Money of the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace

motkohp2.jpgFew people, if asked today, could identify the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace, tell you where it was located, or how or why it came into existence. The Kingdom of Heavenly Peace, founded in 1850, started as a noble experiment with great promise, which soon turned into outright rebellion against the Chinese Empire. The movement went terribly wrong, ultimately claiming the lives of 25 million Chinese before government troops, aided by Western forces, restored order.

During their fifteen year civil war the T'ai P'ing rebels, as they were called, formed a government which included an army, a civilian civil service bureaucracy, treasury and even a postal system of their own. This article studies the money of the T'ai P'ing rebels including both coins and bank notes. Few specimens of either survive today. The coin issues are varied and interesting. The bank notes, although referenced in various old numismatic books, are completely unknown to Westerners, have never been cataloged, and to my knowledge appear here for the first time.

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Shanghai's Wartime Emergency Money

swem.jpgThis is the story of a little known aspect of China's history and an oft neglected area of numismatics. The setting of this article is the Chinese city of Shanghai and the year is 1939. Dire things are about to happen which will drastically change the way the city goes about its business.

To set the stage the author takes you through the years leading up to 1937, when the Japanese invaded China prior to World War II. After abandoning the silver standard in 1935, the Chinese government set about to unify and stabilize both coins and bank notes. After working for awhile, inflation set in due to the war ultimately driving Shanghai's merchants to the use of emergency money to keep commerce flowing.

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Some Russian Bank Note Issues Associated with the Chinese Eastern Railway

 

srbniawtcer.jpgCollectors occasionally encounter a set of Russian language bank notes dating from the Bolshevik Revolution, which have been overprinted with a Chinese hand-stamp. Are these notes Russian, or are they Chinese? Who issued them and where? ... and for what purpose? This article reveals the research undergone to reveal the answers.

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The Money of Communist China - Part I

tmoccp1.jpgPrior to 1949 the People's Republic of China did not exist as such. In its place, commencing in 1927, was a Communist party which controlled scattered areas throughout China known as "soviets". These bases underwent many changes; first at the hands of victorious Nationalist armies, and after 1937, the Japanese invaders. These early Communists were self sufficient in every way. This included the manufacture and circulation of their own currency - including both coins and paper money. Driven out of their southern soviets by Chang Kai-shek's Nationalist army in 1934, the Communists fled north on their Long March to escape annihilation and to save their cause. There they stayed to fight the Japanese, and after World War II, to engage in all out civil war against the Nationalists for control of all of China.

Part I describes the coins and paper money used by the early soviets from 1927 to 1934, which period ended in the Long March north to Shensi province.

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Money of Communist China - Part II

tmoccp2.jpgPart II describes the money of the Communist Base Areas during the War of Resistance against the Japanese (1936-1945)

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Money of Communist China - Part III

tmoccp3.jpgPart III describes the money used in the Communist  
" Liberated Areas " during the civil war with the Chinese Nationalists (1945-1949).

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The Significance of Stamps Used on Bank Notes

tsosuobn2.jpgEvery collector, sooner or later, runs into a bank note or two with adhesive stamps affixed to them. This article, originally written by Dr. Arnold Keller, the dean of paper money collectors, explores the various reasons governments altered the original use of bank notes by affixing stamps thereto. Some stamps were attached to merely authenticate the value of the note itself after a change in government, other uses had tax implications, while still other applications were efforts to alter the economy of a region or whole country. Many of these schemes were ingenious beyond belief, and many of them actually worked!

All examples of stamps found on bank notes which are known to the author are enumerated in this article. Undoubtedly there are other examples. Fellow collectors who know of other examples are invited to share their knowledge with us.

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Japanese Sponsored Coin and Bank Note Issues for the Occupied Regions of China

 

jscabniftoroc.jpgOccasionally, even today, one will encounter in a dealer's junk box or stock, a coin or piece of paper money whose origins lay in Japan's conquest and occupation of China (1937-1945). In order to administer such a vast country, Japan divided China up into administrative regions, each with its own financial management.

The coin and bank note issues of these Japanese "puppet" autonomous regions should not be viewed in isolation, as it is the totality of the story that is interesting. Coin collectors, perhaps, are aware of the coins, while bank note collectors are familiar with the various note issues. To appreciate the "total picture" as to what really transpired during the Japanese occupation, they must be viewed together.

