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54-584: The Ban Liang corresponds to a "half tael " (半兩), or twelve zhu ( 銖 , about 0.68 grams). It typically weighs between ten and six grams, roughly corresponding to the Greek stater . The standardization of currency with this round coinage was part of a broader plan to unify weights and measures during the Qin empire. Ban Liang coins continued to be used under the Western Han dynasty until they were finally replaced by

108-569: A lead variant in the Han dynasty. A variant with a reverse inscription known as “Liang Ban” (兩半) coins were also cast, cash coins with reverse inscriptions are known as chuan xing (傳形). During the Warring states period Ban Liang coins from the State of Qin generally had 8 gram Ban Liang coins from between 32 and 34 millimeters in diameter, while during the Qin dynasty all Ban Liang coins generally had

162-772: A form of corruption and these taxes never reached the imperial government under the traditional fiscal regime. Near the end of the Qing dynasty, one dìng (sycee, or yuanbao ) is about 50 taels. The local tael took precedence over any central measure. Thus, the Canton tael weighed 37.5 grams (1.21 ozt), the Convention or Shanghai tael was 33.9 grams (1.09 ozt), and the Haiguan ( 海關 ; hǎiguān ; 'customs') tael 37.8 grams (1.22 ozt). The conversion rates between various common taels were well known. In

216-533: A major disruption in the economy forcing the government to produce larger Ban Liang; eventually, the Han government continue to change the size and weight of the Ban Liang weighing as light as 2.4 Zhu to 4 Zhu. In 119 BC Emperor Wu ordered the Ban Liang coins to be deprecated in favour of " San Zhu " cash coins ( 三 銖 ), which in turn were superseded by the " Wu Zhu " ( 五 銖 ) series of coins in 118 BC. Despite being superseded by cash coinages with other inscriptions,

270-853: A tael or one zi {中冖田} (甾, 錙), which was six zhu . 1 tael coins tended to have a round centre hole, and half tael coins a square hole. The reverse side of all of these early round coins were blank. The Ban Liang cash coins of the Warring States period typically have a diameter between 32 and 34 millimeters and weight of 8 grams. The Ban Liang cash coins produced by the State of Qin have rectangular centre holes, as opposed to later cash coins which have square holes and many earlier Huanqian which had round holes. Ban Liang cash coins during this era were cast in two-piece moulds ( traditional Chinese : 錢范 ; simplified Chinese : 钱范 ; pinyin : qián fàn ) and these moulds could produce 6 cash coins at

324-400: A time. This casting method left only one sprue on the coins. State of Qin era Ban Liang cash coins generally have inscriptions that are written in small seal script , with a small number in large seal script . The characters on the State of Qin Ban Liang cash coins are vertically elongated and the top horizontal stroke of the "Liang" (兩) character is short. A seal script evolved further over

378-629: A unit will typically abbreviate it as "tl". China's standard market tael (Chinese: 市两 ; pinyin: shìliǎng ) of 31.25 g was modified by the People's Republic of China in 1959. The new market tael was 50 g or 1 ⁄ 10 catty (500 g) to make it compatible with metric measures. (see Chinese unit for details.) In Shanghai, silver is still traded in taels. Some foodstuffs in China are sold in units also called "taels", but which do not necessarily weigh one tael. For cooked rice,

432-411: A weight of 2.4 zhu . These cash coins had a diameter that was only about 20 millimeters, and they were distinguished by a large square centre hole. Because in reality they were only worth one-fifth of an earlier Ban Liang coin, they are usually referred to as "5 parts Ban Liang cash coins" (五分半兩錢). In the year 175 BC, or the fifth year of Emperor Wen , the government of the Han dynasty set the weight of

486-410: A weight of 6 grams and were about 31.7 millimeters in diameters. Han dynasty era Ban Liang coins are generally smaller than Qin Ban Liang coins, this is due to the Han dynasty government constantly changing weight standards for the coins many variants from that era exist. Western Han dynasty variants include: During the 1950s, a number of Ban Liang cash coins were unearthed at a site somewhere near

540-516: Is 1 + 1 ⁄ 3 oz. avoir. Similar to Hong Kong, in Singapore, one tael is defined as 1 + 1 ⁄ 3 ounce and is approximated as 37.7994 g The Taiwan tael is 37.5 g and is still used in some contexts. The Taiwan tael is derived from the tael or ryō ( 両 ) of the Japanese system (equal to 10 momme ) which was 37.5 g. Although the catty (equal to 16 taels)

