A sycee (;.. from

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, zh, j=Sai3 Si1, y=sai-sī, ). or yuanbao ( zh, t= 元寶, s= 元宝, poj=Goân-pó, j=jyun4 bou2, p=yuánbǎo, l=primary treasure, first=t) was a type of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is Casting, 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 procedu ...

currency used in

imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

from its founding under the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

until the fall of the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

in the 20th century. Sycee were not made by a central bank or mint but by individual

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

s or silversmiths 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 Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

—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

mace,

candareen A candareen (; Accessed from OED Online. ; Singapore English usage: hoon) is a traditional unit of measurement, measurement of weight in East Asia. It is equal to 10 cash (unit), cash and is of a mace (measurement), mace. It is approximatel ...

, and

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

). In present-day China, gold sycees remain a symbol of wealth and prosperity and are commonly depicted during the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

festivities. Paper imitations of gold- or silver-colored sycees are burned along with hell money as a part of Chinese ancestral veneration for Tomb Sweeping Day and the

Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival or Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival in Taoism and the Yulanpen Festival in Buddhism, is a traditional festival held in certain East Asia, East and Southeast Asian countries. According to the Lunar c ...

Name

The name "sycee" is an irregular

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

of the

pronunciation of the characters 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, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

romanization of the

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

pronunciation of the characters for "inaugural treasures". Under China's

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, 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 to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

were inscribed '' Kai tong'' (, "Circulating Treasure of the Beginning of an Era"), later abbreviated to yuanbao. The name was also applied to other non-coin forms of currency. Yuanbao was spelt mambo and yambuShoe of Gold
in '' Hobson-Jobson'', p. 830 in the 19th-century English-language literature on

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. A ''yuanbao'' was also called a ( zh, t = , p=dìng, w=ting, links=no) or "silver " ( zh, t = 銀鋌, p=yíndìng, w=yin-ting, labels=no).

History

Sycees were first used as a medium for exchange as early as the

(3rd century BC). During the

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring in ...

(206 BC – 9 AD), the Wu Zhu 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 ...

, while

hoof The hoof (: 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; the ruminants with ...

-shaped gold ingot known as "Horse Hoof Gold" ( zh, t=馬蹄金) served as an adjunct currency for high-value transactions. During the

, a standard bi-metallic system of silver and copper coinage was codified with 10 silver coins equal to 1,000 copper cash coins.

Paper money Paper money, often referred to as a note or a bill (North American English), is a type of negotiable promissory note that is payable to the bearer on demand, making it a form of currency. The main types of paper money are government notes, which ...

and bonds 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

. Common weights: 50 taels, 10 taels, 5 taels, 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 seals just as sycees were.Foreign Silver Coins and Chinese Sycee
at Sycee-on-line.com

Contemporary uses

Image:ChinesenewyearSycee.jpg,

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 an 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 ceremonial reasons. It ...

used in

feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

Today, imitation gold sycees are used as a symbol of prosperity among Chinese people. They are frequently displayed during

, 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

, 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

s, two

") or ''saam fan luk'' ( "three candareens and six cash").

Notable hoards

* 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. It is a ...

reported on 17 November 2015 that at the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun in Xinjian,

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

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 during excavation work undertaken by the Jinan City Archaeological Research Institute nearby the Zhaojiazhuang Cemetery,

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. The tombs yielded cash coins produced during the

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, Tang, and Qing dynasties with the latest examples being Xianfeng era cash coins. A tomb identified as "Grave M1" also contained silver sycees issued under the Jin dynasty. * In March 2017 a large number of cultural relics were discovered at the Minjiang River in

Meishan natively Meishan ( zh, s=眉山; Sichuanese Pinyin: Mi2san1; local pronunciation: ; zh, p=Méishān , w=Mei-shan), formerly known as Meizhou () or Qingzhou (), is a prefecture-level city with 2,955,219 inhabitants as of 2020 census of whom ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. 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 () cash coin issued by Zhang Xianzhong was unearthed at the Jiangkou stretch of the Minjiang River.

Notes

References

External links

Examples of Chinese silver sycee
(images)
Sycee On Line

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