Summary

Cash, Issued by Kwangtung Province, Empire of China, 1909 - 1911
Minted by Canton

Obverse Description

The coin has a round hole punched in a raised square; four Chinese characters around the square.

Reverse Description

Two characters divided by the hole giving the mint name in Manchu.

Edge Description

plain.

Significance

On 22 August 1905 the Emperor approved a regulation that would establish a central mint at Tientsin (now Tianjin) with four branch mints at Nanking (now Nanjing), Tientsin, Wuchang and Canton (now Guangzhou). Expansion of all other mints was forbidden with an intention to close them when possible. The official banks were to watch money-changers and markets, with any attempt to raise or lower the value of the coins to be reported to the Board of Revenue or Provincial authorities. Reference: Royal Mint Annual Report 1906, pp.26-28

This coin was of the smallest denomination produced under the new mint system. Production began from the time Canton became a Branch mint and lasted until overthrow of the Empire in 1911. This is the second type, in the name of the last emperor, Hsuang-t'ung (1908-1911) who had become Emperor on 14 November 1908 at the age of three.

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