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832
EAST ASIA.
weighing over 10 Ibs., form the tiao, or monetary unit, valued at about 4s.
But numbers have no precise meaning, and change with every district, so
that in Tientsin, for instance, the tiao is worth only 333 sapeks. The tael, or
Ian, supposed to weigh an ounce of silver, at a mean value of about 1,500 sapeks,
is a fictitious coin, varying in value in the different marts. The foreign customs
are regulated by the Mi J;wun tael, whose official value is about 6s., but the
dues must be paid in saisi, or silver ingots hall marked. The most common
coin is the Mexican piastre, specially minted for the Chinese market. There is no
Fig. 155. PBOVINCIAL CHIEF TOWNS, Fu AND
Scale 1 : 3,000,000.
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^ IN CHINA.
Eof-G 100' 120'
ProTincial Chief Towns. Fa. Chew.
600 MUes.
gold coinage, but paper money, formerly called " winged gold," or " flying money,"
has been in general use for fully a thousand years.
In every part of the empire exchange is a constant source of endless trouble.
" The tael is, properly speaking, a weight of about 1 ^ ozs. avoirdupois. The term
'
tuel '
is a foreign one, the Chinese word being '
liang.' Almost every province,
and often every important city in a province, has its own tael. Tims a piece of silver
that weighs a tael atKung-king will weigh less than a tael at Keng-tu ;
40
and as all
payments are made by weight, it is necessary to have a balance for each place.
Then the quality of the silver varies ;
and besides this, in making small payments
there is the further complication of the number of cash, or '
which is, of course, unavoidable.
chen,' to the tael,