Summary: This dissertation provides the first archival research into the Government Bank of the Three Eastern Province (GBTEP), the major regional Chinese government bank in Manchuria. It studies the history from its establishment in 1905 by the Qing Dynasty and its merger into the Central Bank of Manchou by the Japanese colonial government in 1932. Using financial data and debt cases from the Liaoning Provincial Archive, this dissertation challenges the conventional narrative of warlordism that characterized the Manchurian government as corruptive and ineffective, incapable of defending its sovereignty against foreign imperialism, especially in the economic sphere. This dissertation shows that the government in Fengtian City created a bank that can compete with foreign banks that were considered more “modern” than their Manchurian counterpart. The development of the government bank and the promulgation of state banknotes as a continuous process of state-building. At the center of the process was the expansion of banknotes circulation via credits offered by the government bank. The government was able to create a monetary-fiscal system that helped it navigated the political and economic crisis during this period. Especially, since 1921, state banknotes were able to eliminate all domestic competitors and unify the currency in the Fengtian province. The Global Great Depression of 1929 pushed the government to further intervene into the credit markets by expanding credits at the village level, resulting in further deepening of state infrastructure in local society in the region. However, the financial network established by GBTEP also facilitated Japan’s consolidation of its colonial rule after 1932.