270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



The pictorial representation of value must refer to these rather than 

 to the 50 tael shoes. 



The vermilion seals on these notes were apparently printed on the 

 paper before the impression of the note itself was taken in black 

 ink. They are in fairly good condition, being in fact so well preserved 

 that by making use of both notes they could readily be reconstructed 

 by an engraver. There would be little or no call for him to use his 

 imagination. The paper of the two notes is not of exactly the same 

 size. The exterior lines of the impressions measure 9^ X 5| inches. 



Ramsden translates the heading to the notes : " Great T'ang Gen- 

 eral Use Treasure Paper Money." The interpretation of these seal 

 characters by Mr. Drew " Great Tang dynasty circulating precious 

 note" is identical in substance. The characters at the right side of 

 the note in the border panel read " For universal circulation through- 

 out the Empire"; those on the left "To be universally accepted." 

 The six vertical rows of characters at the bottom, contain first an 

 announcement of the dynasty and the department of the government 

 authorized by imperial authority to issue the note; second, a state- 

 ment that the note is to circulate on the same footing as silver all over 

 the country for the convenience of the people; third, that the penalty 

 for counterfeiting is death by beheading; fourth, that a reward will 

 be given the person who brings in the counterfeiter, in the case of the 

 one kwan note, of two hundred and sixty taels, in the case of the nine 

 kwan note of seven hundred and fifty taels ; and, finally, if any person 

 knowingly conceals the counterfeiting he shall be punished the same 

 as the counterfeiter. Then follows the name of the emperor, or the 

 particular period of the reign, — if the reign was thus divided, — fol- 

 lowed by the characters representing — year, — month, — day, the 

 particular year, month and day being filled in with a brush when the 

 note was issued. These specific dates put on by a brush, very soon 

 wore off when the note was in use, but the custom that prevailed for an 

 emperor to break his reign up into periods and designate every few 

 years a new group of consecutive years by a new title, enables us to 

 place the emission of any of the old Chinese notes within a few years. 

 The entire reign of an emperor is indeed near enough for our purposes. 

 In this particular case the period Hwei Ch'ang is given on the notes. 

 It happens however that the reign of the Emperor Wu Tsung covered 

 the same period, namely 841-847. It will thus be seen that we can 

 fix within six years the date of the emission of these notes. 



The decorative pattern of the border at the top is made up of the 

 dragon pattern; at the bottom of conventional waves; and at the 

 sides on the lower half of conventional representations of clouds. 



