Coolie’s Pay Check

Stephen Tai
Apr, 26, 1998

Hsin Sin Hao (A Firm named Hsin Sin)

Jin Fa Lai sequence No. 20. Jolly fair wood with white branches for (_______) sticks, carrier named (________), will carry them to the place Ze Wu for acceptance and weighing, then he will be paid cash coins of (________) Wen, for his service. Notwithstanding, however, should any shoot or branch is found broken, the carrier will be responsible for compensation which will deduct from the above payment.

Kuang Hsu (____)Year (____)Month (____)Day Issued by Song Hsin Sin Hao

The shown paper is a blank form of a pay check and an agreement special tailored for the wages payable to Coolies from an employer Song Sin Hsin. Its inscriptions may be translated as shown above.
Since late Ching dynasty until early Republican years many cities in China were suffered from the copper coin shortage, lots of substitutes were then created by the people, such as private notes, tokens made of cloth, bamboo, or metals, and introduced into the markets. They were unlawful, but people had no choice but to use them.
The lower level of the Chinese society, particularly employed the biggest portion of those private money, for most of the legal tenders were locked up into hands of the upper level.
The shown paper was generated from such circumstance. A coolie got hired, would be rendered by the employer a paper check as shown in the first place, once the job is done, the coolie would get his pay according to the terms prescribed on the paper.
The shown paper is somewhat like a mix of pay check and labor’s contract, but, as a matter of fact, coolies seem to obtain very little protection from it. Maybe we can take it a special mechanism arisen in a special period of time in China.

Chinese Coinage Web Site