Quick Answer: What Were Chinese Monetary Weights?
Historical Chinese monetary weights measured silver and expressed sums in accounts. The base unit was the tael (兩, liǎng), divided into mace (錢, qián) and candareens (分, fēn). Late Qing traders could face one standard for an invoice and another for the customs duty on the goods.[1][2][3]
- Fractions: One tael equaled 10 mace or 100 candareens.[1]
- 基準意識： Treasury officials, customs offices and merchants could keep accounts on different scales.[2][3]
- Settlement: A bill in taels could be settled with bullion, coins or certain payment instruments.[3]
Read the fractions within one scale. For a conversion to grams or to another tael, identify the local or official standard behind the figure first.[1][2][3]
The phrase “three taels, eight candareens” names a weight in one museum catalogue. In a merchant’s account, the same kind of notation might express a debt payable in several forms of money. The difference matters when comparing numbers from separate records.[3][4]
How to Read Taels, Mace and Candareens
An English account might use the translated names throughout, while a Chinese text writes the characters after each figure. The first two decimal places below a tael are mace and candareens. The next unit, li (釐, lí), is one thousandth. Above the tael, the catty (斤, jīn) was commonly reckoned as 16 taels in the historical system surveyed here.[1]
| Unit | Relation to one tael | What the notation tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Tael | 1 | Whole units |
| Mace | 0.1 | Tenths |
| Candareen | 0.01 | Hundredths |
| Li | 0.001 | Thousandths |
The decimal positions explain the catalogue description of one silver weight, object 1863-28/3. Three taels and eight candareens equal 3.08 taels because the mace place is empty. With eight mace instead, the reading would be 3.8 taels. The arithmetic preserves the original weight standard. It cannot by itself tell you how many grams the object weighs.[1][4]
Why Qing Tael Standards Differed
Officials and merchants used standards suited to the accounts they kept. Kuping (庫平, kùpíng) was a Qing treasury standard for government dues. To see a specific revenue application, compare Qing land-tax silver. A historical conversion table gives about 37.3 grams for the Qing Kuping tael. Use this as a qualified approximation tied to that standard. Figures for other transactions can use a different basis, including a different convention for silver purity.[1][2][3]
The Haikwan tael (海關, hǎiguān), or customs tael, denominated dues at maritime customs offices. An 1878 report recorded that 100 Haikwan taels corresponded to 111.40 local taels in Shanghai and 108.75 in Hankow, now part of Wuhan. Both amounts referred to the same number on the customs scale. They were reported settlement equivalents at those ports, so using either as a constant across dates and transactions would misread the report.[2] See how Chinese maritime customs handled the collection of port duties.
A Shanghai merchant could use the Shanghai tael for an ordinary commercial account. Foreign banks in Shanghai defined that account unit in 1857 as business moved away from its reliance on Spanish silver dollars. A ledger from Shanghai could therefore use one scale for an ordinary purchase and another for a line of customs charges. The city name alone cannot settle which tael an entry uses.[2][3]
Weight, Silver Purity and Settlement
A weighed piece of silver brings two quantities into play. One is the gross weight on the balance. The other is the amount of silver in the piece after allowing for its fineness. For example, 40 grams of metal at 95 percent purity contain 38 grams of fine silver. That illustration shows why equal weights of two grades of bullion could be credited differently. The account standard supplies the convention for crediting the metal received.[1][3]
A clerk could also record an obligation in taels and accept a form of payment other than weighed bullion. In the late Qing and early Republican Shanghai accounts studied for 1866–1924, payments expressed in Shanghai taels could be settled using silver bars, silver dollars, banknotes or checks denominated in taels. A coin’s local exchange value could vary independently of its silver content. Read an amount in an account as a stated value and look for a separate entry showing how it was paid.[3] See silver sycee and taels for the ingots that could be weighed for such a settlement. The comparison with strings of copper cash helps separate weighed silver from copper coins counted in groups.
FAQs About Chinese Monetary Weights
How Many Grams Were in a Tael?
Approximately 37.3 grams is a reference figure for the Qing Kuping standard. For a different place, authority or period, identify the particular tael before converting the amount to metric weight.[1][2][3]
What Does Mace Mean in an English Record?
In a silver-weight column, mace means a tenth of a tael. Thus an entry for six mace with no other units amounts to 0.6 tael on the scale used by the record.[1]
How Many Copper Coins Equaled One Tael?
The answer depends on local rates and the coins being accepted. Look for the date and place of exchange, and check whether the record refers to single coins or strings of copper cash. A fixed decimal subdivision within the tael does not imply a fixed exchange rate to copper.[2][3]
出典
[1] Hans Ulrich Vogel. Weights and Measures
[2] United States Department of State, Office of the Historian. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1878, Document 93
[3] Bin Zhao and Warren Bailey. Explaining Premiums for Spanish and Mexican Silver Coins in Qing and Republican China
[4] Science Museum Group. Chinese Weight, Silver, Object 1863-28/3