during the 1911 Revolution, but also to maintain the confidence of businessmen and people in the financial system.
The Type A notes issued at the very beginning had a very limited scope of circulation, only in the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang. Later, the political situation gradually stabilized and more branches of the Bank of China were established in various places, so the Type A notes came to have wider circulation and perform their function as currency. The Type B and Type C notes were issued in the second phase. The initial issuance date should be August 1, 1912, when the Head Office of the Bank of China was established in Beijing. Since the Bank of China had a strategy to unify the banknote patterns and there was a common feature of the existing Type B and Type C notes that many of them had the name of places, these two types of notes were undoubtedly issued after the Republican Government unif ied the North and South and implemented the new policy. Moreover, the Bank of China had already set up branches in many places at this time. In this case, the overprinted Li Hungchang notes were issued for circulation in various places in the second phase. In this stage, the circulation period and scope of Type B and Type C notes, from August 1912 to June 1917 in cities of all sizes, was longer and wider than those of Type A. The most recent existing overprinted Li Hungchang note was an undated Peking 1-dollar Type C note with the signature of Hsu Enyuan ( 徐恩元 ), who served as President of the Bank of China from 1916 to 1917. This proves that at least some of the Type C notes issued in the second phase were still in circulation from 1916 to 1917. In addition to the overprinted Li Hungchang notes with names of common places, the 1912 Heihe 1-dollar Type B note was the note issued in the most remote place, a city located on the border between Russia and China. All these banknotes testify to the long circulation period and wide circulation range of the Type B and Type C notes in the second phase.
The three types of overprinted Li Hungchang notes issued in two different phases were divided into seven different issues as follows.
1. [1912 Type A Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 1)
2. [1912 Ordinary Type B Note] (Figure 2)
3. [1912 Type B Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 3)
4. [1912 Ordinary Type A Note Overprinted to be the Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 4)
5. [1913 Type B Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 5)
6. [1914 Chilhi Type C Note] (Figure 6)
7. [Undated Type C Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 7)
8. [8A, 8B, 8C ,The repot of Type A, B, C records.]
The largest overprint on Type A notes is parallel horizon lines, Type B large ink flowers, and Type C small ink flowers. The overprint forms of Type B and Type C are similar, but the size of the ink flower is different.
The establishment of the Bank of China was prompted by the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution on October 10, 1911. After the outbreak of the revolution, revolutionaries and local officials made active responses. Many places were restored by revolutionaries, and a number of local officials came forward to take a stand and declare independence. The Ta-Ching Government Bank was a joint-stock bank between the government and private businesses with many branches and agencies throughout the country. The shareholders who owned commercial shares of the bank realized that the change of regime would pose the threat of significant losses to their investment in the bank, and this awareness of investment risk made these shareholders realize that they must take immediate action to protect their investment interests. On November 5, 1911, the shareholders of the TaChing Government Bank established an organization, Union of Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, in Shanghai, to unite the power of the commercial shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank and to protect their investment interests in the shares. Later, the commercial shareholders found that the name of the organization, Union of Shareholders of The Ta-Ching Government Bank, could not distinguish them from the Qing Government, and it could not show clearly that they are commercial investors. On December 4, 1911, the shareholders of the commercial shares changed the name from the Union of Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank to the Union of Commercial Shareholders of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (hereinafter referred to as the Union), so that the name of the organization could not only draw a clear line with the Qing Government but also cater to the future policy arrangements of the new government.
