Jidong Bank (行銀東冀) Currency & Banknote Values

The Greysheet Catalog (GSID) of the Jidong Bank (行銀東冀) series of China Occupation in the World Currency contains 9 distinct entries with CPG® values between $500.00 and $4,800.00.

By June 1935, the Japanese had pressured the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China into signing the He-Umezu Agreement, under which Chinese nationalists were forbidden from conducting political operations in Hebei province. Shortly thereafter, on 25 November 1935, the Japanese buffer state of the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Anti-Comintern Government was proclaimed in Tongzhou (now no longer in Hebei, but part of Metropolitan Beijing). This state has a myriad of variant names, including the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Council and the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Anti-Communist Council, with Hebei also appearing under its older roman transcriptions of Hopeh or Hopei.

Thee Japanese authorities underwrote the creation of a bank in the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Anti-Comintern Government as a means of extending its economic and political influence. The creation of the Jidong Bank (JDB) was thus announced in October 1936 and it began operations in February 1937 with its head office in Tianjin (now no longer in Hebei, but part of Metropolitan Tianjin).

None of the notes issued by the Jidong Bank have an English translation of the bank name. This is derived from the ancient name for Hebei province, Ji (冀), followed by dong (東) “east.” In the SCWPM it appears under a now obsolete roman transcription as Chi Tung Bank.

Jidong Bank issued notes for less than one year, as the Eastern Hebei Autonomous Anti-Comintern Government was swallowed by another Japanese puppet government, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, in December 1937. Although Japanese controlled banknote issuance in the area was taken over by the Federal Reserve Bank of China (B5401-) shortly thereafter, and Jidong Bank notes were supposed to have been redeemed by March 1939, they continued to circulate until at least December 1939 and perhaps as late as June 1941.