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A sycee (;.. from
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
, , ). or yuanbao () was a type of
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
and
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sha ...
currency used in imperial China from its founding under the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
until the fall of the Qing in the 20th century. Sycee were not made by a central bank or mint but by individual
goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...
s or
silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary grea ...
s for local exchange; consequently, the shape and amount of extra detail on each ingot were highly variable. Square and oval shapes were common, but boat, flower, tortoise and others are known. Their value—like the value of the various silver coins and little pieces of silver in circulation at the end of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
—was determined by experienced moneyhandlers, who estimated the appropriate discount based on the purity of the silver and evaluated the weight in
tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the ...
s and the progressive decimal subdivisions of the tael ( mace,
candareen A candareen (; Accessed from OED Online. ; Singapore English usage: hoon) is a traditional measurement of weight in East Asia. It is equal to 10 cash and is of a mace. It is approximately 378 milligrams. A troy candareen is approximately ...
, and
cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...
). In present-day China, gold sycees remain a symbol of wealth and prosperity and are commonly depicted during the Chinese New Year festivities. Paper imitations of gold- or silver-colored paper are burned along with
hell money Hell banknotes in Thailand resembling United States Dollar, and Thai Baht banknotes">Thai_Baht.html" ;"title="United States Dollar, and Thai Baht">United States Dollar, and Thai Baht banknotes Hell money () is a modernized form of joss paper p ...
as a part of Chinese ancestral veneration for Tomb Sweeping Day and the
Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival (traditional Chinese: 中元節; simplified Chinese: ) in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival () in Buddhism, is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist festival held in certain East Asian countrie ...
.


Name

The name "sycee" is an irregular
romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...
of the
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
pronunciation of the
characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
for "fine silk". This is variously explained as deriving from the ability to draw pure gold or silver out into fine threads or from the silky sheen of quality silver. The name "yuanbao" is the
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the characters for "inaugural treasures". Under China's
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
,
coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
were inscribed '' Kai tong'' (, "Circulating Treasure of the Beginning of an
Era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...
"), later abbreviated to yuanbao. The name was also applied to other non-coin forms of currency. Yuanbao was spelt yamboo and yambuShoe of Gold
in ''
Hobson-Jobson ''Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive'' is a historical dictionary of Anglo-Indian words and terms from Indian languages which came in ...
'', p. 830
in the 19th-century English-language literature on
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
and the trade between Xinjiang and
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. A ''yuanbao'' was also called a () or "silver " ().


History

Sycees were first used as a medium for exchange as early as the
Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
(3rd century BC). During the
Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...
(206 BC – 9 AD), the
Wu Zhu Wu Zhu () is a type of Chinese cash coin produced from the Han dynasty in 118 BC when they replaced the earlier San Zhu (三銖; "Three Zhu") cash coins, which had replaced the Ban Liang (半兩) cash coins a year prior,Numis' Numismatic Ency ...
bronze coins became the main
currency in circulation In monetary economics, the currency in circulation in a country is the value of currency or cash (banknotes and coins) that has ever been issued by the country’s monetary authority less the amount that has been removed. More broadly, money in ci ...
, while
hoof The hoof (plural: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits, yet the rum ...
-shaped gold ingot known as "Horse Hoof Gold" () served as an adjunct currency for high-value transactions. During the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, a standard bi-metallic system of silver and copper coinage was codified with 10 silver coins equal to 1,000
copper cash The cash or qian was a type of coin of China and East Asia, used from the 4th century BC until the 20th century AD, characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole (方穿, ''fāng chuān''). Originally cast during the Warring ...
coins.
Paper money A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...
and
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
s started to be used in China in the 9th century. However, due to monetary problems such as enormous local variations in monetary supply and exchange rates, rapid changes in the relative value of silver and copper, coin fraud, inflation, and political uncertainty with changing regimes, until the time of the Republic payment by weight of silver was the standard practice, and merchants carried their own scales with them. Most of the so-called "opium scales" seen in museums were actually for weighing payments in silver. The tael was still the basis of the silver currency and sycees remained in use until the end of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
. Common weights: 50 taels, 10 taels, 5 tales, 1 tael. When foreign silver coins began to circulate in China in the later 16th century, they were initially considered a type of "quasi-sycee" and imprinted with
seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
s just as sycees were.Foreign Silver Coins and Chinese Sycee
at Sycee-on-line.com


