A Silver Named by Numbers
in Connection with Purity Standard,
as Used in Land Transactions of Ching Dynasty

Stephen Tai
Feb.03, 1998

The shown document is a contract made in December, the 13^th year of Yuong Cheng period (1735, 1723-1735 A.D.) of Ching Dynasty(1644-1911), regarding a transaction of land, in the neighborhood of Huei-Juo Prefecture of An-huei Province. The buyer had paid for the lands as contracted, 1 tales and 5 maces of Gio Wu Se Yin ('Silver in purity of 95%')

Introduction:

Gio Wu Se Yin shown on the document, indicates that the buy-sell parties had agreed upon a silver in 95% of purity as payment. To explicitly designate certain purity standard when using silver, had been not a novelty at all in Ming Dynasty, yet such cases were more frequently seen since the beginning of Ching Dynasty.
In late Ming Dynasty Wen Yin had been one of the most popular silver currencies as used by people. In the meantime, many departures or confusions regarding the true purity implied in Wen Yin began to occur, in order to prevent from any potential dispute, people started to negotiate purity issues seriously, and wrote them down explicitly in numbers. The Geo Wu Se Yin ('Silver in purity of 95%') hereof, is just one of the cases, some can be found using Geo Chi Se Yin and many others.
In early Ching dynasty silver in purity of 95% seemed to be a favorite choice of people, while they were engaged in land transactions, there were many among all cases close to that time dealing in silver of same purity.

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A Silver Named by Numbers in Connection with Purity Standard, as Used in Land Transactions of Ching Dynasty

A Silver Named by Numbers
in Connection with Purity Standard,
as Used in Land Transactions of Ching Dynasty