CHINA. 



den it remarkably brittle, and of whitish colour ; but 

 the government, which tui (he property of all the mine* 

 in the empire, taket great care never t.i uffcr the price 

 of copper tu fall so low, at that a profit might be made 

 by counterfeiting the current > . to ii<e 10 high, 



M to endanger the melting of the copper money for ar- 

 cturv. They arc careful alto to main- 

 tain a due proportion between the quantity of silver and 

 copper in circulation; by making all their payments for 

 a time io .-liver, when that metal is become scarce, or in 

 copper, u ho. tlie reverse is the case. 



The Chinese count by Lcang, tsien, and fen, or by 

 laels, ma, and condorecns, according to the Portuguese, 

 which are only different names for the same pieces. 



Table of Chinese Money. 



Sterling. 



10 Tehcnjr, or CM, or denier* = one condorecn or feu = f '/. 



10 condurwn or Ten = one max or tMcn 

 IO inu or tsien = one Uol or leang = 



6*. Sd. 



Europeans at Canton generally make and receive pay. 

 ments in Spanish dollars, which are about 4s. 6d. ster- 

 ling in value, and in quality about VVV though accepted 

 by the Ho-poo, or collector of customs, only at the 

 rate of -, 9 ^ a . Moil of the money of other nations, recei- 

 ved in China as payment, according to its weight and 

 quality, is afterwards melted down, and converted into 

 articles of luxury, or useful utensils; and it is said, that 

 DO nation in the world in better acquainted with the va- 

 lue of the precious metals, or more ingenious in drawing 

 them out to the greatest degree of thinness. 



Utrrfti cf The rate of interest in China, even as authorised by 

 ocwy. government, is extremely high, varying from 12 to 18, 

 and even to 36 per cent. Among the various conjectures, 

 which have been proposed as to the reasons of so exorbi- 

 tant an interest being permitted, the most rational seems 

 to be, that the legislature has thus wished to prevent the 

 possessors of money from having any inducement to 

 make great purchases in land, which might derange the 

 whole system of their policy and administration. Fo- 

 reigners in Canton lend to the Chinese upon the security 

 of property, at 12 or 18 per cent.; and, if more is ever 

 given, it is rather by way of a premium or bonus. There 

 are in every city, numerous bhops or offices, called 

 Tang-pan, which lend money upon interest, even to un- 

 known individuals, upon articles, being lodged in pawn ; 

 and that persons may have access to those offices with- 

 out being publicly seen, they are generally behind the 

 street, or in some- back lane, to which an inscription in 

 the front or main street gives a direction. The Tang- 

 pan, after having estimated the article offered in pawn, 

 lends a sum of money, generally to the amount of one 

 third of tl.c value, and delivers to the borrower a num- 

 bered ticket, specifying the article pawned, the value 

 fixed upon it, the sum advanced, the lae of interest, (ge- 

 nerally in these cases- 18 per cent.) and the term of 

 agreement. Upon presenting this ticket, and repaying 

 the sum with the interest, the article is returned ; or the 

 article itself may be retained at the value put upon it, as 

 part of the payment. These tickets may be presented 

 by any person, to whom they may be entrusted or made 

 over by the origiual borrower ; but, if not produced at the 

 time specified, the proprietor loses all right to the pledge, 

 which the Tang-pan then applies to his own benefit. 

 Wcirta. The weights in China vary in different quarters, per- 

 haps to the amount of five pounds more or less in every 

 hundred ; but the weights, used by the tribunal of fi- 



nances by whkh every thing due to government it Trad*. 



J, are the acknowledged standard. Besides the " 

 Chinese names for the different denominations, there are 

 corresponding terms in use among Europeans at Canton, 

 which are also given to the following 



Table o 



10 Lee or Tcheng = one Condoreen or Fen, 

 10 Condoreen or ten = one Mas or T- 

 10 Mas or Tsien = one Tac'l or Leang, 

 10 Taels or Leang = one Catis or Kin, or 1 Ib. 

 100 Catis or Kin = one Pic or Tan, or 1 cwt. 



There is some variation also in the Chinese measures Long n!*- 

 of length, especially in the foot ; <vhieh is represented by ure. 

 some authors as a few lines longer, and by others as a few 

 lines shorter than the English foot. The Chinese foot 

 or Cobb, or Tche, is divided into ten Tsien, correspond- 

 ing to inches, and these into ten Fen, neatly equivalent to 

 lines. 



Table of Measures of Length. 



10 Fen or linss = one Tsien or inch 



10 Tsien or inches = one Tche or Cobb 



10 Tche, or feet r= one Tchzng 



Trade is not much honoured or encouraged in China. T*t. 

 The merchant, who carries on the inland commerce of 

 the country, is ranked far beneath the poorest husband- 

 man ; and the man, who engages in foreign traffic, is ac- 

 counted very little better than a vagabond. The trader, 

 in short, is looked upon as the lowest character in the 

 empire, as a person who will cheat whenever he has the 

 opportunity, and as one whose business consists in crea- 

 ting and supplying artificial wants. 



The home trade alone is regarded as necessary, and as Home 

 deserving the protection of the government. It consists Trade. 

 in the interchange, between the different provinces, of 

 the various goods and manufactures, which they severally 

 produce ; and no nation in the world has done more than 

 the Chinese for the establishment and prosperity of an 

 extensive inland commerce. The natural advantages of 

 their country, which is traversed by a multitude of river* 

 in all directions, have been improved to the utmost ; and 

 by the construction of canals and boats of every size and 

 form, the conveyance of every article of merchandise hai 

 been facilitated in a manner altogether unexampled. A 

 trader can pass his boat with his goods from one extre- 

 mity of the empire to another, by paying a small transit 

 duty to the state, and a few tolls upon the different ca- 

 nals and rivers, for the repair of bridges, flood-gates, em- 

 bankments, &c. This home traffic may be said to be 

 carried on chiefly by barter ; and employs such an ama- 

 zing quantity of small-craft of every description, that it 

 has been calculated to equal in number and tonnage the 

 wh"K- floating vessels in the rest of the world. The 

 principal productions of the different provinces, which 

 forms this commerce, have already been enumerated un- 

 der the first head of this article, viz. the description of 

 the country ; and we may only here remark, that, even 

 in their dealings with each other, the Chinese exercise 

 the utmost degree of distrust, and practise every specie* 

 of imposition. Of the multitudes of buyers and seller* 

 who crowd the large cities of China, it has been said, 

 that the one half are employed in over-reaching the other. 

 But of this every one is expected to be aware ; and their 

 common saying, therefore, is, that it is not the merchant 

 who cheats, but that it is the buyer who cheats himself. 



Their foreign commerce is extremely limited ; and the Freig 



commcrc'. 



while sine on the contrary communlcMe* to copper gold colour, and makes It more subject to verdigreuc) demonHralivclT 

 prove that sine fa not the t**e of toutcnago, which he aihruis to lie rather a compound ol' iron, lead, aud bismuth, which lust U 

 known to lave the property of whitening copper. 



k 



