Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1901-01-08
cH1NFsR MONEY.
Things That cOmplicate Business Tran
anctiona N the Celestial Kingdom.

oil 10 lAG hlOAi' WHn hAt%NhN'A~~ -
Hong-Kong during the larger par
Of '9S, as assistant manager for the
principal German export house in
the city, and made desperate effort
to master the intricacies of native
finance, but / never entirely succeed
ed. Whenever / thought l had
grasped the subject some new com
plication would arise and leave me
worse muddled than ever To begin
with, the finances of the whole en-
pire are based ON the queer-looking
copper coin with a square hole in the
center known as cash 1t is the only
recognized legal tender; all taxes are
assessed in it and the great majority
of big business deals with chinese
merchants are first figured out in that
medium. For convenience they are
generally strung through the center
in punches of 800. was in China for
over nine months and / never found
outexactlywhata cash was worth. Most
Americans over there have a misty
idea that they run about a bushel to
the dollar, but, while that isn't very
far from the truth, the estimate is
hardly accurate enough for CONNER
cial purposes. The official value Of
the coin is about 1, 200 to the silver
tael, or Chinese ounce, but the real
value depends on circumstances Ev-
cry province mints taeis, and they
range all the way from 40 to so cents,
according to the amount Of pot metal
the director is in the habit of mixing
with his silver And that isn't all.
While was in iong-Kong the Amer
lean copper trust began to get in its
work, and pretty soon some Of the
cash were worth more as metal than
as money ! say some, because the
confounded things vary in size. The
ones coined back in go and 10, for
instance, are nearly eight times as big
as these struck off in '95, and, by
making every issue different and then
working the copper market up and
down, the yiceroys have been getting
rich for years. On the particular
occasion to which | refer all the
largest cash were promptly melted
and sold for junk.
"This will give you some faint idea
of the beauties of doing business in
China" the chief clerk went on, ''but
l haven't told you the hundredth
part. would say, at a rough guess,
that at least half Of the cash in cir
culation in China are counterfeit.
Until very recently they were cast
in molds at the mints, instead Of be-
ing struck from dies. and the conse-
quence was that any coolie could
make a passable imitation. All he
needed was lump Of clay for taking
the impression and a pot for melting,
and, while his head was certain to be
off if he got caught, a little
thing like that never deters a native
crook During my stay counterfeit
ing became so rampant that the gov
eminent decided to set up modern
die plants in a couple of the minis.
The machinery was bought through
an American drummer, from a house
in Bridgeton, Nj, and was unloaded
in swamp OH the Yangtse river.
-Four months afterward the crates
were dug ont Of the mud and taken to
the mint. When they were opened
they were found to be full of enor-
nous river rats, that had converted
them into residences, and in the bat
tie royal that ensued one of the mint
officials was so badly bitten that he
subsequently died Of blood poisoning.
If that wasn't a characteristic Chi
nese episode don't know where
you'd find one. OF course, the ma
chinery was all horribly rusted and
the dies were half eaten away; but,
strange to say, the mint director re-
garded that as an advantage. He re-
ported to the yiceroy Of his province
that the bad spots on the CONS would
be IAN additional safeguard against
counterfeiting,' ] suppose the rats
supplied rations for the mint labGr-
gs, so. altogether, the transaction
was very satisfactory. To the best of
my knowledge those two plants are
still in operation. Bach Of them has
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