Qing dynasty coinage (Traditional Chinese: ????,Simplified Chinese: ????,Pinyin: Q?ngcháo Huòbì) was based on a bimetallic standard of copper and silver coinage. The Manchu Qing dynasty ruled over China from 1644 until it was overthrown by the Xinhai revolution in 1912. The Qing dynasty saw the transformation of a traditional cash coin based cast coinage monetary system into a modern currency system with machine-struck coins, while the old traditional silver ingots would slowly be replaced by silver coins bases on those of the Mexican peso. After the Qing dynasty was abolished its currency would be replaced by the Chinese yuan by the Republic of China.
Video Qing dynasty coinage
Later Jin dynasty coinage (1616-1636)
Prior to the establishment of the Qing dynasty the Jurchen people (later renamed the Manchus) created the Jin dynasty after an earlier Jurchen dynasty, for this reason historians refer to this state as the "Later Jin". Nurhaci had united the many tribes of the Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens under the leadership of the Aisin Gioro clan, and later ordered the creation of Manchu script based on the Mongolian vertical script. Hong Taiji renamed the Jin dynasty into the Qing dynasty, and the Jurchen people into the Manchu people, while adopting more ethnic inclusive policies towards Han Chinese people in order not make the same mistakes as the Mongols did before him.
In 1616 the Jurchens began producing their own cash coins, the coins issued under Nurhaci were written in an older version of Manchu script without any diacritics, and generally bigger than Later Jin coins with Chinese inscriptions. Under Hong Taiji these coins bore the legend that they had a nominal weight of 10 qián (or 1 tael) modelled after contemporary Ming dynasty coinage, but in reality weighed less.
The following coins were issued by the Jurchens (later Manchus) before the establishment of the Qing:
Maps Qing dynasty coinage
History
In 1644 the Manchus captured Beijing from the Shun dynasty, and then marched south capturing the forces loyal to the Ming. One of the first monetary policies they enacted was accepting Ming dynasty cash coins at only half the value of Qing dynasty cash coins, because of this Ming era coinage was removed from circulation to be melted into Qing dynasty coinage, this is why in modern times even Song dynasty coins are more common than those from the more recent Ming dynasty.
Early history
At first the Qing government set the exchange rate between bronze and silver at 1 wén of bronze per lí (?, or ?) of silver, and 1000 lí of silver would be 1 tael (?), thus one string of 1000 bronze cash coins equated to a single tael of silver.
The Shunzhi Emperor created the Board of Revenue and the Board of Works in Beijing to oversee the casting of bronze cash coins, these boards produced 400,000 strings of cash coins annually. Later the Shunzhi Emperor ordered military garrisons to start minting their own coinage, and though the official weight for cash coins was first set at 1 qián, in 1645 this increased to 1.2 qián, and by 1651 this had become 1.25 qián. In 1660 the order was given to re-open provincial mints and have them cast their mint names in Manchu script.
The coins produced under the Shunzhi Emperor were modeled after Tang dynasty Kai Yuan Tong Bao coins, as well as early Ming dynasty coins, and have a Chinese mint mark on their reverses these were produced from 1644 until 1661, though these coins had a large range of mint marks from various provinces all over China, from 1644 until 1645 there were also Shùn Zhì T?ng B?o (????) coins being cast with blank reverses.
Kangxi era
Under the Kangxi Emperor in 1662 the government closed all provincial mints with the notable exception of the one in Jiangning, but in 1667 all of the provincial mints were re-opened but many closed down again soon afterwards as the price of copper had steadily increased. Those responsible for the transportation of copper rarely made the mints in time, and while copper prices were rising daily the board of revenue still maintained a fixed rate of exchange between copper and silver causing many provincial mints to quickly lose money, while on paper they were still profitable.
In 1684 the amount of copper in the alloys if cash coins was reduced from 70% to 60% all while the standard weight was lowered to 1 qián again, while the central government's mints in Beijing started producing cash coins with a weight of 0.7 qián. By 1702 all provincial mints were closed again due to the aforementioned circumstances.
Yongzheng era
Under the Yongzheng Emperor various measures were undertaken to ensure a vast supply of cash coins, though the weight was increased to 1.4 qián per wén, the copper content was lowered from 60% to 50% in 1727. In 1726 the board of revenue was split into 4 agencies each named after a wind direction, and in 1728 all provincial mints were ordered to open again as only the mint of Yunnan province was operating prior to this order, and finally in 1728 the board of work mint was split into a "new board of work mint", and an "old board of work mint". Though by 1733 the Qing government realised that the costs of making standard cash coins at a weight of 1.4 qián was too much, so they lowered it back to 1.2 qián.