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A Monetary History of the Former German Colony of Kiaochou

 

amhotfgcok2.jpgThe defeat of China after two Opium Wars left the Ch'ing Dynasty weak and disorganized. European powers were quick to exploit this weakness. Both Britain and France placed exorbitant demands upon China in the form of monetary indemnity for expenses they had incurred during the wars, and for the outright concession of Chinese territory.

Sensing this weakness, other European powers were quick to seize territorial concessions and to set up their own 'spheres of influence' within China for commercial purposes. This is the story of how Germany became a colonial player in the China trade.

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Ancient Chinese Cash Notes - the World's First Paper Money - Part I

 

accntwfpmp1b.jpgChina has had a long and diversified numismatic history. From the dawn of antiquity onward, early Chinese traders used money in one form or another. It was not long after the Chinese invention of paper that the first paper money came into existence, making it the oldest paper money to be found in the world.

Part I discusses the evolution of the copper cash coin - the mainstay of the Chinese people for two thousand years - the invention of paper, the discovery of the use of paper money in China by Marco Polo and the various cash notes issued by the Tang, Liao, Sung, Hsia, Chin and Yuan dynasties.

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Ancient Chinese Cash Notes - the World's First Paper Money - Part II

 

accntwfpmp2.jpgPart II describes Ming dynasty paper money issues and identifies the coins depicted on the 1 kwan bank note of emperor Hung Wu (1378 A.D.)

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The Use of Bank Notes as an Instrument of Propaganda - Part II

 

tuobnaaiop4.jpgThis article examines propaganda used on bank notes during the War in the Pacific against Japan, the Korean War, the Vietnamese War and finally the Gulf War in Iraq.

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Foreign Banks in China Part-I

 

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China was not discovered by the West until Marco Polo, the Venetian adventurer, stumbled upon it during his Asian travels of 1271-1295 AD. He was incredulous to discover that the Great Khan possessed the secret of producing money out of paper.

Another 260 years were to pass, however, before the first Europeans settled there. It was not until after the two Opium Wars (1850-1860) that China was truly opened to the West. European merchants were quick to realize the tremendous profits to be made from the export of tea, silks and porcelain which were in great demand in the West. China was forced to pay huge indemnities for the cost of the wars they lost. These payments were enforced through a series of "unequal treaties", where the Western powers gained extraterritorial rights over China. A weak China was divided into "spheres of influence" whereupon each nation set aside Chinese territory for exploitation. Some even set up their own territorial jurisdictions (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kiaochou) where their citizens lived beyond Chinese law. Before long the need for on-site banking arose. Thus, foreign banking in China was born. The British dominated the field during this early period.

 

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Foreign Banks in China Part-II

 

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After the two Opium Wars, a weakened China was exploited by additional Western countries, seeking commercial advantage. Foreign powers such as France, Russia, Germany, the United States, Japan and even Belgium and the Netherlands were quick to establish their own "spheres of influence" on Chinese soil.

These countries established commercial banks in the principal industrial cities which then obtained permission from the Chinese government to issue their own paper money. There were no less than twenty foreign owned banks doing business in China during this period. This article examines the foreign banks in China during the late imperial period (1900-1911).

 

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Foreign Banks in China Part-III

 

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The creation of the Republic of China and the end of World War I brought about a change in Chinese foreign banking. As the old players either disappeared (Germany, Russia) or became immersed in World War I debt payments (Great Britain, France) new players entered the scene. As a result, financial power in China was altered in favor of the newcomers. These new banks were mainly American or Japanese - all established to further commercial ties with the home country. Many were successful joint ventures between Chinese and American businessmen. Part III examines this group of note issuing banks which dominated commercial banking in China from the creation of the republic to the end of World War II.

 

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Imperial Chinese Currency of the Tai'ping Rebellion - Part II

 

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The Ch'ing dynasty paper money is known as Ta Ch'ing Pao Chao. These were cash notes which were forced upon an unwilling peasantry in order to pay for the war, after a four hundred year absence of a paper currency in China.

 

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Imperial Chinese Currency of the Tai'ping Rebellion - Part III

 

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The silver tael notes of the Board of Revenue were used to finance the defense of imperial China.

 

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