Chapter 43 The rise and fall of the third section of the silver system

After Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming obtained the status of legal tender, the silver system has been the main legal tender for official and private receipts and payments, and has been widely used throughout the country.The Qing Dynasty once formulated several regulations on the silver system: the threshold for taxation was one tael at the beginning, and it was reduced to one qian during Qianlong. Silver must be used for more than 1 qian, and it is at the discretion of the people; When paying grain, small households received sporadic tax silver and large households owed silver ten cents per penny; grained silver was the standard fineness; government accountants had to calculate silver in twos.Since then, all market transactions, government revenue and expenditure, and even non-governmental exchanges have mostly been calculated in silver taels.After the silver dollar is in circulation, the silver dollar will be exchanged for silver taels to receive and pay.During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the standard currency status of the silver dollar was not affected by the rapid development of the silver dollar until March 1933 when the silver dollar was abolished and changed to the dollar.A total of 405 years of existence.

There are four grades of silver taels commonly used: one is silver ingots, the general basic calculation unit weighs 50 taels as an ingot, and the extra-large ones weigh 500 taels, also called horseshoe silver; It is called 锞〔ke石〕zi or small ingot, horseshoe-shaped; the third is small ingots, weighing from three taels to five taels, mostly in the shape of steamed buns, also called small silver ingots; the fourth is broken silver or silver scraps less than one tael , called Fuzhu, Dizhu.All kinds of silver taels must be weighed with a balance weight when they are used, which is called a balance scale.According to the survey at the beginning of the Republic of China, there were more than 170 kinds of flat weights at that time, but there were actually more than that.The government legally uses Kuping, which is used for the national treasury and the provincial treasury. Kuping weighs 37.31256 grams.The provinces and provinces are also different, such as provincial Kuping, Dao Kuping, Yankuping and so on.The second is Guanping, which is used by customs in various places, and each customs is different. The one legally prescribed by the central government weighs 37.68 grams.Caoping is used to collect grain and color, and there is no uniform standard, which varies from place to place, and the same place also has different Caoping standards.Shanghai GM Caoping.The actual weight of Cao Ping is lower than that of Ku Ping and Guan Ping.In addition, there are Shiping, Sima Ping, Gongquanping, Qianping and so on.The institutions responsible for appraising silver in various places are called the Public Assessment Bureau, which is responsible for looking at the scales and the color.Whether it is local silver taels or silver taels imported from other places, the Bureau will use local methods to identify the fineness of the silver taels, weigh them, and then annotate them on the silver ingots before they can be used.The appraisers are all appraised by years of experience, the results obtained are quite accurate, and they bear unlimited responsibility.

There are two types of silver.One is real silver, commonly known as Baoyin.The shape, color, size, weight and usage habits are different from place to place.Official furnaces and private furnaces self-cast all kinds of silver taels with various names. According to the "Tong Kao of Qing Dynasty Documents", there are dozens of them.The Qing Dynasty was different from the Republic of China.The common ones in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China are: Beijing full silver, Songjiang silver, Tianjin Xinghua silver, Baibao silver, Laoyanke silver, Northeast Daji silver, Jinan Gaobaibao, Shanghai Erqibao, Suzhou Suyuan ingot, Yangzhou Yangcao Pingyin and Yangzhouxin, Zhenjiang Gongyi Zuwen silver, Hangzhou Yuanbao silver and small ingots, Hankou reassessment Ersibao silver, Wuchang Changguanzi and Changguan ingots, Jiujiang Ersibaowen, Changsha Xiangyin and full Dabao silver, Guangzhou Fan Wenguanwen and Yanwen silver, Yunnan public estimate silver, Guizhou Qiaoshui silver and 㑩㑩 silver, Chongqing Zuse ticket silver, Xi'an full silver, Gansu and Xinjiang Zuwen silver, etc.According to the fineness of precious silver: sterling silver 1000‰, pure silver above 990‰, grain silver above 930‰, standard silver above 900‰.This is a unified standard recognized throughout the country, but the specific situation of the treasure silver used in various places is extremely complicated. According to the survey, there are a total of 104 kinds of treasure silver used in various provinces.The second is virtual silver taels.This so-called silver tael has no real silver, but only means that silver plays the role of currency in the market.Its name, fineness, weight, calculation method and use requirements are generally recognized by the society.It represents the standard silver tael commonly used in a certain place and becomes the unified currency calculation unit in the region.There are four kinds in the country, namely: Jiubaguiyuan in Shanghai, Xinghua in Tianjin, Yangli in Hankou, and Luyin in Yingkou.These are widely used currencies that are denominated as silver taels in the name of flat weights.

The silver system has been popular for hundreds of years, but its own shortcomings lead to its demise.Its main disadvantages are: the shape of silver is bulky, and it is inconvenient to carry, store, and use; the name of the species is too complicated to identify;