First series of the renminbi

The first series of Renminbi banknotes was introduced during the Chinese Civil War by the newly founded People's Bank of China on December 1, 1948, nearly one year before the founding of the People's Republic of China itself. It was issued to unify and replace the various currencies of the communist-held territories as well as the currency of the Nationalist government.

This series also called "Old Currency", which 10000 yuan is equal to 1 yuan of the 2nd series and later(called "New Currency").

Due to the turbulent political situation at the time, the first series is rather chaotic, with many versions issued for each denomination. The banknotes show a mixture of agricultural and industrial scenes, modes of transportation, and famous sites.

The notes were issued in 12 denominations: ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥20, ¥50, ¥100, ¥200, ¥500, ¥1,000, ¥5,000, ¥10,000 and ¥50,000, with a total of 62 designs. They were officially withdrawn on various dates between April 1, 1955 to May 10, 1955.

Some of these notes have words "Republic of China" (Chinese: 中華民國) on them to show the issuance year in the Republic of China Era. Though the PRC adopted the Common Era to replace the ROC Era in 1949 and have been avoiding using "Republic of China" in any possible circumstance, these notes were issued and used until 1955, when a revaluation of Reminbi took place.

List

¥1

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Workers and farmers	Flower symbol	January 10, 1949
150px150px	Factory	Flower ball	August 1949

¥5

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Shephard	Flower symbol	February 23, 1949
150px150px	Sailboat	Flower symbol	January 10, 1949
150px150px	Cow and horse buggy	Flower ball	July 1949
150px150px	Spinning	Flower ball	August 1949

¥10

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Irrigation field and mine	Flower symbol	December 1, 1948
150px150px	Sawn timber and plow	Flower symbol	February 23, 1949
150px150px	Railway Station	Flower symbol	May 25, 1949
150px150px	Workers and farmers	Temple	August 1949

¥20

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Donkey and train	Big flower ball	December 1, 1948
150px150px	Coal mines car	Flower symbol	February 23, 1949
150px150px	Longevity Hill of Summer Palace	Flower symbol	July 1949
150px150px	Working area	Flower ball	August 1949
150px150px	Train and sailboat	Flower ball	August 1949
150px150px	Field	Flower ball	September 1949
150px150px	Longevity Hill of Summer Palace	Flower ball	October 1949

¥50

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Donkey and tub	Flower symbol	December 1, 1948
150px150px	Train and bridge	Car	February 10, 1949
150px150px			June 10, 1949
150px150px	Workers and farmers	Flower symbol	August 1949
150px150px	Railway	Flower symbol	March 20, 1949
150px150px	Roller	Carriage	October 3, 1949
150px150px	Railway	Flower symbol	April 1949

¥100

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Arable land and factory	Flower symbol	January 10, 1949
150px150px	Railway station and road	Flower symbol	February 5, 1949
150px150px	Longevity Hill of Summer Palace	Train	February 5, 1949
150px150px	Factory	Flower symbol	March 20, 1949
150px150px	Beihai Bridge	Flower symbol	March 25, 1949
150px150px			July 1949
150px150px	Ship bridge	Large flower stand	August 1949
150px150px	Donkey team	Flower symbol	November 5, 1949
150px150px	Longevity Hill of Summer Palace	Train	March 20, 1949
150px150px	Sailboat	Flower symbol	January 20, 1950

¥200

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Summer Place	Flower symbol	March 20, 1949
150px150px	Pai Yundian (排云殿)	Flower symbol	May 8, 1949
150px150px	Great Wall of China	Flower symbol	August 1949
150px150px	Steel factory	Flower symbol	September 1949
150px150px	Cut rice	Flower symbol	October 20, 1949

¥500

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Village	Flower symbol	September 10, 1949
150px150px	Zhengyang Gate	Flower symbol	September 10, 1949
150px150px	Crane	Flower symbol	October 3, 1949
150px150px	Harvester	Flower symbol	October 20, 1949
150px150px	Farming	Flower symbol	April 1, 1951
150px150px	Zhandeng City (瞻德城)	Flower symbol with Uyghur characters	October 1, 1951

¥1,000

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Arable land	Temple of Heaven	September 11, 1949
150px150px	Harvest	Flower symbol	October 3, 1949
150px150px	Three tractors	Cut wheat	November 15, 1949
150px150px	Carts and plowing	Ship	December 23, 1949
150px150px	Qiantang River Bridge	Flower ball	January 20, 1950
150px150px	Wrangler	Flower symbol with Uyghur characters	October 1, 1951

¥5,000

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px (Obverse)	Cultivator	Flower symbol	January 20, 1950
150px (Reverse)	Factory	Flower ball	January 20, 1950
150px150px	Camels	Flower symbol with Mongolian characters	May 17, 1951
150px (Obverse)	Shepherd	Flower symbol with Uyghur characters	October 1, 1951
150px150px	Railway Bridge	Flower symbol	September 25, 1953

¥10,000

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Ship	Flower symbol	January 20, 1950
150px150px	Arable land	Grazing cattle and sheeps	January 20, 1950
150px150px	Wrangler	Flower symbol with Mongolian characters	May 17, 1951
150px150px	Camels	Flower symbol with Uyghur characters	October 1, 1951

¥50,000

Image	Obverse	Reverse	Date of issue
150px150px	Xinhua Gate	Tractor	December 1953
150px150px	Harvester	Produce	December 1953