I 3 0  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
A  close  correspondence  in  the  issues  of  certain  mints
in  the  three  columns  will  suggest  the  danger  which  a  ways
confronts  the  investigator  in  China,  from  the  common  a
of  reporting  that  which  should  be  as  being  that  w  1C  1
Of  the  “  cents  "  it  is  estimated  that  12,500,000,000  wer
issued  up  to  the  end  of  1906,  and  it  appears  probab  e  a
over  a  third  of  these  came  from  the  Hupeh  mint.
Variability  of  Tiao
Cash  are  strung  on  strings,  in  rolls  of  100,  of  which
10  go  to  the  string  or  tiao,  or  ch‘uan,  formerly  calle
Nothing  is  ever  done  in  China  for  nothing,  and  no  °PP°*
tunity  is  ever  lost  of  making  a  little  extra  proiit  or  a 8
niappe  ;  and  the  money-changers  have  always  c  ar 8 e
for  their  trouble  in  stringing,  and  for  the  cost  of  the  s  nng.
This  charge  is  made  by  deducting  one,  or  two,  or  t  tree,  or
four  cash  from  each  hundred  ;  the  deduction  is  more  or
less  (as  everything  in  China  is  “  more  or  less  ’  )  recognise
and  fixed  for  each  place,  with  the  result  that  the  tiao  o
1,000  cash  contains  in  one  place  970  and  in  another  p  ace
980  actual  coins,  the  full  tiao  passing  however  for  1,000
cash.  The  local  quota  is  fixed,  and  the  peasant  who  shou  c
receive  980  but  actually  gets  only  975,  will  feel  tha  10
is  not  receiving  his  due  and  will  enter  at  once  upon  ia
war  of  wits  which  delights  the  heart  of  every  Chinaman.
The  following  newspaper  cutting  *  will  give  a  clearer
picture  of  the  situation  than  anything  I  can  write,  wha
is  said  of  the  cent  being  true  also  of  the  cash.
"Wusueh,  Hupeh,  May  1»  i9°6-“
  This  particular  part  of  the  Hupeh  province  has
long  been  distinguished  for  its  variety  of  rates  of
exchange.  A  nominal  100  cash  has  for  a  long  time
been  worth  97  in  actual  cash  at  Wusueh,  98  at  Lungping ­
  ten  miles  away,  97  or  98  in  different  classes  of
transactions  at  Hsingkuo  ninety  miles  away,  an(a
99  a t  Chichón  the  same  distance  away  in  another
*  North-China  Daily  News,  May  nth,  1906.