Taiwan - 100 Yuan Commemorative 100th Year of the Republic of China

One Hundred Yuan, ND6.1.2011 P998
100th Year of the Republic of ChinaReverse

The above note was first released in 2000. This new note is now overprinted to celebrate the 100^th year of the founding of the Republic of China, following the Chinese revolution that started on 10.10.1911. The revolution was started during the Wuchang Uprising (Hebei province) which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. The interesting story was that the uprising started purely by accident when a bomb built by the revolutionaries exploded in the Russian concession of the city. This led to police to investigate and discovered list of Literary Society members in the Qing Dynasty army. Knowingly that these members will certainly face arrested and execution, they staged a coup immediately. The local official panicked and fled and the army took over the city in less than a day. The revolutionaries then telegraphed other provinces asking them to declare their independence and within six weeks, 15 provinces had seceded. The revolution did not end until 12.2.1912 following the abdication of the last Emperor of China.

Whilst this note depicts Dr Sun Yat-sen, it should be noted that Dr Sun has nothing to do with the uprising, as he was visiting in the US then. He only found out the uprising following a report on the local newspaper in US. Following the uprising, the revolutionaries realized that they needed a high ranking officer to be their figurehead leader. Li Yuanhong, a General in the Qing Army, was then forced at gun point to lead the revolutionaries. General Li initially was reluctant to accept but later agreed when he saw the growing momentum of the uprising. On 1.1.2012, Dr Sun Yat-sen was appointed as the first Provisional President with Li Yuanhong as his Vice President. Following a successful negotiation with General Yuan Shikai, Dr Sun stepped down as the Provisional President in favour of General Yuan, who was appointed as the Provisional President on 14.2.1912 with Li Yuanhong as his Vice President.

In Taiwan the uprising is known as Double Ten (++) and in China, Hong Kong and Macau, this day is known as the Anniversary of Xinhai.

Quantity Issued
Single note - 400 millions;
3-Uncut Sheet - 300,000 sets at NT$500 each all sold out.