In 1725 the province of Yunnan had 47 operating furnaces. In 1726 the governour of Yunnan, Ortai made the province's coin minting industry more profitable by implementing new systems for regular, and supplemental casting as well as for casting scrap metal making sure that only regular cast coins would carry full production costs, he also closed down mints in the province with a lower production efficiency and started exporting Yunnan's coins to other provinces. This system proved so successful that other provinces started to adopt these reforms.
Qianlong era
During the first few years of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor China had suffered from a shortage of cash coins due to the contemporary scarcity of copper, but soon Yunnan's copper mines started producing a large surplus of copper allowing the Qing government to swiftly increase the money supply and minting more coins at a faster pace. In the middle of the Qianlong era as much as 3,700,000 strings of cash were produced annually. In 1741 coins were ordered to be made of an alloy of 50% copper, 41.5%, 6.5%, and 2% tin to reduce the likelihood of people melting down coins to make utensils, all while the Qing government encouraged to sell their utensils to the state mints to be melted into coinage. By the end of the Qianlong era Yunnan's copper mines started depleting the production of cash coins was lowered by the end of the Qianlong era, and the copper content was debased once more. 1794 all provincial mints were forced to close their doors, but subsequently reopened in 1796.
During the Battle of Ng?c H?i-??ng ?a in 1788 special Qián Lóng T?ng B?o coins were minted with An nan (??) on their reverse sides as a payment for soldiers.
Qianlong coinage in Xinjiang
In 1759 the Qing dynasty had conquered most of what would become the Xinjiang province, as native coinages of the old Khanates were being deprecated in favour of Chinese cash coins, new cash coins made of pure copper to reflect local p?l (???) coins were minted that were red in colour and weighed 2 qián. Under Qianlong new mints were established in Yining City, Aksu, Yarkant, and Ushi city. Xinjiang coins of the Qianlong era had reverse inscriptions in both Manchu and Turkic scripts. Even after the death of the Qianlong Emperor the Jiaqing Emperor ruled that 1 in 5 coins produced in Xinjiang should bear the inscription Qián Lóng T?ng B?o (????) to honour Qianlong, and celebrate his conquest of the region, this rule stayed in place even until the end of the Qing dynasty.
Jiaqing era
Under the Jiaqing Emperor the Chinese population had reached 300,000,000 which was twice as much as just a century prior, famines had plagued the land, the government was corrupt, and hoards of secret Anti-Manchu organisations popped up everywhere, stability would not return until 1803 but this had come at tremendously high costs. The Qing government started to increase quotas for the production of copper cash coins while constantly changing the standard content of the alloys beginning with 60% copper, and 40% zinc in 1796 to 54% copper, 43% zinc, and 3% lead not long after. Corruption plagued the provincial mints, and the exchange rate between cash and taels rose from 900 wén for 1 tael of silver to 1200 wén for a single tael, this was also due to a large outflow of silver to European and American merchants which pressured the Chinese monetary system. Under the Jiaqing Emperor an annual quota of 2,586,000 strings of cash coins for production was set, but in reality this number was rarely met.
Daoguang era
Under the Daoguang Emperor China's silver reserves were depleting due to the trade of opium with other countries, and as Chinese cash coins were based on the silver standard this eventually lead to the debasement of Qing era cash coinage under Daoguang because the costs of producing cast copper coins was higher by about one third than the face value of the cast coins themselves, by 1845 2,000 wén was needed for a single tael of silver. Coins produced under the Daoguang Emperor tend to be diminutive compared to earlier Qing dynasty coinage because of this reason. Under the Daoguang Emperor a new mint was established at Kucha in the Xinjiang province with coins cast there bearing the mark "?" as well as coins with the reverse side inscription of "?" to circulate within the aforementioned province that was far away from China proper.
Inflation during the 19th century
Under the Xianfeng Emperor several large wars such as the Nian, Miao, Panthay and Taiping rebellions, and the Second Opium War plagued the Qing dynasty, because of the military actions undertaken in these wars copper could no longer be shipped from the south (particularly from the copper rich Yunnan province) leading not only to a debasement of the copper content in cash coins, but also to a large increase in denominations to keep paying for the high military expenditures and other governmental costs, this inevitably lead to large inflation. Various other factors also lead to inflation such as a rapidly increasing population, and famines.
The Xianfeng Emperor also started issuing large quantities of new banknotes, the Hù Bù Gu?n Piào (????), and Dà Q?ng B?o Ch?o (????) were issued as a means to pay for the wars fought under Xianfeng, but because of the Qing dynasty's low silver reserves these banknotes couldn't be backed up.
