Editing Tael (section)

==== Imperial China ====
Traditional Chinese silver [[sycee]]s and other currencies of fine metals were not denominated or made by a central [[Mint (coin)|mint]] and their value was determined by their weight in taels. They were made by individual silversmiths for local exchange, and as such 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 the official exchange rate between silver [[sycee]]s and copper-alloy [[Cash (Chinese coin)|cash coins]] was set at 1,000 ''[[Chinese cash (currency unit)|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.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan">{{cite web|url= http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3307/1/Yan_In_Search_of_Power.pdf|title= In Search of Power and Credibility - Essays on Chinese Monetary History (1851-1845).|date=March 2015|access-date=8 February 2020|author= Xun Yan|publisher= Department of Economic History, [[London School of Economics|London School of Economics and Political Science]]|language=en}}</ref>

During the reign of the [[Xianfeng Emperor]], the government of the Qing dynasty was forced to re-introduce [[Paper money of the Qing dynasty|paper money]], among the paper money it produced were the [[Hubu Guanpiao]] (戶部官票) silver notes that were denominated in taels.<ref name="QingPaperMoney">{{cite web|url= http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/money-qing-baochao.html|title= Qing Period Paper Money.|date=13 April 2016|access-date=27 March 2019|author= Ulrich Theobald|publisher= [[Chinaknowledge]].de|language=en}}</ref><ref name="SandrockSilverTaelNotes">{{cite web|url= http://thecurrencycollector.com/pdfs/Ching_Dynasty_Silver_Tael_Notes_-_Part_III.pdf|title=IMPERIAL CHINESE CURRENCY OF THE TAI'PING REBELLION - PART III - CH'ING DYNASTY SILVER TAEL NOTES by John E. Sandrock.|date=1997|access-date=29 June 2019|author= John E. Sandrock|publisher= The Currency Collector.|language=en}}</ref>

The forced opening of China during the Qing dynasty created a number of [[treaty port]]s alongside the China's main waterways and its coastal areas, these treaty ports would fundamentally change both the [[History of Chinese currency|monetary system of China]] as well as its [[History of banking in China|banking system]], these changes were introduced by the establishment of [[Europe]]an and [[United States|American]] merchant houses and later banks that would engage in the Chinese money exchange and trade finance.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa">{{cite web|url= http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/41940/1/WP159.pdf|title= Money and Monetary System in China in the 19th-20th Century: An Overview. (Working Papers No. 159/12)|date=January 2012|access-date=26 January 2020|author= Debin Ma|publisher= Department of Economic History, [[London School of Economics]]|language=en}}</ref>

Between the years 1840 and 1900, 1 market tael was worth 1.38 [[Spanish dollar]]s.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan"/>

Various Western banking companies, the largest of which were the [[HSBC]], and later [[Japanese Empire|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.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

An important development during this era was the establishment of the [[Chinese Maritime Customs Service|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.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> Because these changes were implemented during the height of the [[Taiping Rebellion]], the Western powers had managed to take over the complete administration of the Qing's maritime customs from the imperial Chinese governmental bureaucracy.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

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.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> The Haikwan tael 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.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> The Haikwan tael unit was completely uniform, it was very carefully defined, and its creation had been negotiated among the various colonial powers and the government of the Qing dynasty.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> 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 a form of corruption and these taxes never reached the imperial government under the traditional fiscal regime.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

Near the end of the Qing dynasty, one {{Transliteration|zh|[[ding (unit)|dìng]]}} (sycee, or {{Transliteration|zh|yuanbao}}) is about 50 taels.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Morse |first=H.B. |author-link=H.B. Morse |title=Currency in China |journal=Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=1907 |volume=38 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56xBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36 |location=Shanghai |quote=The standard ingot of China weighs about 50 taels (from 49 to 54) and, formerly called ''ting'' {{lang|zh-hant|鋌}}, is now called ''pao'' {{lang|zh-hant|寶}} (jewel, article of value, as in the inscription on the copper cash ''tung-pao'' {{lang|zh-hant|通寶}} = "current coin") and more commonly ''yuan-pao'' {{lang|zh|元}}}}</ref>