136

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

were  technically  named  ‘  seventeen  terms  were
withdrawn  entirely  ;  and  three  of  those  ca  ec
‘  eighteen  terms  ’  were  exchanged  for  one  note  o
the  new  currency  which  bore  the  character  kia.  Bu
although  even  those  bills  which  were  torn  were  receive
in  pay  for  taxes,  the  minister  was  not  able  to  get  t  e
Treasury  paper  into  circulation,  nor  to  lessen  the  price
oí  commodities.”

Mongol  Notes
The  Mongols  then  came  in  (a.d.  1260)  and  founded  the
Yuan  Dynasty.  An  unlettered  race  of  warriors,  they  could
devise  no  better  means  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  their
government  than  to  continue  the  practice  which  they  foun
in  vogue  and  issue  paper  money.  Copper  cash  and  silver
had  been  driven  from  their  dominions  ;  and  with  the  chic
sources  of  supply  of  both  metals  in  the  southern  provinces,
it  would  require  a  longer  period  of  peace  and  a  higher
development  of  commerce  than  was  possible  under  Mongol
rule,  for  the  ways  to  be  opened  to  allow  the  deficiency  to  be
made  good.  From  Marco  Polo  we  hear  much  of  the  great
wealth  and  the  high  development  of  commerce  in  the  Mongo
realm,  but  we  must  recall  what  was  the  state  of  the  Europe
of  that  day  with  which  alone  he  could  make  comparison  ,
apart  from  the  record  of  history,  the  coinage  alone  would
tell  us  that  China  from  the  seventh  to  the  eleventh  century
was  far  more  prosperous  and  more  highly  developed  than  in
the  thirteenth  century.  To  show  the  available  resources
of  the  Treasury  at  a  time  a  little  later  but  during  the  same
(Mongol)  dynasty,  the  following  note,  showing  the  tribute
actually  received  by  the  Imperial  Treasury,  in  a  year  of
great  prosperity,  is  illuminating  :—

a.d.  1329.  989  ting  (=  49,450  taels)  of  silver  and  notes  ;
I &gt; I 33» II 9  strings  of  cowrie  shells  ;  1,098,843  catties
of  raw  silk;  350,530  rolls  of  woven  silk;  72,915
ca  íes  of  cotton  ;  211,223  pieces  of  woven  cloth  ;
3.255.220  piculs  of  rice.