Coinage struck under Xianfeng wasn't standard either though ranging from denominations as low as 1 wén to as high as 1000 wén, it wasn't uncommon for coins with a face value of 50 wén to be heavier than 100 wén coins, and 100 wén coins to be even be heavier than 1000 wén coins. Despite the larger denominations, existing lower denominations were also heavily debased with the 1 wén denomination being standardised back to 1 qián. Despite the larger denominations of 500 and 1000 being ordered to be cast of pure copper, and illegal producers of these coins were executed by the government en masse, the general population still had no faith in the larger denominations (mostly because a 1000 wén coin only had the intrinsic value of twenty 1 wén cash coins), eventually all denominations larger than 10 wén were withdrawn and the 10 wén coins would continue to be minted in Beijing until the reign of the Guangxu Emperor.
Tongzhi era
For the first year of the Tongzhi Emperor he bore the reign name of "Qixiang", though a few coins with this inscription were cast they were never put into circulation. Tongzhi's mother the Empress Dowager Cixi changed his reign name to Tongzhi in 1862. Tongzhi's reign saw the end of the Taiping rebellion and the beginning of a large Muslim revolt in Xinjiang. The era also saw the rise of the Self-Strengthening Movement which wanted to adopt western ideas into practice in China including reforming the monetary system.
The coins produced under the Tongzhi Emperor remained of inferior quality with the 10 wén coin being reduced from 4.4 to 3.2 qián in 1867. Copper shortages remained and illegal casting would only become a larger problem as the provincial mints remained closed or barely productive. The first machine-struck cash coins were also produced under the Tongzhi Emperor in Paris at the request of governour Zuo Zongtang in 1866, but the government of the Qing refused to introduce machine-made coinage.
Modernisation under the Guangxu Emperor
Under the Guangxu Emperor various attempts at reforming the Qing dynasty's currency system were implemented. Machine-made copper coins without square holes were introduced in Guangdong province in 1899, and by 1906 15 machine operated mints operated in 12 provinces. The introduction of these machine-struck coins marked the beginning of the end of coin casting in China. In 1895 the Guangzhou Machine Mint had 90 presses becoming the largest mint in the world followed by the British Royal Mint with only 16 presses.
Many provinces were still slow to adopt machine mints, often due to the high costs associated with them, the machine mint of Tianjin cost 27,000 taels of silver but the cost of making a single string of machine-struck 1 qián cash coins more than twice as high as their face value forcing the Tianjin mint to buy more furnaces until it eventually had to close down in 1900.
Guangxu's reign saw the reclamation of Xinjiang and the presuming of minting red cash there, while Japanese experts revitalised the copper mining industry in Yunnan and many new veins of copper were discovered giving the government more resources to cast (and later strike) coins again.
The new coins often bore the inscription Gu?ng Xù Yuán B?o (????) with an image of a Dragon and featured English, Chinese, and Manchu inscriptions. Further these coins tended to have their relation with China's older coinages (most often with cash coins) on the bottom, or their value in relation to silver coinage, and the Manchu words indicated the place of mintage. Meanwhile, the 10 wén "traditional" cash coins were discontinued as the production of these more modern coins began.
In 1906 the General Mint of the Ministry of the Interior and Finance in Tianjin started issuing a new copper coin called the Dà Q?ng Tóng Bì (????), which like Gu?ng Xù Yuán B?o coins featured the image of a Chinese dragon, and had English, Chinese, and Manchu inscriptions with the English inscription reading "Tai-Ching-Ti-Kuo Copper Coin" in Wade-Giles, coins minted under the Guangxu Emperor featured the inscription of the Chinese characters Gu?ng Xù Nián Zào (????). These coins were minted in denominations of 2 wén, 5 wén, 10 wén, and 20 wén and would soon be issued by various mints across the Chinese provinces. These coins were first issued by the Ministry of the Interior and later by the Ministry of Revenue and Expenditure.
Coinage under the Xuantong Emperor
Under the Xuantong Emperor both traditional copper cash coins, and modern machine-struck coins continued to be minted simultaneously, though only the board of revenue in Beijing and a few provincial mints continued to cast traditional cash coins as most mints had started to exclusively produce machined coins, and Kucha was the only mint still operating in Xinjiang casting "red cash" under the Xuantong Emperor. Under the Xuantong Emperor Beijing's 2 central government operated mints would close. In 1910 new machine-made coins were issued.
New denominations introduced in 1910 include.