Contemporary uses

Image:ChinesenewyearSycee.jpg, Chinese New Year sycee decoration Image:Burning-money-and-yuanbao-at-the-cemetery-3249.JPG, Paper ''yuanbao'' burned at a grave Image:Sycee-Incense.jpg, Sycee-shaped
incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...
used in feng shui
Today, imitation gold sycees are used as a symbol of prosperity among Chinese people. They are frequently displayed during Chinese New Year, representing a fortunate year to come. Reproduction or commemorative gold sycees continue to be minted as collectibles. Another form of imitation ''yuanbao'' – made by folding gold- or silver-colored paper – can be burned at ancestors' graves during the
Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival (traditional Chinese: 中元節; simplified Chinese: ) in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival () in Buddhism, is a traditional Taoist and Buddhist festival held in certain East Asian countrie ...
, along with imitation paper money. Even after currency standard changed in Republican times, the old usage of denominating value by equivalent standard weight of silver survived in Cantonese slang in the common term for a ten-cent and a five-cent piece, e.g., ''chat fan yi'' ( "seven
candareen A candareen (; Accessed from OED Online. ; Singapore English usage: hoon) is a traditional measurement of weight in East Asia. It is equal to 10 cash and is of a mace. It is approximately 378 milligrams. A troy candareen is approximately ...
s, two
cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...
") or ''saam fan luk'' ( "three candareens and six cash").


Hoards of sycees

* It was reported on 17 November 2015 by the
Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
that at the tomb of the
Marquis of Haihun Liu He (; 92–59 BC) was an emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty with the era name Yuanping (). Originally King (or Prince) of Changyi (), he was installed by the powerful minister Huo Guang as emperor in 74 BC, but deposed only 27 days later, and ...
in Xinjian,
Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
a number of gold coins had been found. Excavations of the tomb have been conducted since 2011. The gold objects unearthed included some 25 gold hoofs (a type of sycee) with varying weights from 40 to 250 grams and 50 very large gold coins weighing about 250 grams each. The gold coinages were packed inside of three different boxes that were placed under a bed that was located inside of the main chamber of the tomb. According to Yang Jie, who leads the excavation team, the gold objects were likely awarded to the Marquis of Haihun by the emperor himself. * It was reported on 24 September 2015 that a number of cash coins had been found in tombs located in tombs during excavation work undertaken by the
Jinan City Archaeological Research Institute Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...
nearby the Zhaojiazhuang Cemetery,
Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
. The tombs yielded cash coins produced during the
Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
,
Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
, and Manchu
Qing dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
with the latest examples being Xianfeng era cash coins. A tomb identified as "Grave M1" also contained silver ingots (sycees) issued under the Jurchen Jin dynasty. * In March 2017 a large number of cultural relics were discovered at the Minjiang River in
Meishan Meishan (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Mi2san1; local pronunciation: ; ), formerly known as Meizhou () or Qingzhou (), is a prefecture-level city with 2,955,219 inhabitants as of 2020 census whom 1,232,648 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of th ...
,
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
. The findings at the river included over 10,000 individual items of gold and silver including a number of golden and silver sycees. Furthermore a Xiwang Shanggong (西王賞功) cash coin issued by
Zhang Xianzhong Zhang Xianzhong (张献忠 or Chang Hsien-chung; 18 September 1606 – 2 January 1647), nickname Huanghu (literally 'Yellow Tiger'), was a Chinese peasant leader who led a peasant revolt from Yan'an wei, Shaanxi (today Yulin, Shaanxi province) ...
was unearthed at the Jiangkou stretch of the Minjiang River.


See also

*
Gold bar A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...
*
Silver standard The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following ...
*
Economic history of China The economic history of China is covered in the following articles: * Economic history of China before 1912, the economic history of China during the ancient China and imperial China, before the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. ** ...


Further reading

* Cribb, Joe. ''A Catalogue of Sycee in the British Museum: Chinese Silver Currency Ingots c. 1750–1933''. British Museum Press, London, 1992.


Notes


References


External links


Examples of Chinese silver sycee
(images)
Sycee On Line


at Sycee-on-line.com {{Chinese currency and coinage Currencies of China Numismatics Coins of China Gold objects Silver coins Chinese numismatics