The experience of financial governance in the border areas from the advertisement of Jiefang Daily

Jiefang Daily, an organ of the CPC Central Committee and the government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region during the Yan'an period, published a large amount of information inside and outside the party, at home and abroad, including a large amount of financial information, in more than seven years. What is not known is that among these financial information, there is a very special type of information, which is financial advertising. At the beginning of the publication of Jiefang Daily, the Bank of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region (hereinafter referred to as "the Bank") and the Trade Bureau of the Border Region placed a number of advertisements in the Jiefang Daily, through which we can get a glimpse of the efforts made by the Bank of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region to improve the credit of the border currency and stabilize prices in the border area.

Launch a parity campaign to curb prices. In order to break the economic and military blockade of the Kuomintang and maintain financial stability, the government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region issued a proclamation on January 30, 1941, deciding to stop the use of fiat currency in the border region and issue border bank bills (border currency). Due to the hasty issuance of the border currency, and people have become accustomed to paying with fiat currency, their credit has not been effectively established, the border currency has continued to depreciate, and the price of goods in the border area is high. To this end, the banks of the border regions have taken a series of measures to stabilize the value of the currency and prices.

On June 13, 1941, a striking advertisement appeared in the Liberation Daily:

Don't miss the opportunity!! Guanghua store, Northwest store, and transportation store joint sale...... In the months that followed, I could see the sale advertisements of Guanghua Store almost every day, in addition to promoting the joint sale event, there was also information about the sale of some products. This joint price sale is a major component of the parity campaign launched by the government of the border region to stabilize prices. In May 1941, the prices in the Kuomintang region rose, the fiat currency depreciated rapidly, and the prices in the border areas rose accordingly, and due to the economic blockade caused by the increase in the cost of materials entering the border areas, the price increase in the border areas was even higher, and there were even businessmen in the trilateral areas who refused to use the border currency. In order to regain people's confidence in the border currency and stabilize prices, the Trade Bureau of the border region organized the major public stores in the border area to purchase daily necessities from outside the country in a planned way and sell them in the market at prices lower than the market price. After the start of the sale at major public stores, "the number of people who went to buy goods was crowded". The store also announced that there will be no shortages of items in the market, and prices will continue to be reduced depending on the situation. The parity movement, which lasted for several months, was an attempt by the government of the border region to use its own funds to carry out countercyclical adjustments, which stabilized prices, slowed down the depreciation of the border currency, and strengthened the people's confidence in the border currency.

Curbing inflation through the campaign to curb reserves. On September 8, 1941, the Liberation Daily published this advertisement:

Good news: 10,000 yuan hopes that the bank will encourage the people in the border areas to save interest, develop a general saving habit, and launch a prize savings at the expense of major sacrifices, and the first prize will be 10,000 yuan...... From September 1941 to May 1942, almost every day you could see advertisements for saving money with prizes on the advertising column of Jiefang Ribao, and these advertisements were in various forms, including cartoons, drawing a big ship of the economy in the border region, and in the blank space of the painting was written: "Only when the upsurge of saving money of the compatriots in the border areas accumulates into the sea can the heavy weight of economic construction in the border areas float up!" There are proverbs, such as "a book is not only a great benefit"; there are slogans, such as "patriotic wealth"; and there are also analysis of the pros and cons, such as "10 benefits of buying savings vouchers with prizes"; There are also benefits, such as watching performances for free with advertisements. These advertisements are designed to motivate readers to actively purchase "vouchers".

The full name of the Saving Movement is the Saving Movement. On October 22, 1941, Jiefang Ribao published an editorial entitled "Launching a Campaign to Save Savings," calling on the masses in the border areas to save money and carry out savings to jointly support the economic construction of the border areas. The issuance of "prize savings vouchers" is one of the most representative initiatives of the movement. "Lucky Savings Voucher" is a savings lottery activity carried out by the Bank of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border District for the people of the whole border area, where those who purchase "Lucky Savings Voucher" participate in the lottery with the coupon, regardless of whether they win the lottery or not, the amount of the coupon is converted into a fixed deposit on the lottery day, and can be redeemed at maturity. A total of two phases of the "Lucky Savings Voucher" were issued, with a total locked-in amount of 500,000 yuan in the first phase and a total locked-in amount of 1 million yuan in the second phase.

In order to promote the "savings vouchers with prizes," the banks in the border areas mobilized all their staff to participate in assisting or going to the countryside to sell or persuade them to buy them along the streets, and the leaders of the border districts also joined in the promotion. On October 6, 1941, Lin Boqu, chairman of the government of the border region, issued a letter to the compatriots in the border region for the development of savings, calling on everyone to buy "savings vouchers with prizes", and hoped that all districts and counties would organize savings groups and groups to save money for the economic construction of the border areas. After that, all districts, counties and organizations responded one after another, and successively set up a savings group and a savings group. With the joint efforts of all walks of life, two phases of "Lucky Savings Vouchers" were successfully sold, and a total of 1.5 million yuan was recovered.

Establishment of a currency exchange to open currency exchange. After the issuance of the border currency, due to the close economic exchanges between the border region and the national control area, people have to use fiat currency in economic exchanges. In addition, a large amount of daily necessities in the border areas come from the national control areas, and merchants also need to use fiat currency to purchase goods. If the currency cannot be exchanged, it will affect the items that can be purchased with the currency, which in turn will affect the value of the currency. After a period of experimentation, in October 1941, the Border Bank decided to open a currency exchange house to open currency exchange. On December 1, 1941, the government of the border region issued a proclamation that the trade bureau would set up currency exchange offices throughout the border region to allow people to exchange money openly. From January 31 to February 3, 1942, the Liberation Daily published the same advertisement for four consecutive days, "Announcement of the Yanshi Currency Exchange", announcing the new currency exchange method and welcoming people to patronize it.

The establishment of the currency exchange has played a positive role in stabilizing the financial sector and promoting economic development. On the one hand, the establishment of currency exchange offices has satisfied the needs of the masses for exchanging currencies and facilitated import and export trade. It was easier for both border residents and importers and exporters to exchange currency, and the business of the black market gradually shrank. On the other hand, it improves the credit of the side currency. After the border currency can be freely convertible, the purchasing power of the border currency will be enhanced, which will not only help people really accept the border currency, so that the border currency can be used in a wider area, but also stabilize the value of the border currency, and reduce the eagerness of some businessmen to sell the border currency. From the perspective of the banks in the border regions, the establishment of currency exchange offices will help the banks in the border areas grasp the initiative in currency exchange rates, narrow the gap between the exchange rates of various localities, reduce speculation, and stabilize finance. The currency exchange office of the border region was open until the end of the Anti-Japanese War, contributing to the financial stability of the border region.