These denominations weren't produced in large numbers as the Qing dynasty would be overthrown by the Xinhai revolution only a year later. By the end of the Qing dynasty the government's attempts at modernising the monetary system had failed and machined coins circulated alongside traditional coinages, this situation would continue under the Republic of China.
Copper coinage
The copper coinage of the Qing dynasty was officially set at an exchange rate of 1000 wén (or cash coins) for one tael of silver, however actual market rate often changed from low as 700 wén for 1 tael of silver to as high as 1200 wén for a single tael of silver during the 19th century. Though the actual exchange rates were dependent on a variety of factors such as the quantity of the coinage on the market, and quality of individual coins. Most government cast coinage entered the market through soldiers.
Because casting is very simple process many private (illegal) mints started producing fake cash coins known as S?zhùqián (???) because government mints often couldn't meet the market's demand for money, as there barely was a difference in quality between "real" or Zhìqián (??) and "fake" coins, the sizhuqian were just as widely accepted by the general population as means of payment. Though barter had remained common during most of the Qing era, by the mid 19th century the Chinese market had evolved to by highly monetised. Due to the inflation caused by various military crises under the Xianfeng Emperor new larger denomination cash coins were issued, cash coins of 4 wén and higher are referred to as Dàqián (??).
By the late Qing dynasty it had become apparent that carrying strings of cash coins was inconvenient compared to modern currencies. In 1900, 8 shillings converted into 32.6587 kilograms of copper cash coins and it was noted that if one of the straw strings holding the coins would break that it would cost more picking those coins up in time than the value retrieved from those coins. This was one of the factors leading Chinese people to more readily accept the modernisation of the currency.
Purchasing power of cash coins during the Qing dynasty
At the time that Wu Jingzi's the Scholars was written in the 18th century 3 wén could buy a steamed bun, 4 wén could buy school food, 16 wén was enough for one bowl of noodles, and the annual tuition fee for school could be covered by 2,400 wén, but due to inflation the purchasing power of cash coins would decline in the next century.
Machine-struck cash coins
Due to a shortage of copper at the end of the Qing dynasty, the mint of Guangzhou, Guangdong began striking round copper coins without square holes in 1900. Tóngyuán (??) or Tóngb?n (??) and they were struck in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 30 wén. These struck coins were well received because of their higher quality compared to cast coins and their convenience in carriage, as well as their uniform weight and copper content compared to the less consistent alloys of cast Chinese coinage. As these coins were profitable to manufacture it did not take long before other provinces started making machine-struck cash coins too, and soon 20 bureaus were opened across China. As these coins became more common they eventually replaced the old cast coins as the main medium of exchange for small purchases among the Chinese people.
Counterfeit machine-struck coins
Not long after these new copper coins were introduces black market counterfeit versions of the 10 wén appeared, illegal mints opened all over China and started producing more coins than the Qing government's set quotas allowed there to be circulating on the market. Both Chinese and foreigners soon started producing struck cash coins of inferior quality often with traces of the Korean 5 fun coins they were overstruck on, or with characters and symbols not found on official government issued coins. These coins were often minted by Korean businessmen and former Japanese Samurai looking to make a profit on exchanging the low value copper coins into silver dollars as a single silver dollar had the purchasing power of 1000 Korean fun. The majority of the counterfeit coins bear the inscription that they were minted in either the Zhejiang province or the Shandong province, but they circulated all over the coastal regions of China.
List of cash coins issued by the Qing dynasty
Qing dynasty era cash coins generally bear the reign title of the Emperor in Chinese characters, with only a single change of reign title occurring with the Qixiang Emperor becoming the Tongzhi Emperor by decision of his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi.
Silver coinage
During the early days of the Qing dynasty silver Spanish dollars, known to the Chinese as "double balls" (??) because of the two globes featured on the coins, continued to circulate in the coastal areas of China, while sycees were regularly manufactured inland. Trade with the Spanish Empire continued as Chinese junks brought on average 80,000 pesos from Manila on every voyage, and by the mid-18th century the amount rose to 235,370,000 pesos. A lot of silver from Portugal, the Dutch Republic, and Japan continued to enter China during this period. After Mexico had become independent Mexican pesos (or "Eagle coins", ??) replaced the old Spanish dollars while the old Spanish dollars still remained important in China, the Treaty of Nanking ending the First Opium War in 1842 had its payments accounted Spanish dollars.
