Chinese customs gold unit
The customs gold unit (CGU) was a currency issued by the Central Bank of China between 1930 and 1948. In Chinese, the name of the currency was 關金圓 but the English name given on the back of the notes was "customs gold unit". It was divided into 100 cents (關金分). As the name suggests, this currency was initially used for customs payments, but in 1942 it was put into general circulation for use by the public at 20 times its face value in terms of the first Chinese yuan.
Image: 10 Custom Gold Units 1930
Image: 20 Custom Gold Units 1930
The Chinese gold yuan was a legal tender currency of China between August 1948 and 1949. It was a method used by the Republic of China government to accumulate gold from its citizens in preparation to relocate to Taiwan. It circulated in the country under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of China known as Taiwan Province, R.O.C., which issued paper money on August 19, 1948. This currency was notorious for vicious inflation due to inadequate issuance preparation and failure to strictly enforce issuance limits. In the early days of the issuance of the Golden yuan, the government used executive actions to force the public to exchange gold, foreign currency for the new currency. The legal exchange rate was 0.22217 grams of gold per gold yuan but it could not be honored. The sharply depreciating Fabi currency was at the rate of one golden yuan of the yen to Fabi $3 million, and this rate was used for the compulsory collection of public gold, silver, and foreign currency. In particular, the economic losses suffered by the urban middle class were so great that the ROC government lost its original most important supporters and was one of the reasons why the ROC government failed so quickly in the Chinese Civil War.
1 gold yuan bill, 1948