Î42  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
of  paper,  but  black  ”  of  Marco  Polo’s  description.  The
sheet  of  paper  is  13'5  by  875  inches,  and  the  design  on  the
face  is  12  6  by  8  3  inches.  The  border,  14  w ^ e ’  1S
made  of  extended  dragons  filled  around  with  an  arabesque
design,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  panel  with  the  inscription
(from  right  to  left)  “circulating  government  note  of  I  e
Ming  Empire.”  The  space  within  the  border  is  divide
into  two  panels.  The  upper  has  on  the  two  sides  in  conventionalised ­
  square  seal  characters,  on  the  right  government ­
  note  of  the  Ming  Empire,”  on  the  left  “  circulating
for  ever  and  ever  ”  ;  between  these  two  inscriptions,  above,
in  large  ordinary  characters  “  one  kwan  ”  (or  tiao  or  string),
and  below  a  pictorial  illustration  representing  ten  hunch  eels
of  cash.  The  lower  panel  contains  the  following  .  e
Imperial  Board  of  Revenue  having  memorialised  the  1  hi  one
has  received  the  Imperial  sanction  for  the  issue  of  government ­
  notes  of  the  Ming  Empire,  to  circulate  on  the  same
footing  as  standard  cash.  To  counterfeit  is  death.  T  e
informant  will  receive  250  taels  of  silver  and  in  addition  the
entire  property  of  the  criminal.  Hungwu  Y ear
month  day.”  A  seal  3  25  inches  square
is  impressed  in  vermilion  once  on  the  upper  pane  ,
once  on  the  lower  panel,  bearing  in  square  seal  char
acters  the  legend  “The  Seal  of  the  Government  Note
Administrators.”  On  the  back  of  the  note,  above,  is
impressed  in  vermilion  a  seal  bearing  in  square  sea
characters  the  legend  “  Seal  for  Circulating  Government
Notes”  ;  below,  within  a  border  6  2  by  41  inches,  is  repeated
the  middle  part  of  the  upper  panel  of  the  face—one  kwan,
with  a  pictorial  illustration  representing  ten  hundreds  of
cash.

Hienfeng  Notes.
From  A.D.  1403,  it  may  be  said,  or  at  any  rate  from
some  time  in  the  reign  of  Yunglo  (A.D.  1403-1425)»  th ere
were  no  fiduciary  issues  by  the  government,  either  of  the
Ming  or  the  Tsing,  until  we  come  to  the  troubled  times  of
Hienfeng  (A.D.  1851—1861),  when  the  necessities  of  the