Summary

20 Cash, Issued by Chihli (the name of the Provence was changed toHebei (Hopei) in 1928), China, year 25 of Kuang Hsu (1899)
Struck at the Peiyang Arsenal mint, Tientsin

Obverse Description

At centre within a circle of beads, four Chinese around four Manchu characters; around above and below, 11 characters

Reverse Description

At centre, a dragon facing, body curved around a pearl; around above,25th YEAR OE KUANG HSU; around below, PEI YANG

Edge Description

Milled

Significance

The name of the Province, Chihli meant 'directly ruled' (by the Imperial Court) and so was changed in 1928 to Hebei (meaning 'north of the river' in this case meaning the Yellow River).

The mint at the Peiyang Arsenal replaced the Paoting mint, which produced cast coins for the Province, in 1888. It was upgraded with a silver coin section in 1896 but was destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion (1900-1901) and not re-opened until 1902. This example has the error OE instead of OF in the reverse legend.

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