This banknote bears the hidden letters "USAC" on the front and back. Those letters allegedly stand for "United States Army Coming." The characters "U" and "S" are hidden on the back; the "A" and "C" on the front.The "U" is just left of the "2" in the diagonal "200" at the lower left; the "S" about 3 mm below the base of the "2" in the large "200" centered at right. The "A" is in the margin scrollwork beneath the chop at the lower right; the "C" is between the first two large Chinese characters in the three-character group centered at left.
Major Japanese puppet banks experienced difficulties with patriotic engravers who inserted propaganda messages or the like on the plates. The engraver of this 200 yuan note was Chang Chi Wei. He placed the letters in the note as a symbol of Chinese resistance to the Japanese occupiers. The Japaneselater discovered the meaning of the lettersand executed the engraver.
Those who doubt the story of the patriotic marks point out that the Chinese often placed secret marks on their stamps and banknotes as an anti-forgery device. However, it was more often that they used western letters rather than Chinese characters because a Chinese counterfeiter would be less likely to recognize the letters. The most commonly seen letters on Chinese stamps are "C," "S," and "T," although others have been used. Although there is no doubt that the hidden letters really appear on the banknote, their meaning is in doubt. They might be patriotic symbols, or they might been as counterfeiting devices, so personal conclusion required here.
