Official Gold Bar in 1945

Stephen Tai
Feb.18, 1998

The shown gold bar have size 32x25 mm, weight 31 g.
Obverse: Minted by Kunmin Branch Mint of Central Mint, in the 34th year of Ming Kuo (1945);
Reverse: Emblem of Ministry of Finance, KM 8942 (Serial No. "KM" for KunMin), Purity: 0.9973, Weight: 0.989 tael (in the City Scale).

During the World War II, by the time when Chinese government was engaged into numerous battles against Japan's invasion, which almost exhausted all its financial resources, and the credibility of its legal tenders, a "Gold Savings" plan was proclaimed by the government and proceeded in 1944. This plan had encouraged people to deposit their gold into bank accounts and brought to the government more than 1 million ounces of gold as war aids. When Gold Savings by the people become due in the August, 1945, the Central Mint of the government started to mint gold bars in different weights as to repay the gold deposits, the shown gold bar was minted by the Kunmin Branch Mint of the Central Mint, for such purpose.
Consequently, the civil war between the Republican government and the Communists broke out, again, caused another financial risk and crack-down to the credibility of legal tenders, during 1948-1949, some people had no choice but taking out those gold bars from their treasury to exchange their daily needs, while bank notes become worthless.

A Gold Leaf in 1940's
Chinese Coinage Web Site