Many other forms of silver coins circulated in China causing the Qing government to eventually started producing its own silver coinage (?? or ??) in 1821 with the first machine-struck silver coins being made a year later by the Jilin Arsenal in 1822. In 1887 Zhang Zhidong, the Viceroy of Liangguang started producing silver coinage in Guangzhou, these coins weighed 0.73 taels and had the English inscription of "Kwang-tung Province, 7 Mace and 3 Candareens" and were decorated with a large Dragon earning them the nickname "Guangdong Dragon dollars" (????) or they were referred to simply as "Yuán", an abbreviation of Yuánb?o (??) which was featured on the inscription, though this design was similar to silver Japanese coins circulating in China at the time which also featured a Dragon. These coins proved popular and soon other provinces started to cast their own variants of these silver coins. These coins were manufactured independently by each province and it wasn't until 1910 that the government of the Qing dynasty standardised them at 0.72 taels.
Prior to 1 tael being standardised at 50 g. by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1959, the weight "tael" differed substantially from province to province, the Qing government maintained that 1 tael equals 37.5 g. and this measurement was referred to as the Kuping tael (???), and by official Qing government standards 1 Kuping tael = 10 Mace = 100 Candareens. Under the Guangxu Emperor several Kuping tael coins were struck in Tianjin from 1903 until 1907, and mostly served as salary for the soldiers. Despite the central government's attempts at unifying the standards provincial coinage remained the de facto standard across China. Under the Xuantong Emperor another attempt at standardising the Qing dynasty's silver coinage was made in 1911 (Xuantong 3) a large amount of "dragon dollars" bearing the inscription "??" (y?yuán) were minted, these were the only Qing dynasty coins with that inscription and also featured the English legend "One Dollar". These coins were all cast at the Central Tianjin Mint.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty sycees were demonetised in 1933 and Qing dynasty silver coins in 1935 as they were replaced with paper money.
Mint marks
In total there had been more than 50 local mints established that each bore their own unique mint marks, however several of these mints operated only for a brief time before discontinuing their casting of cash coins, mint marks on Qing dynasty coinage can be categorised into 7 main categories based on the scripts on the reverse sides of the coins: 1) only have Manchu script mint marks; 2) Only have mint marks in Chinese script with the weight of the coin in lí; 3) have both Manchu, and Chinese script mint marks; 4) only have a single Chinese character indicating the mint on the top of the reverse side; 5) Only contain the character "?" (1) on the reserve 6) have both Manchu, and Chinese scripts together on the right and left sides of the coin, plus the denomination of the denomination on the top and bottom, and 7) have Chinese, Manchu, and Arabic script together on the reverse side of the coin.
Chinese mint marks
Mint marks on coins issued from 1644 until 1661:
From 1653 until 1657 another type of cash coin was simultaneously cast with the above series, but these coins contained the extra inscription of "??" (Equals one lí of silver) on the back. They were generally minted at the same mints as the above cash coin series but weren't minted at the Yansui garrison, the Shanxi province, and the Jingzhou garrison while another mint at Jinan, Shandong was opened for these coins, with coins cast there bearing the mark "?". Additionally there were also coins cast with no mint mark that only contain the character "?" (1) on their reserves indicating their value in Ií.
Between 1660 and 1661 cash coins were manufactured with both a Manchu (on the left), and a Chinese (on the right) character as mint marks. The following mints produced these coins:
Under the reign of the Kangxi Emperor coins with only Manchu reverse inscriptions and both Manchu and Chinese reverse inscriptions were cast. The coins of the Kangxi Emperor were also the basis for the coins of the Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing Emperors.
Under the Kangxi Emperor coins were produced at these mints:
Manchu mint marks
Another series of bronze cash coins was introduced with Manchu script on the reverse sides of the coin from 1657, many mints contained the Manchu word ??? (Boo) on the left, which is Manchu for "?" (indicating "treasure" or "currency") on the obverse side of these coins. To the right of them would often appear a word indicating the issuing agency of the coin. Qing dynasty coinage with exclusive Manchu mint marks are by far the most commonly produced type. Large denomination coins of the Xianfeng Emperor bore Manchu mint marks on the left and right sides of the reverse sides, and the value of the coin on the top and bottom. Coins with exclusive Manchu inscriptions continued to be cast until the end of the Qing dynasty.
Manchu mint marks are:
Chinese, Manchu, and Arabic mint marks
Additionally coins from the Xinjiang province can also have 3 different scripts on the reverse side of the coin being Manchu, Chinese, and Arabic scripts. An example would be a coin from Aksu would have the Chinese ? on top, the Manchu ???? on the left, and the Uyghur Perso-Arabic ????? on the right. Another differentiating feature of Xinjiang coins is that they tend to be more red in colour reflecting on the colour of the local copper mined in the province.
