Wikipedia

Chinese cash (currency unit)

(Redirected fromChinese wen)
For other uses, seeChinese cash (disambiguation).

Thecash(Chinese:Văn;pinyin:wén) was acurrency denominationused inChinain imperial times. It was the chief denomination until the introduction of theyuanin the late 19th century.

Coins ofImperial China(Song through Qing dynasties) and some similar Japanese and Korean coins

Etymology

edit

The English word "cash",meaning" tangible currency ", is an older word fromPortuguesecaixaorMiddle Frenchcaisse( "box", or "case" ).[1]The term was first used on coins issued inGuangdongProvince in 1900. It did not appear on paper money until later. Thepluralforms "cash" and "cashes" were both used. The Chinese characterwen(Chinese:Văn;pinyin:wén) has several other meanings in modern Chinese.[1]

History

edit
AGuāng Xù Yuán Bǎo( quang tự nguyên bảo ) coin of 10 cash
A banknote of 1chuàn( xuyến, a string of cash coins) or 1000 cash

Thewenwas one of the chief units of currency in China and was used to denominate both coins and paper money. Other denominations were used, including various weights, based on thetaelsystem, forsyceesilver and gold ingots.[2]

Until the 19th century, coins denominated in wen were cast, the most common formation being the round-shaped copper coin with a square or circular hole in the centre.[2]The hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coin's low value. The number of coins in astring of cash(simplified Chinese:Nhất quán tiền;traditional Chinese:Nhất quán tiền;pinyin:yīguàn qián) varied over time and place but was nominally 1000.[3]A string of 1000 wén was supposed to be equal in value to onetael(liǎng) of puresilver.[4]Each string of cash was divided in ten sections of 100. The person who strung the cash into a string took one, two, or three cash per hundred, depending on local custom, as payment for his effort. So, in fact, an ounce of silver could vary in exchange from 970 to 990 cash (or more) between two places fairly close together.[5]In places in the North where there was a shortage of coinage a string of 500 exchanged for an ounce of silver. Paper money sometimes showed pictures of the appropriate number of 1 wén coins strung together.

In the 19th century, foreign coins began to circulate widely in China, particularly silver coins such as theMexican peso.In 1889, Chinese currency began to be denominated in theyuanand its subdivisions. The cash or wén was retained in this system as1⁄1000yuan. Traditional style, cast 1 wén coins continued to be produced until the end of theChinese Empirein 1911. The last coins denominated in cash were struck in the early years of theRepublic of Chinain 1924.

The term is still used today in colloquialCantonese(mān), but written asVănto representHong Kong dollars.[6]

Coins

edit
Main article:Cash (Chinese coin)

Numerous authorities issued coins denominated in wén in the nineteenth century, including departments of the Imperial government (TheBoard of RevenueandBoard of Public Works) together with provincial authorities. Most coins were 1 wén denominations, but denominations of 4, 5, 10, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 wén were also issued.[7][8]After the introduction of the yuan, coins were struck in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 cash or wén.

Paper money

edit
A 2000 wénGreat Qing Treasure Notebanknote from 1859

The world's firstpaper money,issued in China between the 7th and 15th centuries, was denominated in wén. The notes carried depictions of coins, sometimes in strings of ten. The notes of theYuan dynastysuffered fromhyperinflationdue to over production without sufficient coins to back them and were withdrawn.[9]Chinese paper moneyreappeared in the 19th century during theQing dynasty.In 1853,Great Qing Treasure Notebanknotes were introduced in denominations of 500, 1000 and 2000 wén. 5000 wén notes followed in 1856, with 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 wén notes added in 1857. The last of these notes were issued in 1859.[10][11]

External influence

edit

EarlyKorean,Japanese,Ryukyuan,andVietnamesecurrencies, theKorean mun,Japanese mon,Ryukyuan mon,andVietnamese văn(where it was both used for cash coins and as acurrency unit), were derived from the Chinesewénand written with the same character. In 1695, the Shogunate placed thecharactergen(Chinese:Nguyên;pinyin:yuán) on the obverse of copper coins.[12]Vietnamgained independence fromChinain 938 and merely carried on the tradition of using cash. The firstVietnamese cashwas issued in 968.

Hong Kong

edit
Main article:Hong Kong one-mil coin

The smallest unit of theHong Kong dollarduring the 1860s was themil,which like the Chinese cash was1⁄1000of a dollar. The Chinese character for this currency unit was "Văn", though these coins were not translated into English as "cash".[13][14]

See also

edit

References

edit
Notes
  1. ^Douglas Harper (2001)."Online Etymology Dictionary".Retrieved2007-04-11.
  2. ^abKrause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991).Standard Catalog of World Coins:1801–1991(18th ed.). Krause Publications.ISBN0873411501.
  3. ^"Definition ofguàn( quán ) "(in Chinese).RetrievedAugust 25,2010.
  4. ^Fredrik Schöth.Chinese Currency.Revised and edited by Virgil Hancock. Iola, WI, USA: Krause, 1965.
  5. ^Morse, Hosea Ballou (2005).The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire.Adamant Media Company. p. 131.ISBN1-4021-8404-2.
  6. ^"zhiqian chế tiền, standard cash".By Ulrich Theobald (Chinaknowledge).25 May 2016.Retrieved27 August2018.
  7. ^Art-HanoiCURRENCY TYPES AND THEIR FACE VALUES DURING THE TỰ ĐỨC ERA.Archived2019-03-03 at theWayback MachineThis is a translation of the article “Monnaies et circulation monetairé au Vietnam dans l’ère Tự Đức (1848-1883) byFrançois Thierry de Crussol( đế ai lí ). Published in Revue Numismatique 1999 (volume # 154). Pgs 267-313. This translation is from pages 274-297. Translator: Craig Greenbaum. Retrieved: 25 August 2019.
  8. ^XIV International Economic History Congress,Helsinki2006 Session 106Too Commercialised To Synchronize Currencies: Monetary Peasant Economy in Late Imperial China in Comparison with Contemporary Japanby Akinobu Kuroda (University of Tokyo) Retrieved: 11 June 2017
  9. ^Ulrich Theobald (10 May 2016)."Paper Money in Premodern China".Chinaknowledge.Retrieved27 March2019.
  10. ^John E. Sandrock (1997)."IMPERIAL CHINESE CURRENCY OF THE TAI'PING REBELLION - Part II - CH'ING DYNASTY COPPER CASH NOTES by John E. Sandrock"(PDF).The Currency Collector.Retrieved20 April2019.
  11. ^Ulrich Theobald (13 April 2016)."Qing Period Paper Money".Chinaknowledge.de.Retrieved27 March2019.
  12. ^Isaac Titsingh. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō,1652].Nipon o daï itsi ran;ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon.] Paris:Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.(Digitized text copy(in French)) p. 415.
  13. ^Ma, Tak Wo (2004).Illustrated Catalogue of Hong Kong Currency.Hong Kong: Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co., LTD.ISBN962-85939-3-5.
  14. ^"Coin - 1 Mil, Hong Kong, 1865".Museums Victoria Collections.Retrieved2018-05-28.
Bibliography
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chinese_cash_(currency_unit)&oldid=1229914958"