On January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) was sworn in as the first provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanking and the capital was set up in Nanking. At this time, the Nanking Government, which had started everything from scratch, did not yet have a central banking institution belonging to the government. Against this backdrop, the members of the Union aimed at this once-in-alifetime opportunity, so they wrote to Dr. Sun Yatsen in the name of the Union in early January 1912, pointing out that since the new government had been established, while the market was still in a state of uncertainty, a government central bank should be set up immediately. They also stated that given the TaChing Government Bank was the central banking institution of the Qing Government, the original TaChing Government Bank was renamed the Bank of China which became the central bank of the new governmen. Moreover, the Ta-Ching Government Bank had many branches throughout the country, with a mature and stable business as well as good experience in acting as the Treasury, so it was the best basis for being restructured into the central bank of the new government. On January 24, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen authorized the Ministry of Finance to reply to the Union, approving the change of the original Ta-Ching Government Bank into the Bank of China. At the same time, Wu Ting-ch'ang (吳鼎昌) and Hsueh Sung-ying (薛頌贏) were appointed as the supervisor and deputy supervisor to establish the Bank of China in Shanghai. On January 28, 1912, the Union held a meeting in Shanghai. It was decided that the shareholders would form the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors of the Bank of China, assisting Wu and Hsueh appointed by the Nanking Government in formulating the Liquidation Department of Ta-Ching Government Bank and that the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors would be given the authority to manage all the affairs of the Bank of Chin
On February 1, 1912, the Bank of China published for the first time in the Shun Pao (《申報》), under the name of the Bank of China, an advertisement for a ceremony to be held on February 5, 1912, at the former site of the Ta-Ching Government Bank at 3 Hankow Road, Shanghai, and its commencement of business to the public. On the same day, the TaChing Government Bank also published in the Shun Pao that the Union of the Ta-Ching Government Bank shareholders had jointly resolved that the TaChing Government Bank would close its accounts, cease operations, and liquidate its business on February 2, 1912. At 10:00 a.m. on February 5, 1912, the Bank of China held its inaugural ceremony at the former site of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, 3 Hankow Road, Shanghai, with the Financial Minister Chen Chintao (陳錦濤) and Wu Ting-ch'ang, the first Supervisor of the Bank of China, presiding over the opening ceremony. Wu recommended Song Han-chang (宋漢章), former manager of the Shanghai branch of the TaChing Government Bank, to be the first Manager of the Bank of China. On the same day, it was officially opened to the public.
It only took twelve days for the Bank of China to be established, from approval to preparation, from formation to the inauguration. Due to the rushed time, it lacked sufficient conditions to print new banknotes and retrieve the defunct Qing banknotes to balance the market. At the same time, merchants and citizens were worried that the banknotes they had would become waste paper overnight and they would suffer a loss when the old and new governments changed. They all asked to cash the banknotes they had or exchange them for banknotes of the new government. Since the Bank of China had opened to the public as the central bank of the new government, it had the responsibility of being a high-level financial department, acting as the national treasury. The Bank of China must not make the merchants lose confidence in the new government's financial and currency exchange system. When the Bank of China first opened, it was imperative to issue new banknotes to balance the market in addition to dealing with the redemption of military banknotes, as it was the most effective way to prevent the collapse of the merchants' confidence in the financial and currency exchange system.
Confronted with such an urgent need, there was not enough time to print new banknotes. The Bank of China planned to overprint the unissued Li Hungchang notes in the vault to stamp for circulation as the Bank of China notes to meet the urgent needs of the financial market and to build the confidence of the merchants in the banknote exchange system. In order to issue the overprinted Li Hungchang notes to merchants and citizens, a full reserve was set up. In other words, if a merchant wanted to redeem the above-mentioned overprinted notes, the Bank of China would have full reserves to cash them at any time. Due to the full reserves and good cashability, the merchants were happy to accept and circulate the overprinted Li Hungchang notes, and the Bank of China thus had less pressure on the banknote redemption from the merchants.
