Traditional Drafts

Stephen Tai
Mar.05, 1998

A Shanghai Draft in remitting Shanghai Regular Sycee of 1,000 Taels. Issued at the 26^th day, 9^th month, 6^th year of Huang Hsu (1890, 1875-1908).

A Yunnan Draft in remitting Yunnan Groovy Sycee in Provincial Scale of 2,500 Taels. Issued at the 19^th day, 6^th month, 26^th year of Kuang Hsu (1900).

In addition to coins (cash, copper, silver), sycee and paper money, several of financial instruments had also been utilized in Chinese commercial activities. Draft was one of them since Tang Dynasty.
In Tang Dynasty remittance business were set up severally by merchants and officials in Capital Chang-An (Today's Si-An, in Shensi Province), who had their branch stores or affiliates at some other places, adopting remittance affairs into their business. Instead of bringing cash traveling around two or more distanced destinations, people then could save their risks and efforts by assigning a remittance store to take care of that. By paying remittance fee based on certain percentage of the money to be transferred, some of the remittances were even free of charge, for the businessmen could take the advantage from using transferred money for a certain period. Upon such assignment, a draft called Fei Chieng (Flying Money, i.e. draft) would be issued, people could bring it to the branch remittance store where designated to claim for remitted payment. It is known as the first draft and the earliest remittance system in China.
This traditional remittance system had no material development thereafter, until late in Ching Dynasty. In Tao Kuang period a new economic force - Shansi Banks arose; many remittance networks were set up by them to cover all the major cities, which had solved the common problem of cash transportation existing among civilians, merchants and officials. Remittance business since then became one of the most promising and profitable businesses in China.

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