Ten-yuan note sets former engraver's place in history

For 60 years, the identity of the worker on China's first set of post-liberation 10-yuan banknotes remained a mystery. Then, to the surprise of his family and community, former Shanghai engraver Yang Qi , 84, revealed how he modelled for and helped design the note. Mr Yang spoke to Lilian Zhang.

How did you get a job in a printing factory?

In 1937, when I was 12 years old, I dropped out of elementary school and fled to the foreign concession to escape the Japanese invasion. One of my relatives got me a job in a newspaper printing factory controlled by the Americans and the Kuomintang. A lot of people led immoral lives and gambled often, but there were still some underground communists in the factory. I took part in many anti-Japanese activities with them and in 1940 they suggested I join the New Fourth Army, a major wartime communist force.

So you worked and fought?

Yes, we had to play hide-and-seek with Japanese troops quite often. Our army first moved to Changshu , in Jiangsu province , and established a newspaper there. I learned typesetting at its printing factory. But the Japanese army burned down our factory and attacked us several times, so we had to move. We finally moved to Shandong province , and I worked in the Beihai banknote printing factory during the War of Liberation in 1946.

How did you get the chance to design the first set of banknotes?