594-450: Is commonly used at food markets where many items typically weigh in the 100–900 g range. However, a different tael (called cây , lạng , or lượng ) unit of 37.5 g is used for domestic transactions in gold. Real estate prices are often quoted in taels of gold rather than the local currency over concerns over monetary inflation . Empress L%C3%BC (Houshao) Empress Lü (呂皇后, personal name unknown) (died c. 180 BCE)

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648-559: Is possible that China first began using iron cash coins (鐡錢, tieqian ) during the Western Han dynasty , this was concluded after a number of iron Ban Liang cash coins were unearthed in Western Han era tombs in the Hunanese cities of Hengyang and Changsha between the years 1955 and 1959. Other specimens of iron Ban Liang cash coins were also unearthed in the province of Sichuan . Historically Ban Liang coins were very rare in

702-467: Is still frequently used in Taiwan, the tael is only used for precious metals and herbal medicines. The Thai equivalent of the tael is known as the tamlueng , a term derived from Khmer . It was used as a unit of currency equal to four baht ; nowadays, as a unit of weight it is fixed at 60 grams. In French Indochina , the colonial administration fixed the tael ( lạng ) as 100 g, which

756-525: Is written 兩 (simplified as 两 ) and has the Mandarin pronunciation liǎng . The phrase "half a catty, eight taels" ( Chinese : 半斤八兩 , bàn jīn, bā liǎng ) is still used to mean two options are exactly equivalent, similar to the English "six of one, half a dozen of the other". In China, there were many different weighting standards of tael depending on the region or type of trade. In general

810-581: The Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency . The Chinese tael was standardized to 50 grams in 1959. In Hong Kong and Singapore , it is equivalent to 10 mace (Chinese: 錢 ; pinyin: qián ) or 1 ⁄ 16 catty , albeit with slightly different metric equivalents in these two places. These Chinese units of measurement are usually used in Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange. The English word tael comes through Portuguese from

864-538: The Han dynasty Ban Liang coins continued to be produced, but the golden currency established under the Qin would switch from being measured in taels to being measured in "Jin" ( 斤 ), which made a single Jin-denominated gold coin worth around 10.000 Ban Liang coins. As the general populace found inconvenience in using the heavy Ban Liang coins the Han government allowed for the private production of smaller Ban Liang coins known as "elm seed" ( 榆 莢 ) Ban Liang coins. The design of

918-746: The Malay word tahil , meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis . Tahil ( / ˈ t ɑː h ɪ l / in Singaporean English ) is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia , Singapore , and Brunei , where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese population. In Chinese, tael

972-598: The Wu Zhu cash coins in 118 BC. The Ban Liang coins predate the Chinese Empire and were originally cast during the Warring states period by the State of Qin ; these coins circulated alongside cloth money. Qin State coins were inscribed with the Chinese characters "Zhu zhong yi liang" (珠重一兩, "pearls (round coins) heavy one liang"), which might have been kind of lot numbers, while other early State of Qin weighed half

1026-620: The Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County of the Gansu Province in located in northwest China . These Ban Liang cash coins were quite notable because they have never been documented in any prior Chinese numismatic literature. According to the author of the article, these "drilled hole" Ban Liang cash coins were produced by the State of Qin somewhere around the middle to the end of the Warring States period. These "drilled holes" are mostly found outside of

1080-475: The numismatic community, but as many of them were excavated and exported from China in the 1990s they have become extremely common today with their prices having been dramatically decreased as a result. Tael Tael ( / ˈ t eɪ l / ), or liang , also known as the tahil and by other names , can refer to any one of several weight measures used in East and Southeast Asia . It usually refers to

1134-558: The silver tael weighed around 40 grams (1.3 ozt). The most common government measure was the Kuping ( 庫平 ; kùpíng ; 'treasury standard') tael, weighing 37.5 grams (1.21 ozt). A common commercial weight, the Caoping ( 漕平 ; cáopíng ; 'canal shipping standard') tael weighed 36.7 grams (1.18 ozt) of marginally less pure silver. As in China, other parts of East Asia such as Japan and Korea have also used

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1188-408: The Ban Liang cash coins at 4 zhu . These cash coins typically have a diameter between 23 and 25 millimeters and they tend to have a weight of 3 grams or less. Some 4 zhu Ban Liang cash coins have an outer rim, while a far fewer number of this type of Ban Liang have both an outside rim as well as an inside rim located around the square centre hole. Eventually the private production of coinage led to

