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THE  CURRENCY  %45
reserve  of  the  Bank  of  France,  which,  being  based  on  gold,
is  counted  at  the  ratio  i  :  16.  A  silver  coin,  an  exact
model  of  the  cash  of  the  reign,  was  issued  during  the  reign
of  the  Ming  Wanli  (a.d.  1573-1619),  but  this  was  probably
a  mint  sport,  much  like  the  English  silver  pennies  issued
to-day.  The  silver  coins  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the
collections  of  Wylie  and  Glover  can  hardly  be  regarded
as  official.  This,  so  far  as  is  known,  is  the  complete  record
of  the  silver  coinage  of  China  up  to  A.D.  1889.
Currency  a  Weight
With  these  insignificant  exceptions,  China  has  never
had  a  government  coin  of  other  metal  than  copper  ;  other
than  copper,  the  currency  of  the  country  is  not  a  coin,
but  a  weight.  This  weight  is  the  “  tael,”  *  as  it  is  called  by
foreigners,  the  Chinese  name  for  it  being  Hang  ;  and  when
an  operation  in  international  trade,  a  wholesale  purchase,
Government  indebtedness,  or  Customs  duties  have  to  be
liquidated,  payment  is  effected  by  weighing  out  the  required
number  of  “  taels  ”  of  the  stipulated  quality  of  silver.
A  century  ago  Germany  was  the  paradise  of  the  moneychanger ­
  with  its  numerous  coinages,  each  circulating  in
its  own  principality  ;  but  that  was  simplicity  itself  when
compared  with  China.  In  China  every  one  of  the  hundreds
of  commercial  centres  not  only  has  its  own  tael-weight,
but  in  many  cases  has  several  standards  side  by  side  ;  and
these  taels  of  money  will  be  weighed  out  in  silver  which,
even  in  one  place,  will  be  of  several  degrees  of  fineness.
Variability  of  Standards
One  town  may  be  taken  to  typify  many—the  town  of
Chungking,  in  the  province  of  Szechwan,  in  the  far  west  of
China.  Here  the  standard  weight  of  the  tael  for  silver
transactions  is  555-6  grains,  and  this  is  the  standard  for  all
transactions  in  which  the  scale  is  not  specified.  Frequently,
*  Tael—from  the  Hindu  “  tola  "  through  the  Malayan  word
“  tahil.”