The Li Hungchang notes were banknotes redeemable for silver dollars and printed by the American Banknote Company on behalf of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1908-1909). The banknote was well printed with quality paper. At that time, the TaChing Government Bank was planning to put them into circulation throughout the country. This series of notes had five denominations, namely, 1 dollar, 5 dollars, 10 dollars, 50 dollars, and 100 dollars, and the size of each note was designed according to the denomination. On the obverse, a bust of Li Hungchang, a minister of the Ching government, was printed on the left side, and different designs of famous buildings or sceneries were on the right. It was printed with "Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Note" in Chinese at the center of the note, and "printed in the first year of Xuan Tung's reign" at the bottom of the center. As for the reverse, five different scenic spots of the Qing dynasty are in the center respectively, and the full name of the bank, "THE TA-CHING GOVERNMENT BANK", was printed above the center, with the date "1st October 1909" in English at the bottom of the center. The obverse of the note had corresponding denominations in Chinese in prominent places, while the reverse was in Arabic numbers and English letters. All Li Hungchang notes were finely printed on special banknote paper developed by the American Banknote Company, which is tough and durable. Paired with the engraved steel intaglio printing technology, it produced a clear and detailed printing effect, difficult to counterfeit. When the Ta-Ching Government Bank commissioned the American Banknote Company to print this series of Li Hungchang notes, it requested the American Banknote Company to reserve the place for Chinese and English place names to be printed as well as the place for Chinese seals and signatures of the issuers on both sides, considering the fact that there was no uniformity in the exchange market throughout the country at that time, and it would cause confusion due to the difference in financial exchange rates if the notes were not differentiated by places. The full set of Ta-Ching Government Bank Li Hungchang notes was printed in a variety of colors according to the denomination, being beautiful and colorful.
All Li Hungchang notes commissioned to the American Banknote Company were printed and shipped back to China, and the Ta-Ching Government Bank distributed them to its branches in each province to be stocked and ready for issuance. The banknotes were first used in the northeast region on a trial basis. Although branches in other parts of the country had already received the Li Hungchang notes, they had not yet been approved by the Ta-Ching Government Bank for circulation. According to the existing Li Hungchang notes, it is known that the notes with the place names of Fengtien, Kirin, and Yingkou had been issued and circulated. After examining the numbers of existing issued and circulated notes and comparing them with the number of the existing notes overprinted with the Bank of China that have been found, it has been confirmed that only a small number of the Li Hungchang notes were issued and circulated in Northeast China at that time. Judging from the small number of issues and the few places where they were issued, the circulation period of the Li Hungchang notes must have been very short; the actual issue date must have been in the second half of the third year of Xuan Tung's reign, not immediately after the "first year of Xuan Tung's reign" as printed on the banknotes. When the banknotes circulated in Northeast China, they met the 1911 Revolution, which broke out on October 10, 1911, so their circulation had not been promoted to the whole country. As a result, the regional branches did not have the opportunity to issue the Li Hungchang notes but to keep them in the vaults. Therefore, the Bank of China established later had a considerable number of unissued Li Hungchang notes to be put into circulation after overprinting.
The Li Hungchang notes had five denominations, namely the 1 dollar, 5 dollar, 10 dollar, 50 dollar and 100 dollar. According to the needs of the situation, the Bank of China only used the notes of three denominations for circulation after overprinting, the 1 dollar, 5 dollar and 10 dollar, while the two other higher denomination notes were never used for circulation. On February 5, 1912, the Nanking Republican Government appointed Wu Ta-ch'an (吳達詮) and Hsueh Hsien-chou (薛仙舟), as the chief supervisor and deputy supervisor, to Shanghai to take the lead in reorganizing the Shanghai branch of the Ta-Ching Government Bank into the Bank of China in cooperation with members of the Provisional Board of Directors and Supervisors of the Bank of China. Therefore, Shanghai was the place where the head office of the Bank of China was first established, and Song Han-chang, the former manager of the Shanghai branch of the Ta-Ching Government Bank, was recommended for the position of manager of the Bank of China. In the beginning when there was no time to issue new notes, the unissued Li Hungchang notes in the bank's reverses were overprinted to be Bank of China notes and circulated in the market to solve the financial shortage in the market and fulfill the duty of the central bank of issuing banknotes. This was the earliest currency issued by the Bank of China, and the first phase for the overprinted Li Hungchang notes to be issued. The overprinted Li Hungchang notes are also known as the 'Li Portrait Banknote' due to its unique design of Li Hungchang.
