I found the book where I originally saw the mention of loudspeakers on trucks, telling people to turn in their gold and other valuables for the new currency, "gold yuans", which became just as worthless as the previous yuans within a short period of time.

It's in Last Boat Out Of Shanghai, by Helen Zia. It's a compilation of stories from various refugees from China, all coming from different circumstances. Super read, I'm going through it again.


Signal312

history

Gold confiscation in Shanghai, 1948

I have a strange fascination with disasters. Maybe not so strange, I think a lot of people are interested in disasters - probably a human impulse to learn to *avoid* disasters by learning more about them. 

So anyway, I've read a lot on the fall of Shanghai, among other similar historical events. There was a reference in one of them to the incident where they sent trucks out with loudspeakers, stating that they had sensors that could find gold and silver even when buried or hidden in the walls. 

That story really stuck in my memory. Then I ran into the book above, and specifically searched for the story. 

