On the eve of the founding of New China, the Southern People's Bank was established in Jiexi County, Guangdong Province. Through the issuance of southern coupons, it clearly expelled foreign currencies and unified the financial market in South China, which effectively supported the People's Liberation War in South China and accelerated the establishment and improvement of the new Chinese financial system.
The large-scale financial media report "Red Financial Road" jointly planned by the Central Radio and Television Corporation and the Chinese Bank of China broadcast the 39th episode today, let us follow the reporter into Jiexi County, Guangdong Province, to find the footprints of the Southern People's Bank of China.
Jiexi County is located in the western part of the Chaoshan Plain and belongs to the old revolutionary area of Hailufeng. At the beginning of 1949, the Liberation War entered a decisive stage, the Chaoshan region was still under the white terror, the economy collapsed, prices soared, foreign currency intrusion, and financial chaos. In April 1949, the Party Central Committee decided to establish the Southern People's Bank, and on July 8 of the same year, the Southern People's Bank was formally established, and the general management office was located in Hebo Town, Jiexi.
Li Xinyao, secretary of the party committee of the Jieyang City Center Branch of the Chinese People's Bank: The main business functions of the Southern People's Bank at that time were to issue its own currency, "Southern Bonds", the second was to act as an agent for financial receipts and payments, the third was to lend money, the fourth was to deposit foreign exchange funds, and the fifth was to collect gold, silver and foreign currencies.
The two were 5 yuan coupons and 10 yuan coupons saved by the Southern People's Bank, and it had a total of 6 kinds of coupons at that time. The printing of the Southern Coupons is carried out in two steps, the first step is to purchase paper in Hong Kong, design it there, print it into a semi-finished product, as a "trademark" secretly transported by ship, and then we use the printing equipment to process it into finished products.
However, just as the Printing Factory of the People's Bank of the South was installing equipment and preparing for printing, it was forced to relocate to xia village in Liangtian Township, Jiexi. When I came to Shimomura, the old site of the printing factory is still in this school.
Lin Yunming, a fourth-level researcher of the Local History Office of Jieyang City, Guangdong Province:
Because the defeated Kuomintang Hu Lian Corps at that time withdrew to Xingning and Meixian in Guangdong, the party committee of the South China Branch bureau decided to move the printing factory in Hebo to Liangwen Primary School in Liangtian Township, which was called "Yongtai Printing Factory" to the outside world. In order to ensure the secrecy and safety of the printing plant, the South China Sub-Bureau decided to dispatch the Fujian-Guangdong-Gansu Border Column and the second detachment's regimental guard company to garrison the hill behind the printing plant, on duty day and night, to take turns to guard the printing plant, to understand the situation of the people in the nearby villages, to do a good job in inspecting passers-by, and to ensure that the security and secrecy of the printing plant is foolproof.
With the assistance of more than 500 people that year, the printing plant of the Southern People's Bank of China took only two days to transport equipment and materials to the fertile fields. Borrowed Liangtian Elementary School as the factory site, reinstalled the machine, started work in two shifts, and rushed to print the Southern Coupons day and night.
Lin Yunming, a fourth-level researcher at the Local History Office of Jieyang City, Guangdong Province: There are a total of 32.46 million southern coupons printed, with a total face value of 109.7 million yuan.
At that time, the southern coupons printed by the Southern People's Bank used one-yuan, five-yuan, and ten-yuan coupons as the main currency, and one-dime, two-dime, and five-yuan coupons as auxiliary coins.
Lin Yunming, a fourth-level researcher at the Local History Office of Jieyang City, Guangdong Province: The Southern Coupons are distributed from the printing factory to the branches, and it adopts the method of concealment and armed escort, which is carried by bank staff, escorted by guard companies, and guided by traffic officers, and sent to all branches.
Due to the unique regional characteristics of the Southern People's Bank, it has special business functions in the face of overseas.
Liu Zhongyuan, head of the education group in Liangtian Township, Jiexi County, Jieyang City, Guangdong Province: There are quite a few overseas Chinese in the Chaoshan area, and there are also many in Jiexi; during the period of the Liberation War, the economy of Jiexi in our entire Chaoshan region was also greatly damaged, and many families of overseas Chinese were also given overseas Chinese approvals sent back by overseas Chinese to solve their living difficulties. Since the establishment of the Southern People's Bank, after overseas Chinese compatriots received the approval of overseas Chinese, the two-yuan southern coupon was exchanged for one Hong Kong dollar, and the local people solved some economic difficulties.
The Southern People's Bank has the united front function of connecting overseas and contacting overseas Chinese compatriots abroad, and the issuance of the Southern Bills has clearly expelled foreign currencies and effectively supported the South China Liberation War.
At the beginning of its establishment, the Southern People's Bank also made continuous attempts to cultivate financial talents, and opened a bank training course in Jieyang Gray Village, which mainly included bank accounting knowledge, the articles of association of the Southern People's Bank and the accounting related systems of the Southern People's Bank.
Guangdong Jieyang City, Jiexi County, Gray Village, Houlian Village Farmhouse Administrator Wen Yeyi: Here is the Lianggan Ancestral Hall of Houlian Village, Gray Zhai Town, Jiexi County, covering an area of more than 2,000 square meters, it gave the Chaoshan Cadre School training class to train here, trained a large number of talents, mainly the training objects of the Southern People's Bank, many of which are financial management, finance, accounting, in 1949 there were two months of training here, about 80 people.
With the gradual liberation of South China, the People's Bank of The South was reorganized into the South China Branch of the Chinese Bank from the end of 1949 to the first half of 1950. At this point, the Southern People's Bank has completed its historical mission. Although the Southern People's Bank did not exist for a long time, as an important bank established by the Communist Party of China in the Liberated Areas of South China during the Liberation War, it has an important historical position in China's financial history.