Chinese Eastern Railway and Emission of Coupons of the Russian-Asian Bank in 1918–1919

Abstract

An article based on archival materials examines the preparation for issuance of special banknotes in the circulation on the Chinese Eastern Railway — coupons of the Russian-Asian Bank. The author shows how, in the context of monetary circulation crisis that gripped Russia during the First World War, local authorities tried to find a way out of the difficult economic situation. At the turn of 1917–1918 the railway administration and the Russian- Asian Bank held a series of business meetings in Beijing and Harbin, during which the principles and scale of emissions were worked out. Appeared in circulation at the end of 1918, banknotes were signed by Chairman of the Board of the Russian-Asian Bank A. I. Putilov and Director of the Chinese Eastern Railway General D. L. Horvath. Bonuses of the Russian-Asian Bank, widely spread not only in the railway estrange zone, but also in the cities of Manchuria, were actively accepted by the population, having received the name “horvatovki”. Their course established by the market was almost identical with the royal monetary objects highly valued by the population. Under conditions of the financial chaos that engulfed Siberia and the Russian Far East, this step contributed to the more or less planned functioning of the railway. By mid-1920, the Russian-Asian Bank and the Chinese Eastern Railway ceased to use tokens as a means of payment. Their issue in 1918–1919 allowed maintaining the entire apparatus of the Russian-Asian Bank in Harbin. At the same time, the bank managed to save currency in the emergency conditions of the Civil War in Russia.