124  the  CHINESE  EMPIRE
those  of  the  Board  of  Revenue  (Hu-pu)  and  the  Board  of
Works  (Kung-pu,  issued  coins  bearing  on  the  reverse  t  e
mint  name  and  the  word  “  currency  ”  in  Manchu  on  y-The
  coins  of  Yungcheng  (a.d.  1723-1735)  are  inscribed  on
the  obverse  in  Chinese  and  on  the  reverse  in  Manchu  on  y&gt;
and  this  practice  has  continued  to  this  day.  It  is  in  this
reign  that  the  coinage  of  China  may  be  considered  to  have
reached  its  highest  point,  in  size  and  weight,  in  quality  0
metal,  and  in  elegance  of  inscription  ;  previous  dynasties
and  previous  reigns  had  equalled  it  in  some  one  or  more  0
these  qualities,  but  not  in  the  combination  of  all.  T  e
Shunchih  coins  were  generally  0-95  to  105  inch  and  those
of  Kanghi  roo  to  no  inch  in  diameter,  and  both  were  made
of  a  bright  yellow  brass  ;  the  Yungcheng  coins  were
generally  roo  to  no  inch  in  diameter,  made  of  a  ric
light-brown  bronze.  It  was  from  this  time  that  the  degeneration ­
  of  the  coinage  began,  and  it  will  be  well  here  to
interpolate  a  note  on  the  standard  of  weight  and  value.
Standard  of  Weight  and  Value
Leaving  to  one  side  the  Half-tael  and  Five-chu  (  %%  tael)
coins,  the  standard  introduced  by  the  Tang  Dynasty  and
continuing  in  theory  until  to-day  was  a  part  of  a  bimetallic
system,  or  even  (although  gold  formed  no  part  of  the  cur
rency)  of  a  trimetallic  system,  by  which,  in  weight,  1  gold  =
10  silver  =  1,000  copper,  these  being  the  metallic  exchange
equivalents  in  China  thirteen  centuries  ago.  The  copped
coin  of  this  system  was  made  to  weigh  one-tenth  of  a  tael,
making  it  in  value  one-thousandth  of  a  tael  of  silver.  This
theory  has  continued  to  the  present  time,  and  was  definitely
asserted  by  the  inscription,  ten  centuries  later,  on  the  coins
o  the  first  Manchu  Emperor.  The  copper  coinage  being  2
government  concern,  while  silver  was  left  to  the  tendel
mercies  of  the  bankers,  the  fixed  exchange  equivalence,  o
value,  of  the  coins  was  treated  with  relative  disregard,  whil
weight  was  more  or  less  adhered  to.  We  get  into  quit
another  question  when  we  go  into  the  weight  of  the  tael
6  lve  c  u  coins  may  be  assumed  to  have  weighed  5  ch