After a chaotic first day of distribution of special HK$100 banknotes celebrating the centenary of the Bank of China (Hong Kong), the bank, on Tuesday's second day of sales, caught people off guard by announcing it would sell all the bills at once.

The notes went on sale on Monday and thousands of people queued up outside the bank's 50-branches around the city. The banknotes originally were sold for HK$150 each, but speculators have driven up the prices to around HK$1000 each, about six times more than the original purchase price.

A 40-year-old woman, surnamed Xie, from the mainland, said she had been in the line for the last two days. Holding her newborn son in one hand, Xie sat on the chair she brought for the occasion. Xie said she was not the only one in her family joining the parade. "More than 10 relatives of mine joined me," said Xie, showing her three packages of banknotes.

Though the bank limited each person to two of the HK$100 notes, some people re-joined the line after receiving a purchase document. Xie's daughter, who had three tickets after queueing up three times, said her family had made more than HK$10,000.

Outside the BOC's Prince Edward branch, Pang Chuen waited eagerly in the line. Pang said he had bought six banknotes on Monday and earned around HK$5,000 after re-selling them. Pang, whose daughter came to replace him later after almost an hour in the line, had closed his printing shop on the next street to re-join the queue.

Police stood by, prepared to break up fights caused by people cutting into the line. Police officer Sally Leung was managing the crowd at the gate, coordinating with bank clerks. "People came continuously since my shift started at 9 am. Some even came with their family members and lined up together for more banknotes."

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

Shen Chen contributed to the story.

China Daily

(HK Edition 02/15/2012 page1)