From February 1912 to 1917, the Li Hungchang notes were issued seven times in two phases. To differentiate these notes, they were classified into three types according to their different forms of overprinting. Type A was issued in the first phase, during the peace negotiations between the Republic of China and the Qing Government. At the time when the Bank of China was just established, the Ta-Ching Government Bank in the areas controlled by the Qing government throughout the country were still running, while there were no branches of the Bank of China reorganized from the branches of the Ta-Ching Government Bank except for Shanghai where the Bank of China was set up and Nanking where the branch of the Bank of China was launched on February 14, 1912. During the period from February 5, 1912, to August 1, 1912, before the Peking Head Office of the Bank of China was established in Peking, there were regional limitations led by the political situation and the division of the financial system. In these circumstances, Type A banknotes were issued not only to redeem military notes during the 1911 Revolution, but also to maintain the confidence of businessmen and people in the financial system.
The Type A notes issued at the very beginning had a very limited scope of circulation, only in the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang. Later, the political situation gradually stabilized and more branches of the Bank of China were established in various places, so the Type A notes came to have wider circulation and perform their function as currency. The Type B and Type C notes were issued in the second phase. The initial issuance date should be August 1, 1912, when the Head Office of the Bank of China was established in Beijing. Since the Bank of China had a strategy to unify the banknote patterns and there was a common feature of the existing Type B and Type C notes that many of them had the name of places, these two types of notes were undoubtedly issued after the Republican Government unif ied the North and South and implemented the new policy. Moreover, the Bank of China had already set up branches in many places at this time. In this case, the overprinted Li Hungchang notes were issued for circulation in various places in the second phase. In this stage, the circulation period and scope of Type B and Type C notes, from August 1912 to June 1917 in cities of all sizes, was longer and wider than those of Type A. The most recent existing overprinted Li Hungchang note was an undated Peking 1-dollar Type C note with the signature of Hsu Enyuan ( 徐恩元 ), who served as President of the Bank of China from 1916 to 1917. This proves that at least some of the Type C notes issued in the second phase were still in circulation from 1916 to 1917. In addition to the overprinted Li Hungchang notes with names of common places, the 1912 Heihe 1-dollar Type B note was the note issued in the most remote place, a city located on the border between Russia and China. All these banknotes testify to the long circulation period and wide circulation range of the Type B and Type C notes in the second phase.
The three types of overprinted Li Hungchang notes issued in two different phases were divided into seven different issues as follows.
1. [1912 Type A Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 1)
2. [1912 Ordinary Type B Note] (Figure 2)
3. [1912 Type B Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 3)
4. [1912 Ordinary Type A Note Overprinted to be the Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 4)
5. [1913 Type B Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 5)
6. [1914 Chilhi Type C Note] (Figure 6)
7. [Undated Type C Note with the Name of Place] (Figure 7)
8. [8A, 8B, 8C ,The repot of Type A, B, C records.]
The largest overprint on Type A notes is parallel horizon lines, Type B large ink flowers, and Type C small ink flowers. The overprint forms of Type B and Type C are similar, but the size of the ink flower is different.
 Figure 1 |
 Figure 3 |
 Figure 2 |
 Figure 4 |
Figure 5
 Figure 6 |
 Figure 7 |
8A The Numbers of Existing 10-Dollar Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Notes Bearing the Portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China Overprint
As of May 1th 2003
8B The Numbers of Existing 5-Dollar Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Notes Bearing the Portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China Overprint
As of May 1th 2003
8C The Numbers of Existing 1-Dollar Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Notes Bearing the Portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China Overprint
As of May 1th 2003
As of May 1th 2003
8B The Numbers of Existing 5-Dollar Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Notes Bearing the Portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China Overprint
As of May 1th 2003
8C The Numbers of Existing 1-Dollar Ta-Ching Government Bank Redeemable Notes Bearing the Portrait of Li Hungchang with the Bank of China Overprint
As of May 1th 2003