MD Number Categorization Description

In the early history of China, there were many provinces able to print money, and sometimes they printed the money themselves, asked the central government, or asked international companies to print for them. There were also periods where an actual bank controlled the denomination and design of the paper money (similar to how it is in Hong Kong today with three separate designs of each denomination by three separate banks). Sometimes to better control money, normal banknotes will have an additional mark (usually a province name) added to it before being released into circulation in certain areas.

The paper money on this site are categorized and itemized using an MD (Money Depot) number. This MD number is a proprietary sequencing code having the following format...

SECTION1_SECTION2_SECTION3_SECTION4_SECTION5_SECTION6_SECTION7

SECTION1=Country or Region
SECTION2=Issuing Entity
SECTION3=Special Area or Type of Issue
SECTION4=Printing Company
SECTION5=Denomination
SECTION6=Date or period (sometimes missing on money)
SECTION7=Variations (like different watermarks, serial number format, and counterfeits).

Actual images of money can be seen (if available) by appending a.jpg (front side) or b.jpg (back side) to an MD number. Example: cn_pboc_a0_pg0_1j_1a.jpg is the following image...

The individual sections are described in more detail below, along with relevant chinese characters and their pinyin romanization. To learn more about PINYIN romanization, see this section: Chinese Romanization.

Section 1: Country or Region

AbbreviationCountry or RegionChinese CharactersPinyin Romanization
CNMainland ChinaZhongGuo
TWTaiwanTaiWan
HKHong KongXiangGang
MCMacauAoMen

Section 2: Issuing Entity

AbbreviationIssuing Bank or EntityChinese CharactersPinyin Romanization
Mainland China
CBOCCentral Bank of ChinaZhongYang YinHang
BOCBank of ChinaZhongGuo YinHang
PBOCPeoples Bank of ChinaZhongGuo RenMin YinHang
BOCOMBank of CommunicationsJiaoTong YinHang
FBOCFarmers Bank of ChinaZhongGuo NongMin YinHang
Mainland China (Japanese Occupation)
CRBOCCentral Reserve Bank of ChinaZhongYang ChuXu YinHang
Taiwan
BOTBank of TaiwanTaiWan YinHang
CBOCCentral Bank of ChinaZhongYang YinHang
Hong Kong
HKSHong Kong and Shanghai Banking CorporationXiangGang ShangHai FeiFeng YinHang
SCBStandard Chartered BankXiangGang ZhaDa YinHang
BOCBank of ChinaZhongGuo YinHang
GHKGovernment of Hong KongXiangGang ZhengFu
Macau
BNUBanco Nacional UltramarinoDaXiYang YinHang
Note: The Chinese characters above are displayed left to right. Older currencies have the Chinese characters printed right to left. Newer currencies have them printed left to right. In Mainland China, all of the currencies are printed right to left with the exception of those from Peoples Bank of China, which started printing left to right starting in 1953. In Taiwan, left to right printing starts in year 2000. In Hong Kong, left to right printing starts near year 1978.

Section 3: Special Area or Type of Issue

AbbreviationSpecial Area or Type of IssueChinese CharactersPinYin Romanization
A0Normal Issue
A1Shanghai (City)ShangHai
A2"NorthEast China (9 Provinces)"DongBei JiuSheng LiuTongQuan
A3French CurrencyFaBi
A4ChongQing (City)ChongQing

Section 4: Printing Company

AbbreviationPrinting CompanyChinese CharactersPinyin Romanization
PG0Unknown or not listed
PG1Thomas De La Rue Company, Limited, LondonDeNaLuo YinChao GongSi
PG2American Bank Note CompanyMeiGuo ChaoPiao GongSi
PG3Waterlow & Sons Limited, LondonYingGuo HuaDeLu GongSi Zhi
PG4Security Banknote CompanyMeiShang BaoAn ChaoPiao GongSi
Mainland China
PH1Chung Hwa Book Co., Ltd.ZhongHua ShuJu YouXian GongSi
PH2"Central China Print Factory (BeiPing Factory)"ZhongYang YinZhiChang BeiPingChang
PH3"Central China Print Factory (ShangHai Factory)"ZhongYang YinZhiChang ShangHaiChang
PH4"Grand Business Printing Company"DaYe YinShua GongSi
PH5"China Grand Print Company"(?)ZhongGuo DaSheng? GongSi
Taiwan
PH1"Central China Printing Factory"ZhongYang YinZhiChang
PH2"Central China Printing Factory (Taipei Factory)"ZhongYang YinZhiChang TaiBeiChang
PH3"First Printing Factory"DiYi YinShuaChang
PH4Printing Factory, Bank of TaiwanTaiWan YinHang YinShuaSuo
Note: The Chinese characters above are displayed left to right. In Mainland China, all of the currencies have the printing company printed right to left. Peoples Bank of China has no printing company printed on their currency. Outside of Mainland China, older currencies have the characters printed right to left. Newer currencies have them printed left to right. In Taiwan, left to right printing starts in year 2000. In Hong Kong, left to right printing starts near year 1978.

Section 5: Denomination

AbbreviationDescriptionChinese CharactersPinyin Romanization
NumericalActual Denomination. Use below to help calculate actual value. Finish by appending y, j, or f (Yuan, Jiao, or Fen).
One (1)orYi
Two (2)orEr
Three (3)San
Four (4)Si
Five (5)orWu
Six (6)Liu
Seven (7)Qi
Eight (8)Ba
Nine (9)Jiu
Ten (10)orShi
Hundred (100)orBai
Thousand (1,000)orQian
Ten Thousand (10,000)orWan
y"Dollar"orYuan
j"Dime" (10 Jiao= 1 Yuan)Jiao
f"Cent" (10 Fen= 1 Jiao)Fen
For more info on converting Chinese numerals to regular numbers, See this section: Chinese Numbers.

Section 6: Date or Period

AbbreviationDescriptionChinese CharactersPinyin Romanization
NumeralDesignates year printed on the paper money. Note that some issues have a one or two digit year (in chinese) preceded by (but listed in reverse order of right to left). To calculate the actual year, simply add 1911 to it (date of the founding of the Republic of China.)
Republic of ChinaZhongHuaMinGuo
YearNian
For more info on converting Chinese numerals to regular numbers, see this section: Chinese Numbers.

Section 7: Variations

AbbreviationDescription
NumeralDesignates variations like watermarks, serial number formats, and counterfeits.

Return to Banknotes Depot