Tibetan coinage under the Qing
Up until the 20th century Chinese silver ingots (sycee) were used for larger transactions, and were referred to as rta rmig ma ("horse hoof") and normally weighed 50 tael, or 50 srang. During the Qing period there also circulated silver ingots of smaller size, named gyag rmig ma (yak hoof) and yet smaller ones, referred to as ra rmig ma (goat hoof). In the early 20th century sycees were worth about 60-70 Indian rupees, the ingots of medium size 12-14 rupees and the smallest ingots 2-3 rupees. British-Indian authors occasionally refer to the silver bars found in Tibet, some of which were imported from Kashgar, Xinjiang as "yambus", an expression which was derived from the Chinese "yuánb?o". Silver cins that were extensively used in southern Tibet were supplied by the Nepalese Malla Kingdoms and the first kings of the subsequent Shah dynasty from about 1640 until 1791. However, due to a dispute between Nepal and Tibet regarding the silver content of the coinage supplied by Nepal, the export of these coins was disrupted after the mid-eighteenth century. In order to overcome the shortage of coins in Tibet at that time, the Tibetan government started striking its own coins, modelled on Nepalese prototypes. This occurred in 1763-64 and again in 1785 without any interference by the Chinese government. After this, the Nepalese repeatedly attempted to reintroduce their silver coins back on the Tibetan market and the Tibetan government repeatedly attempted to mint its own silver coinage. And in order to keep the profitable trade with Tibet the Nepalese attempted to invade Tibet in 1788 and again in 1790/91, eventually the Tibetan and Chinese armies drove the Nepalese out in 1792.
The Qing government took this opportunity to tighten their grip on Tibet's monetary system, and issued an edict which among other dispositions stipulated the introduction of a new silver coinage, struck in the name of the Qianlong Emperor. Simultaneously banning the import of silver coins from Nepal. Though due to a shortage of silver the Qing allowed the Tibetan government to strike coins derived from the Nepalese silver coins to circulate in Tibet under the supervision of both the Qing and Tibetan governments. In 1791 the Qing planned to cast copper cash coins in Tibet, however this was deemed too expensive to transport copper from China proper to Lhasa. From this point onward Tibetan silver coinage bore the reign names and eras of Qing Emperors.
During the second part of the 19th and the first third of the 20th century numerous foreign silver coins circulated in Tibet. Most of them were traded by weight, such as Mexican and Spanish American silver dollars, Russian roubles and German marks. The exception were British Indian rupees, particularly the ones with the portrait of Queen Victoria, which widely circulated in Tibet and were mostly preferred to Tibetan coins. These rupees were of good silver and had a fixed value, exchanging for three tangkas until about 1920, and in later years of the 20th century they considerably increased in value. The Qing government saw the popularity of the Indian rupees among Tibetan traders with misgivings and in 1902 started striking their own rupees which were close copies of the Indian Victoria rupees, the portrait of the Queen being replaced by that of a Chinese mandarin, or, as most numismatists believe, of the Guangxu Emperor of China. The Chinese rupees were struck in Chengdu during the Qing dynasty. These coins would continued to be produced by the Republic of China.
Xinjiang
Early history
The region of Xinjiang was conquered by the Qing dynasty after the Dzungar-Qing Wars ended with the territory of the Dzungar Khanate coming under Manchu administration by 1759, the Muslim leaders and the armies of the conquered territories fled to Badakhshan. On 28 July 1759 the leader of Badakhshan formally recognised Manchu rule. Under Qing rule, Xinjiang was administered as 3 circuits, the southern circuit being the former Dzungar Khanate paid with p?l coins. Zhao Hui, General of Ili requested to the Qianlong Emperor permission to take p?l coins from the locals and use the copper to cast Qing Chinese cash coins, Zhao Hui ensured that these cash coins would weigh the same as the old p?l coins and would preserve the previous Dzungar monetary system. General Zhao Hui set the exchange rate between p?ls and Qing cash coins at 2 Dzungar p?ls for 1 cash, further Xinjiang cash coins being the same weight as Dzungar p?l coins weighed 2 qián (7.46 g) as opposed to the 1.2 qián (4.476 g) circulating in contemporary China proper. As p?l coins were nearly made of pure copper the new cash coins created from them would become red in colour earning them the nickname of "Red Cash". As it was beyond the skills of the primitive Chinese metallurgists to remove the non-copper from the coinage 98% of the content of "Red Cash" was copper with the rest often being either zinc or lead as the Qing didn't have the expertise yet to remove this, the rest metal often came from scrap metal collected to cast cash coins.
