A CHINESE AVORK ON NUMISMATICS. 611 



Notes of T'ai-tsu (1368-1398 A.D.) of the Ming Dynasty. 



In 1374 the office of the Superintendent (?) of Treasure-Notes was 

 created, and the following year the Executive Department * printed 

 the Great Ming Treasure-Notes, to be current among the people. 

 The material (of paper) was taken from the fibre of the mulberry. 

 The regulation size of the (major) notes was one ch'ih f high and 6 

 ts'un wide, and the color was blue.| They had decorated borders. 

 At the top is written horizontally "Great Ming General Circulation 

 Treasure-Note". At the left and right of the pictorial representation, 

 respectively, are written vertically in the seal style: "Great Ming 

 Treasure Note " and " To be current in the world ". In the middle is a 

 pictorial representation of ten string of cash (on the one kwan note) and 

 below is written: "The Executive Department, having petitioned 

 and received the Imperial sanction, prints the Great Ming Treasure- 

 Note to be current and to be used as copper cash. The counterfeiter 

 shall be decapitated." In the case of the 500 wen note, five strings 

 of cash appear, and in the 400, four strings, and the proportion is the 

 same in the case of the notes of 300, 200 and 100 wen. 



Plate 130. Hung-wu (1368-1398 A.D.) Note. 



Translation of the inscriptions. 

 Major. 



First line; "Great Ming General Circulation Treasure-Note." 



Second line: "One Kwan." 



Illustration: (Pictorial representation of ten strings of cash). 



At the right of the illustration, in the seal style: 



"Great Ming Treasure-Note." 



* The actual inscription on the notes reads : "The Board of Revenue prints ", 

 etc. This board was in the Executive Department. K. T. 



t The unit of measurement in China differs in length according to the differ- 

 ence of material, though the term employed is the same; e. g., a ch'ih of fabric 

 is longer than a ch'ih of land. Again, though the same term is employed, the 

 unit differs in various localities. The only way to determine the correspond- 

 ing dimensions in meters or feet is to get an approximate idea from the illus- 

 tration, though the latter is somewhat smaller than the same note in the 

 "Shicho Shohei Zuroku" (in Japanese), "Ssu Chao Ch'ao T'u Lu", (in 

 Chinese). K. T. 



JThe original text uses the character for "blue" but it should be "gray." 

 K. T. 



