Woman shreds cash into over 100,000 pieces; China bank restores it in 22 days to return to needy family

The family needed to put money together - quite literally - and this bank in China managed to accomplish just that.

Bank employees in Kunming, China worked overtime for 22 days to restore sliced up bank notes for an impoverished family, multiple Chinese media reported last week.

A woman surnamed Zhang had gone to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's (ICBC) branch in Kunming on June 27 and handed them over 100,000 pieces of the damaged currency.

According to Zhang, her sister-in-law had suffered from depression and sliced up the cash, reported the South China Morning Post. 

When that relative died, she was survived by four children, all of whom are currently studying and struggling to get by, Seehua News reported last Friday (July 26).

Because her sister-in-law's relatives had attempted to exchange the notes at several other banks in Sichuan to no avail, Zhang decided to try her luck in Kunming.

"It looked like they were having a difficult time and this money would be enough for them to live on for a while, so I thought I'd help where I could," she told Chinese media.

Zhang recalled going to the ICBC's branch to try her luck - surprisingly, staff agreed to her request.

"I've worked in this bank for more than 20 years," one employee told Chinese news outlet Jiupai News. "This is the first time I've seen such a situation."

Bank staff also told Chinese media that many of the cut up pieces of currency were no bigger than a fingernail, leaving them scratching their heads.

Those involved in piecing the money together had to go through rigorous trial and error, cleaning and disinfecting the fragments before sorting through them based on their version, shape and where they would belong on a bank note.

Once that was done, they then had to splice them together under a magnifying glass.

The entire process took 22 days, and staff managed to put together 32,600 yuan (S$6,043) in cash, Jimu News reported.

The bank then changed the money into new bank notes before handing the amount over to Zhang on July 19. 

Zhang expressed her gratitude by giving the bank a silk banner with embroidered words on it, thanking the staff for "solving people's difficulties" and "warming people's hearts", 6park News reported.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com