When "Red Cash" coins were introduced in the southern circuit in 1760 they were valued at 10 wén (or 10 cash coins from China proper), but a few years later this halved. Meanwhile, "Red Cash" from the other circuits were exchanged at par with standard cash coins.
Establishing mints in Xinjiang
As the state mint of the Dzungar Khanate was located in Yarkant, and many Dzungar p?l coins still circulated there as well as in Kashgar, and Hotän a new mint was opened in Yarkant in 1760 employing 99 people (among them 8 Han Chinese from Shaanxi who were previously employed by a provincial mint there). Melting and casting equipment was transported from the Shaanxi province to Yarkant for the new mint to start producing coinage, not only Dzungar p?l coins were used but also leftover equipment from the military. The coins produced at this mint show the mint mark both in the Manchu and Uyghur languages. The Qing dynasty was able to claim 2.6 million p?l coins from the population at an exchange rate of 2 p?ls for 1 cash, but in 1762 the exchange rate was placed at par causing the Qing to eventually discontinue the exchange in 1768 as the p?l would continue circulate, and the Yarkant mint was forced to import copper from the Turfan mint. In 1769 the Yarkant mint was closed having produced between two and three thousand strings of "Red Cash".
A mint opened in Aksu in 1761, as Aksu had a high amount of natural copper resources near it, as well as gaining a lot of scrap copper through taxes. The mint itself was large housing 6 furnaces and employing 360 people including technical staff from China proper to oversee the production of "Red Cash" in Aksu. Most cash coins produced in Aksu almost exclusively circulated in the 4 largest cities of the former Dzungar Khanate.
As the General of Ili made Turfan the administrative capital of Xinjiang's southern circuit the Aksu mint was relocated there in 1766, and after the Yarkant mint had closed down in 1769 the Turfan mint became the sole mint of the southern circuit. At first the standard weight of 2 qián (the same as Dzungar p?l coins circulating at the time) was maintained but a copper shortage in 1771 caused the "Red Cash" from Turfan to become a half qián lighter, and 3 years later had its weight brought at par with cash coins from China proper. In 1799 the Turfan mint was brought back to Aksu because of that city's increasing economic dominance over the region of Southern Xinjiang.
Cash coins in the Northern and Eastern circuits
Unlike the southern circuit Xinjiang's other regions did not cash coins that deviated from those produced in China proper, various factors played into this decision. Mostly in the north the people that lived there were nomads and didn't have an established monetary system in place, and there were no prior government regulations on trade. Also many Han Chinese people started migrating from other parts of China to the northern and eastern regions of Xinjiang bringing with them their cash coins. Because of these reasons the Qing dynasty didn't create a new monetary system as they had done in the former Dzungar Khanate but implemented the system used by the rest of the Qing.
A mint was established at Yining City between 1764 and 1775 (as records of this event don't exist it's currently unknown), the mint itself was a large complex with 21 buildings. In 1776 copper was found near Yining causing the production of cash coins at the mint to rise.
Daoguang era
In 1826 Jahangir Khoja with soldiers from the Khanate of Kokand occupied the southern circuit of Xinjiang temporarily losing Kashgar, Yarkant, and Hotän to this rebellion. The Daoguang Emperor sent 36 thousand Manchu soldiers to defeat this rebellion. As more soldiers had entered Xinjiang the price of silver went down, while that of copper went up. In 1826 1 tael of silver was worth 250 or 260 "Red Cash" while in 1827 good had decreased to 100 or sometimes even as low as 80. Despite the soldiers returning to Manchuria the original exchange rates did not restore causing the mint of Aksu to close, as the Aksu mint closed down less money was circulating on the market. In 1828 monetary reforms were implemented to keep the current weight of "Red Cash" but increase their denominations to 5, and 10 wén (while weighing the same) with 70% of Aksu's annual production being 5 wén coins, and 30% being 10 wén but the production of "Red Cash" itself was reduced by two and a half thousand strings. Later the Daoguang Emperor ordered the weight of "Red Cash" to further decrease in order to maximise profits.
Xianfeng and Tongzhi eras
Under the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor "Red Cash" coins were excessively manufactured negating the reforms implemented by Daoguang causing inflation in the region. As the Taiping rebellion and the Second Opium War had prompted the Qing government to start issuing high denomination cash coins in other parts of the Qing dynasty, this soon spread to Xinjiang mainly due to the decreased subsidies for military expenditures in Xinjiang lowering the soldiers' salaries. In 1855 new denominations of 4 wén and 8 wén were introduced at the Yining mint, further the Ürümqi mint started issuing cash coins with high denominations in response. New mints were established at Kucha, and Kashgar while the Yarkant mint was re-opened. Coins also started being cast in bronze, brass, lead, and iron; this system received a chaotic response from Xinjiang's market. From 1860 denominations higher than 10 wén were discontinued. Only coins of 4, 5, and 10 wén were cast at Xinjiang's provincial mints under the Tongzhi Emperor. Cash coins that had a higher denomination than 10 was being collected from the population to be smelted into lower denominations, while the higher denominations that stayed on the market were accepted only lower than their face value.