1242-439: The Ban Liang coins would also change as Han dynasty Ban Liangs would later add rims while all Qin dynasty versions were rimless. In the year 186 BC, or the 5th year of Empress Lü , the government officially set the weight of the Ban Liang at 8 zhu and the inscription was now written in clerical script . In the year 182 BC, or the sixth year of Empress Lü, the government of the Han dynasty began cast Ban Liang cash coins with

1296-459: The Ban Liang would continue to circulate in the Han dynasty. During their period of production many types of Ban Liang coins were cast, ranging largely in weight and size, some had extra holes, while other were written in different fonts such as the Han dynasty coins cast under Empress Lü written in Regular script , or a rare Ban Liang made from silver in the Qin dynasty, an iron variant , and

1350-420: The Chinese characters for "twenty" (二十) incused or engraved above the square centre hole. Current speculation on this variant is that numbers like this did not in fact refer to the "value" (or denomination) of the cash coin, but that these numbers would rather refer to some still unknown "quantity" or "measure". Deng Tong (鄧通) was a wealthy businessman who had a close personal relationship with Emperor Wen of

1404-477: The Han dynasty. During a period of 3 years, Emperor Wen had allowed Deng Tong to privately produce Ban Liang cash coins. In order to differentiate his cash coins from those that were officially cast by the imperial government, Deng Tong added extra metal above and below the square centre hole of these Ban Liang cash coins. Since there was "more" metal (or value), these privately produced Ban Liang cash coins by Deng Tong were believed to bring more "happiness" (多福). It

1458-416: The Qing dynasty created a number of treaty ports alongside the China's main waterways and its coastal areas, these treaty ports would fundamentally change both the monetary system of China as well as its banking system , these changes were introduced by the establishment of European and American merchant houses and later banks that would engage in the Chinese money exchange and trade finance. Between

1512-508: The Volume One 2010 edition of "China Numismatics" ( simplified Chinese : 中国钱币 ; traditional Chinese : 中國錢幣 ; pinyin : zhōng guó qián bì ), which has an article entitled "Zhangjiachuan Prefecture Excavates 'Drilled Hole' Ban Liang". In this article the author explains that in the summer of the year 2006 he had purchased about two-hundred recently discovered and unearthed Ban Liang cash coins. These cash coins were excavated in

1566-402: The Western Han dynasty, which were a primitive form of Chinese numismatic charms , as these symbols gradually developed to become more and more complex until they would finally developed into true Chinese numismatic charms and amulets during the Han dynasty period. The "drilled hole" Ban Liang cash coins range in diameter from 23 to 33 millimeters and in weight from 1 gram to 8 grams. During

1620-519: The Western powers had managed to take over the complete administration of the Qing's maritime customs from the imperial Chinese governmental bureaucracy. The Imperial Maritime Customs Service developed the Haikwan tael (海關兩), this new form of measurement was an abstract unit of silver tael that would become the nationwide standard unit of account in silver for any form of Customs tax. The Haikwan tael

1674-474: The areas where the Chinese characters are located and the authors of the 2010 article assumes that they have been drilled into them after they have already been cast, meaning that these holes were not the result of a poor manufacturing process. According to the author of the 2010 article these Ban Liang cash coins were not meant to be used as an ornament or as a pendant because the inconvenient off-centre placement of these additionally drilled holes would not allow

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1728-464: The cash coin to be hung correctly. According to Gary Ashkenazy of the website Primaltrek , it is likely that these Ban Liang cash coins could have been used as burial objects, since coins were associated with wealth in traditional Chinese culture. Furthermore, Gary Ashkenazy hypothesises that these drilled holes might have been a precursor to the "stars" (星, dots), "moons" (月, crescents), and "suns" (日, circles) found on some Ban Liang cash coins during

1782-652: The casting mould. Another reason why this silver Ban Liang is likely to have been cast by the State of Qin is that both its shape and its appearance are consistent with the Ban Liang cash coins from the time period, for example its centre hole is shaped like a rectangle as opposed to square as was the rule during the Han period, and the top and bottom horizontal lines of this specimen have bent corners also typical for Qin Ban Liang. Some Ban Liang cash coins have been discovered that have drilled holes, some of these cash coins have only one additional holes drilled into them while others have two. These cash coins were first documented in

