"Many a Long Day": HSBC and its note issues in Republican China, 1912-1935

This article utilizes the local banknote circulation volumes of HSBC, the largest foreign bank in China, as a gauge with which to explore political stability and state-building during the Republican era (1912-1935). It will challenge the prevailing view that British banks faced little resistance in China through the 1920s-1930s, and expose new archival evidence on the perception of, and mobilization against, foreign banks.