Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of exterior, signs of former site of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank
2. CGTN anchor Vivienne Nunis touring former bank site with guide Luo Xiao
3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) Luo Xiao, guide, former site of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank:
"This is the former site of the border region bank. Its business hall had counters similar to those in modern banks. The bank had well established departments, including cashier, research, accounting, and secretariat offices."
4. Nunis touring vault with Luo
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Vivienne Nunis, CGTN anchor (starting with shot 4):
"This is the vault. It's so interesting to imagine that right here in these caves was really the beginning of modern finance and banking in China."
6. Various photo, reenactment of Yan'an Guanghua Store
7. Nuis on tour with Luo
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) Luo Xiao, guide, former site of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank:
"The Guanghua commercial voucher originally had five denominations, two fen, five fen, one jiao, two jiao and five jiao. A 75-fen-note was added in 1940."
9. Various of Guanghua commercial vouchers on display
10. Various of exhibits inside former bank; historical receipts, savings certificates, information panels on bank's history
11. Nuis visiting Wei Xiewu, former Deputy Vice President of Yan'an Central Sub-branch at People's Bank of China
12. Various of Wei reading book
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) Wei Xiewu, former Deputy Vice President of Yan'an Central Sub-branch, People's Bank of China (starting with shot 12/partially overlaid with shot 14):
"Lessons from the Border Region Bank served as a guide and model for banks in revolutionary base areas nationwide. Take currency exchange offices, for example. If you want to sell goods in the commentating ruled areas without fabi, we could exchange money for you. The currency exchange offices were a highlight of the border region bank."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
14. Various of exhibits inside former bank
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
15. Various of Wei talking to Nuis

Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
16. Aerial shot of Erlang Mountain

Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
17. Aerial shot of Pagoda Mountain

Shaanxi Province, northwest China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Aerial shot of landscape, caves
19. Aerial shots of Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall

A bank that survived the struggles of the Long March and later issued vouchers and made loans to help support the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s wartime base in northwest China’s Yan'an stands as a testament to those times in keeping financial affairs ticking over amid the hardships.

China is this year marking the 90th anniversary of the Long March, undertaken by the CPC'-led Red Army between 1934 and 1936 to break through a siege by Kuomintang forces. The journey covered up to 12,500 kilometers and helped pave the way for the founding of the People's Republic of China.

When the Central Red Army set out in October 1934, 14 employees of the National Bank of the Chinese Soviet Republic joined a unit transporting its assets. Eight of them reached northern Shaanxi with the army in October 1935, a year before the broader Long March ended. Apart from routine spending, the bank lost no silver dollars during the journey,

After reaching northern Shaanxi, the national bank became its Northwest branch. That branch was reorganized in October 1937 as the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank, based in Yan'an, then the CPC's wartime headquarters. The bank used "yaodong," as its offices, namely, cave dwellings dug into the region's loess hillsides.

CGTN anchor Vivienne Nunis visited the former bank site in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, while retracing the Long March route.

"This is the former site of the border region bank. Its business hall had counters similar to those in modern banks. The bank had well established departments, including cashier, research, accounting, and secretariat offices," said Luo Xiao, a guide at the former site of the border region government.

One of the caves served as the bank's vault. Nunis stepped inside during her visit.

"this is the vault. It's so interesting to imagine that right here in these caves was really the beginning of modern finance and banking in China," Nunis said.

The bank also had to keep commerce moving. The border region used fabi, currency issued by the Kuomintang-led government, but small change was scarce.

From 1938, the bank issued vouchers in the name of Yan'an's Guanghua Store to make everyday transactions easier. By February 1941, vouchers with a total face value of about 4.38 million yuan had been issued.

"The Guanghua commercial voucher originally had five denominations, two fen, five fen, one jiao, two jiao and five jiao. A 75-fen-note was added in 1940," Luo said.

The bank made loans to support production and trade. By 1945, its loans had reached about 2.12 billion yuan in the currency then in circulation, while agricultural lending was 68 times its 1942 level.

It also set up currency exchange offices where traders could obtain fabi for business in Kuomintang-controlled areas. Wei Xiewu, a former deputy vice president of the People's Bank of China's Yan'an central sub-branch, said the bank’s practices became a model for other revolutionary base areas.

"Lessons from the Border Region Bank served as a guide and model for banks in revolutionary base areas nationwide. Take currency exchange offices, for example. If you want to sell goods in the commentating ruled areas without fabi, we could exchange money for you. The currency exchange offices were a highlight of the border region bank," said Wei.

The border region bank later became part of the Northwest Farmers' Bank, which joined two other banks to form the People's Bank of China in 1948.