1836-527: The centuries, the top horizontal line became longer as is seen in Ban Liang cash coins produced during the time of the Han dynasty. Emperor Qin Shi Huang conquered the various "warring states" and unified China in the year 221 BC forming the Qin dynasty . In order to consolidate central power of the new Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang proceeded to standardise the various scripts, weights, and measures that existed among

1890-405: The city of Xi'an , Shaanxi . Among the excavated cash coins was one notable silver specimen, this cash coin notably has a diameter of 66 millimeters, a thickness of 7 millimeters, and a weight of 96.15 grams, compared to most State of Qin Ban Liang cash coins made from bronze which typically have a diameter between 32 and 34 millimeters and weigh only 8 grams. This silver Ban Liang cash coin

1944-446: The early Han dynasty period (200–180 BC), the emperor had ordered the rich and powerful to privately cast Ban Liang cash coins. These privately produced cash coins tended to be diminutive in size and light in weight, they are referred to as "Elm Seed Ban Liang cash coins" (榆荚半兩錢). Some of these "Elm Seed" cash coins were as small as 10 millimeters in diamer and weighing only about 0.4 gram. Some privately produced Ban Liang cash coins had

1998-402: The early Han dynasty, he notes that because of the way that it has been cast that it must have been created during the Warring States period because the specimen only has a single sprue and would have been cast using a two-piece mould. The sprue of this specimen is 17 millimeters and is located at the bottom of the coin, meaning that it must have been one of the two cash coins located at the top of

2052-403: The known photographs and rubbings of this unique silver Ban Liang cash coin, that this specimen has clearly been buried for around two millennia due to the oxidation and present on the cash coin as well as some minor cracks on its reverse which he claims cannot have been artificially added. Furthermore, Guan Henheng adds that despite the production of the Ban Liang cash coins having persisted into

2106-630: The official exchange rate between silver sycees and copper-alloy cash coins was set at 1,000 wén for 1 tael of silver before 1820, but after the year 1840 this official exchange rate was double to 2,000 wén to 1 tael. During the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor , the government of the Qing dynasty was forced to re-introduce paper money , among the paper money it produced were the Hubu Guanpiao (戶部官票) silver notes that were denominated in taels. The forced opening of China during

2160-468: The shape and amount of extra detail on each ingot were highly variable; square and oval shapes were common but "boat", flower, tortoise and others are known. The tael was still used in Qing dynasty coinage as the basis of the silver currency and sycee remained in use until the end of the dynasty in 1911. Common weights were 50, 10, 5 and one tael. Before the year 1840 the government of the Qing dynasty had set

2214-435: The tael ( Japanese : 両 ; rōmaji : ryō ; Korean : 량/냥 (兩) ; romaja : nyang/ryang ) as both a unit of weight and, by extension, a currency. Traditional Chinese silver sycees and other currencies of fine metals were not denominated or made by a central mint and their value was determined by their weight in taels. They were made by individual silversmiths for local exchange, and as such

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2268-644: The tradition of stringing coins together with a rope for convenience ; this was because of its round shape with a square hole, something future Chinese coins would continue to do until the early days of the Republic of China in the 1910s AD. The inscription written on Qin dynasty era Ban Liang cash coins are all written in seal script with long and narrow characters that were written in a primal freehand style . Early Ban Liang cash coins tended to not be well finished, furthermore these coins tended to not be quite round as their rims were often not filed smooth. During

2322-436: The various colonial powers and the government of the Qing dynasty. The Haikwan tael was on average 5% to 10% larger than the various local tael units that had existed in China, this was done as it deliberately excluded any form of extra surcharges which were embedded in the other units of the silver tael that existed as a form of intermediary income for local government tax collection, these surcharges were added to local taels as

2376-418: The various states. In order to centralise and standardise the Chinese monetary system, Qin Shi Huang had abolished the existing forms of money. He then stipulated that the new monetary system of the Qin dynasty would consist of a two tier system with a "higher" form of currency (上幣) made of gold and a "lower" form of currency (下幣) made of bronze, which was the Ban Liang. The Qin dynasty's Ban Liang cash coin

2430-546: The weight of the tael is approximated using special tael-sized ladles. Other items sold in taels include the shengjian mantou and the xiaolongbao , both small bao buns commonly sold in Shanghai. In these cases, one tael is traditionally four and eight buns respectively. The tael is a legal weight measure in Hong Kong , and is still in active use. In Hong Kong, one tael is 37.799364167 g, and in ordinance 22 of 1884

