1. The 1 NT Coin
Side 1: That's Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan's first President. Above Generalissimo Chiang's likeness is the year according to the Republic of China calendar.
If you're ever confused about the year on the Republic of China calendar, just subtract 1911 (the year before the founding of the Republic of China) from whatever the year on the Western calendar is.
And why the year before the founding of the Republic of China? Because subtracting 1912 from subsequent years would make the first year zero.
Side 2: 壹 means "one" and 圓 means "circle" or "coin." Note that 圓 (yuan) is pronounced the same way as 元 (dollar).
2. The 5 NT Coin
Side 1: Chiang Kai-shek again, with the year above his head.
Side 2: 伍 is an older way of writing 五 or "five," thus "five circles" or "five coins."
3. The 10 NT Coin
There are several variations on this coin, many of which you'll see in connection to Double Ten Day. If you see a 10 NT coin with many little coins engraved on one side don't worry -- it's probably real.
Side 1: There are two versions of this side, one with Chiang Kai-shek and another with Sun Yat-sen. Chiang Kai-shek's coin is engraved with the year, Sun Yat-sen's coin commemorates the 100th year of the Republic of China.
Side 2: The Chiang Kai-shek version has 拾圓 ("ten coins") on the obverse, the Sun Yat-sen version has 10圓 on the obverse. There are some "secret messages" on this coin, but nothing easily observable on coins worn from use.
4. The 50 NT Coin
Side 1: Sun Yat-sen beneath the year.
Side 2: 50圓 and 五十 ("fifty"). It should be noted that there are three "touch points" (dots) on the bottom of the coin. These touch points are for the use of sight impaired people. There's one touch point on the 10 NT coin, two touch points on the 20 NT coin and three touch points on the 50 NT coin. I haven't discussed the 20 NT coin here because it's not used often.
There's also, by the way, a 0.5 NT coin, but I've seen it maybe twice in 22 years of living in Taiwan. What are you going to buy with 0.5 NT anyway? Answer: nothing that I know of.
5 The 100 NT Bill
Side 1: That's Sun Yat-sen, the "father" of the Republic of China. Beneath him are words referring to the Book of Rites. The Book of Rites was written by the philosopher Li Yun, and in it Li Yun puts forth the idea of "The Great Unity," a model of the perfect society. The Book of Rites was a big influence on Sun Yat-sen.
Side 2: That's the Chung-shan Building, on Yangming Mountain in Taipei. It's part of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall complex. Up until 2005 it was where the National Assembly met, but now it's only used for state functions.
6. The 500 NT Bill
Side 1: Those are sika deer on Dabajian Mountain. Sika deer are native to Taiwan and many other countries in Asia. Dabajian Mountain is very famous, and is located inside Shei-Pa National Park.
Side 2: The Nanwang Elementary School youth baseball team. I believe they won the Youth Baseball World Series at some point.
7. The 1000 NT Bill
Side 1: Students in class. Perhaps they're trying to locate Taiwan on the globe?
Side 2: A nature scene. The birds pictured are Mikado pheasants. The two birds are on Jade Mountain during sunrise.
8. The 2000 NT Bill
You don't see this bill often. It's more of a thing you see in magazines in connection with wealth.
Side 1: The Formosat-1, a now decommissioned observation satellite launched by Taiwan, and other examples of related technology.
Side 2: Examples of native biodiversity: The Formosan landlocked salmon swimming beneath pine trees near Mount Nanhu. Mount Nanhu is in Taroko National Park.
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