For 2000 years, from the reign of Qin Shi Huang (Shih Huang-Ti, 221-207 BC), Chinese coins consisted of cast bronzes or brass, with a central square hole.  Although inflation necessitated the occasional issue of multiples, such as the 50 cash coins of the emperor Xian Feng (Hsien Fêng, 1850-1861), this was still the system at the start of the reign of Guang Xu (Kuang Hsü) in 1875.

By the mid-19th Century international trade with Western powers had grown significantly and was largely conducted in silver dollars such as the American "eagle" dollar and the Mexican 8 reals.  Some Chinese silver coins based on the dollar standard were first minted by the military authorities in Zhangzhou (Changchow), Fujian Province, as early as 1844, in the reign of Dao Guang (Tao Kuang).  Other silver coins were issued in the provinces of Taiwan (Formosa), Hunan, Jiangxu, Jilin and Xinjiang (note 1).

In 1888 the Qing (Ching or Manchu) government authorised Zhang Zhidong, Governor-General of Guangdong and Guiangxi provinces, to mint silver dollars.  These initially weighed 0.73 tael (7 mace and 3 canderins), equivalent to circa 28 grammes, reduced three years later to 0.72 tael (note 2) (25 grammes) and were minted by the Guangdong Silver Dollar Bureau.  They were the first official Chinese dollars.

When Zhang Zhidong was appointed Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei in 1893 (year 19 of Guang Xu), he set up a mint in Wuhan (Wuchang) which also minted silver dollars.  In 1896 (year 22 of Guang Xu) Bei Yang (Pei Yang, another name for Zhili province) produced some trial pieces, and commenced full production the following year.  These were minted by the Bei Yang Machine Bureau in Tianjin (Tientsin) and were marked "Pei Yang Arsenal".  In the 33rd year of Guang Xu (1907) the bureau changed its name to the Bei Yang Mint, with a further change to the General Mint in 1910 (2nd year of the emperor Xuan Tong).  Coins with the inscription in English "Tai-Ching Ti-Kuo Silver Coin" were produced at this mint.

In 1898, the mints of Nanjing (Nanking) and Suzhou (Soochow) began producing dollars for the region of Jiangnan (Kiangnan), which comprised the three provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi.  The same year the province of Anhui also produced dollars in its own name.  The Chengdu mint in Sichuan began minting silver dollars in the 24th year of Guang Xu (1898).  It also produced the lighter silver rupees bearing a portrait of the emperor (see below).  In the same year, the Fengtian Machine Bureau in Shenyang (Mukden) also began minting dollars for Manchuria (the north-eastern provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang), with others by Jilin in its own right.  Circa 1902 silver dollars were minted in Chekiang province.

In addition to the silver dollar, a number of large silver coins were minted on a trial basis at a weight of one tael at Tianjin (Tientsin) during 1903.  They show the weight in Chinese characters, the name of the Minstry of Finance, HU POO and bear the date 29th YEAR OF KUANG HSÜ.  More one tael coins were minted in 1904 (30th year of Guang Xu) with HU PEH PROVINCE and the weight stated in English ONE TAEL.  Others were minted in 1906 (32nd year of Guang Xu) with the intention that they would become the standard coin.  A complete set of coins based on the one tael standard were produced with values of one tael, 5 mace, 2 mace and the legend TAI-CHING-TI-KUO (Great Ching Empire) SILVER COIN.  In conjunction with these coins a large gold coin, also with a weight of one tael, was minted in 1907, together with smaller denominations of two and one mace, all bearing their weight in Chinese characters.  Allegedly, most of these coins were used to pay the army.  Xinjiang also minted silver coins of one tael at Kashi (Kashgar) in 1905 together with a gold coin of 5 mace.

These coins were minted at Chengdu mint, Sichuan Province, to combat the influx of Indian rupees that had flooded the province in the last decade of the 19th Century.  They were unique in that they bore the half-length portrait of the Emperor Guang Xu on the obverse, the first and only such representation of an emperor on Chinese coins.  The reverse design consisted of an elaborate floral pattern with the Chinese characters meaning "Sichuan Province made" in the centre.  First minted in 1903, the rupee coinage consisted of three denominations, one rupee (weighing circa 11.4 gm), half rupee (5.7 gm) and quarter rupee (2.8 gm). The two smaller denominatiuons are extremely rare nowadays. Despite the Sichuan mark these coins are sometimes attributed to Tibet and listed there in some catalogues.

Silver coins with a weight of 7.2 candarins, in other words a tenth of a dollar and therefore often referred to as ten cents pieces, were minted in parallel with the dollar.  The most commonly encountered are those of Guangdong (marked KWANG-TUNG PROVINCE) and are undated.  Coins with a weight of 1 mace and 4.4 candarins (fifth of a dollar, 20 cents) were also produced in Guangdong, Jiangnan (KIANG NAN PROVINCE) and Hubei (HU-PEH PROVINCE).  These coins too, are undated.  Twenty cents coins of Fujian (Fukien) were minted in 1902. Guangdong, Yunnan and Hubei also minted half-dollars or 50 cents, marked with a value of 3 mace and 6 canderins. Other small silver coins were minted with a weight of 3.6 candarins (5 cents).

Bronze coins valued at 10 cash (the old coins with a central square hole) or one cent were first minted during the 26th year of Guang Xu (1900) in Guangdong and eventually spread to fifteen bureaus in fourteen provinces by 1905.  The reverse design consisted of a variety of dragons, the number of different types being estimated at circa 350. Some of these coins were minted in brass, presumably from melted down cash coins. Smaller numbers were produced with values of 20, 5, 2 and 1 cash and are consequently much harder to find.

In 1905, the designs were changed, replacing the emperor's name with the Chinese characters for Da Qing ("Great Ching") and the two characters either side with Tong Bi ("bronze coin").  These new coins were in four different denominations, valued at 20, 10, 5 and 2 wen (cash) of standard bronze coins and weights of 0.4, 0.2, 0.1 and 0.04 of a tael.  These Ta Ching coins, and those that followed, are slightly larger and thicker than the earlier milled coinage.  They were first introduced by the Tianjin mint, now renamed as the General Mint of the Ministry of the Interior and Finance, with the reverse legend in English TAI-CHING-TI-KUO COPPER COIN and the emperor's name above in Chinese characters.  Similar coins were produced in the provinces.  Most bear two Chinese characters, one either side of the obverse denoting the date based on the sexagenary cycle.  In the example illustrated below these characters appear in the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions on the obverse and are equivalent to 1907.  Coins produced other than in Tianjin usually bear a small mintmark character in the centre of the obverse on a raised circular disc.

During the second year of Xuan Tong (1910) another three denominations were added, of two fen (cents), one fen and half a fen.

Above: Ten wen (cash) coin of Xuan Tong issued in 1911 (year 3)

 Appendix 4 - Provinces issuing silver Dragon coins (note 5)

Appendix 5 - Provinces issuing Dragon cash coins (copper, brass) other than Tai-Ching-Ti-Kuo coins (note 6)

Appendix 6 - Provinces issuing Tai-Ching-Ti-Kuo copper coins (note 7)