THE  CURRENCY  155
In  places  where  the  standard  of  silver  is  quoted  by  degrees
of  betterness,  as  at  Shanghai  and  on  the  lower  Yangtze,*
the  standard  for  Tsaoping  is  275  silver  which,  referred  to
a  Kuping  standard,  is  999.

Local  Taels
It  may  be  said  that  every  commercial  place  has,  apart
from  the  various  government  taels,  its  half-dozen,  or  dozen,
or  score  of  local  taels,  all  generally  recognised  and  all  current ­
  ;  i.e.  each  of  them  is  a  recognised  currency  when  it
is  so  stipulated,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the  currencies ­
  of  Chungking.  Usually,  however,  if  not  generally,
among  these  various  taels  there  is  one  which  is  recognised
as  the  currency  of  the  place,  in  which  payments  would
be  made  when  there  is  no  stipulation  to  the  contrary,  which
will  be  commonly  stipulated,  and  into  which  remittances
are  made  from  other  places  ;  for  even  in  China  the  necessity
is  felt  for  some  limitation  on  the  kaleidoscopic  varieties
which  would  otherwise  perplex  the  minds  of  even  Chinese
bankers.  Sometimes,  but  by  no  means  generally,  this
recognised  local  tael  will  extend  its  influence  over  the
surrounding  country  within  a  limited  radius  ;  but  ordinarily ­
  the  right  of  even  the  country  banker  to  live  is  fully
recognised,  and  every  place  is  privileged  to  adopt  its  own
standards.  I  have  notes  of  170  well-recognised  and  different
currencies,  gathered  mainly  from  the  Treaty  ports  and
their  immediate  vicinity.
Peking  Taels
The  capital,  Peking,  is  one  place,  it  may  be  said  the
one  place  of  importance,  in  which  no  one  currency  has
emerged  as  the  one  local  tael.  Being  the  capital,  the
Kuping  tael  is  of  course  much  in  evidence  as  the  currency
of  all  official  government  transactions.  Besides  this  there
are  three  standards  of  tael  weight—the  Kung-fa  of  5557

*  V.  supra,  page  148.