Arabic cash coins of Rashidin Khan Khoja
During the Dungan revolt from 1862 to 1877, Sultan Rashidin Khan Khoja proclaimed a Jihad against the Qing dynasty in 1862, and captured large cities in the Tarim Basin. He issued Chinese-style cash coins minted at the Aksu, and Kucha mints with exclusive Arabic inscriptions, these coins were only briefly minted as Rashidin Khan Khoja would be betrayed and murdered by Yakub beg in 1867.
Guangxu and Xuantong eras
As the chaotic circulation of various denominations of cash coins had continued, this invited foreign silver money from Central Asia to start circulating in the Xinjiang region. After the Russian Empire had occupied the northern region of Xinjiang in 1871 Russian rubles started circulating. Eventually 3 parallel currency systems were in place while p?l coins from the Dzungar Khanate kept circulating in Kashgaria a century after the region was annexed by the Qing dynasty. The Dungan revolt lead by the Tajik Muhammad Yaqub Beg was defeated in 1878 during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang, and the Russians returned the territory they had occupied after signing a treaty in 1880 at Yining. In 1884 Xinjiang was upgraded to the status of "province" ending military and Lifan Yuan rule over the region, while the "Red Cash" system was reintroduced in Kashgaria now at a value of 4 wén. However at the end of the reign of the Guangxu Emperor "Red Cash" was discontinued at the Aksu mint in 1892 because of the rising costs of charcoal needed to produce the coins. The Aksu mint was transferred to Kucha mint. Though the Kashgar mint re-opened in 1888 it outsourced some of the production of "Red Cash" to Kucha and Aksu resulting in cash coins being cast with the Chinese mint mark of Kashgar but the Manchu and Arabic mint marks of the actual mint of casting. The kashgar mint closed down in 1908. The Kucha mint introduced new obverse inscriptions for cash coins minted there with the Guang Xu Ding Mo in 1907, and Guang Xu Wu Shen in 1908, however production didn't last very long as the Kucha mint finally closed down in 1909.
Under the Xuantong Emperor "Red Cash" continued to be produced but at lower number than before at the Turpan mint, but as the Turpan mint closed down in 1911 a year before the fall of the Qing dynasty the production of "Red Cash" officially ended.
Commemorative coins
- In 1905 the Qing dynasty issued special silver 1 tael Gu?ng Xù Yuán B?o (????) coins celebrating the 70th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. These coins feature the Chinese character for longevity (?) surrounded by 2 Imperial dragons reaching out to the wish-granting pearl.
See also
- Ancient Chinese coinage
- History of Chinese currency
- Liao dynasty coinage
- Manchukuo yuan
- Southern Song dynasty coinage
- Western Xia coinage
- Yuan dynasty coinage
- Zhou dynasty coinage
Notes
References
Sources
- Eagleton, C.; Williams, J., Money: a history, London: British Museum Press, 2007.
- Hartill, David (2005). Cast Chinese Coins. Trafford, United Kingdom. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1412054669.
- Hartill, David, Qing cash, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication 37, London, 2003.
- PENG Xinwei, A monetary history of China, Shanghai: Qunlian Publishing, 1954; translated by Kaplan, E. H., Bellingham, WA: Center for East Asian Studies, University of Western Washington, 2 volumes, 1994.
- Wu Jingzi (???), Rulin Waishi (The Scholars).
- Eduard Kann, Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Coins, Vol. 1: Gold, Silver, Nickel and Aluminum ISBN 0923891188
- Chen Feng, Financial History of the Qing Dynasty (1 January 1991) ISBN 710006998X (in Mandarin Chinese using Simplified Chinese characters)
- Werner Burger, Ch'ing Cash. Publisher: University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong University. Publication date: July 5, 2016 ISBN 9881902339
- Kalgan Shih, Sam Sloan, and Mario L. Sacripante. Modern Coins of China. Publisher: Ishi Press. Published: 14 December 2009. ISBN 4871878708
- Shi Jun Zhi, Outline of Chinese coins legal history (Chinese Edition). Publisher: China Financial Publishing House. Published: 1 March 2015. ISBN 7504978132
Source of article : Wikipedia
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