LANGUAGE-PEOPLE-MONEY 19 



tael of 544.5 grains, unless it is salt 

 from a Szechu'an well, in which case the 

 standard is 545.7 grains. A transaction in 

 cotton cloth is settled with a tael of 543.1 

 grains, but for cotton yarn the tael is 544.1 

 grains. This seems confusion, but we are 

 not yet at the end ; up to this point we have 

 dealt only with the weight on the scale, but 

 now comes in the question of the fineness 

 of the silver with which payment is made. 

 At Chungking three qualities of silver are 

 in common use, "fine silver" 1,000 fine 

 current throughout the empire, "old silver" 

 about 995 fine, and "trade silver" between 

 960 and 970 fine ; and payment may be 

 stipulated in any one of these three qualities. 

 Taking the score of current tael weights 

 in combination with the three grades of 

 silver, we have at least sixty currencies in 

 this one town." (Morse). 



A tael is supposed to weigh as much 

 as one ounce of silver, and as it requires 

 9,600 copper cash to make one pound sterl- 

 ing, the shooter need not be again reminded 

 how inconvenient it would prove if he 

 supplied himself with the amount in Chi- 

 nese money he might need. If the copper 

 cash or the tael possessed a fixed value 