2484-533: The year 1933 the government of the Republic of China abolished the tael and completely replaced it with the yuan in a process known as the fei liang gai yuan ( 廢兩改元 ; 'Abolishing tael and changing to yuan'). During this time the Republican government cleared all banknotes denominated in the ancient tael currency, making all bills which used this currency unit obsolete. Modern studies suggest that, on purchasing power parity basis, one tael of silver

2538-870: The year 2011 for the equivalent of $ 334,103 (or 2,070,000 yuan ). Among those who had the chance to admire this silver Ban Liang cash coin during the life of Ma Dingxiang were some other famous and notable Chinese numismatists of the time, including Luo Bozhao (simplified Chinese: 罗伯昭 ; traditional Chinese: 羅伯昭 ; pinyin: luó bó zhāo ), Sun Ding (simplified Chinese: 孙鼎 ; traditional Chinese: 孫鼎 ; pinyin: sūn dǐng ), and Li Weixian (simplified Chinese: 李伟先 ; traditional Chinese: 李偉先 ; pinyin: lǐ wěi xiān ). Guan Hanheng (simplified Chinese: 关汉亨 ; traditional Chinese: 關漢亨 ; pinyin: guān hàn hēng ) wrote in his book Ban Liang Huobi Tu Shuo (simplified Chinese: 半两货币图说 ; traditional Chinese: 半兩貨幣圖說 ; pinyin: bàn liǎng huò bì tú shuō ), after carefully examining

2592-473: The years 1840 and 1900, 1 market tael was worth 1.38 Spanish dollars . Various Western banking companies, the largest of which were the HSBC , and later Japanese banking companies started to begin to accept deposits. They would issue banknotes which were convertible into silver; these banknotes were popularized among the Chinese public that resided in the treaty ports. An important development during this era

2646-402: Was acquired by Ma Dingxiang ( simplified Chinese : 马定祥 ; traditional Chinese : 馬定祥 ; pinyin : mǎ dìng xiáng ), a person notable for being one of the most famous 20th-century Chinese coin collectors. Ma Dingxiang had acquired this specimen from a friend and fellow numismatist in the city of Xi'an. This is the only known specimen of this type of coin and it was sold at auction in

2700-527: Was an empress during the Han dynasty . Lady Lü was the daughter of Lü Lu (呂祿), the son of Lü Shizhi (吕雉)—the elder brother of the powerful Grand Empress Dowager Lü Zhi , who was the true power at the time even though her grandson Emperor Houshao (Liu Hong) was the titular emperor. As Grand Empress Dowager Lü grew sick in 180 BC, she put Lü Lu (along with her other nephew Lü Chan (呂產), son of Lü Ze (吕泽), her elder brother) in charge of Emperor Houshao's regency, and married Lady Lü to Emperor Houshao. When

2754-500: Was introduced as a way to standardise all forms of currency and its name reflected this as it would always weigh half a tael; these coins were mostly made from bronze , though a silver Ban Liang variant is known to exist. According to the standard "weights and measures" (度量衡) of Qin, one tael was 24 zhu (equivalent to about 14.4 grams). A "Ban Liang" cash coin, which means "half liang" or "half tael", would therefore be about 7.2 grams in weight. The Ban Liang cash coins further introduced

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2808-458: Was preferred over the Kuping tael (庫平兩) by many merchants across China, this was because the units of the Kuping tael varied often to the advantage of imperial tax collectors, this form of corruption was an extra source of income for government bureaucrats at the expense of traders. The Haikwan tael unit was completely uniform, it was very carefully defined, and its creation had been negotiated among

2862-577: Was the establishment of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service . This agency was placed in charge of collecting transit taxes for traded goods that were shipped both in and out of the Chinese Empire, these rules and regulations were all stipulated in various trade treaties that were imposed on the Qing by the Western colonial powers. Because these changes were implemented during the height of the Taiping Rebellion ,

2916-426: Was worth about 4,130 yuan RMB in the early Tang dynasty , 2,065 yuan RMB in the late Tang dynasty , and 660.8 yuan RMB in the mid Ming dynasty . As of February 2024 the price of silver is about 254 yuan RMB/tael of 50 g. The tael is still in use as a weight measurement in a number of countries though usually only in limited contexts. In English-speaking countries, measurement scales that support Tael as

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