Americans encounter Chinese Mexican silver money in the 1930's

WillieBoyd2

Minya Konka is the highest mountain in Szechuan, China and was first climbed by four Americans in 1932.

They wrote a book about their adventures and published it in 1935.

Men Against the Clouds - The Conquest of Minya Konka, by Richard L. Burdsall and Arthur B. Emmons, 3rd with contributions from Terris Moore and Jack Theodore Young, published by Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1935

Along the way the men had to deal with the Chinese monetary system of the time.

At Nanking the Ichang took on two passengers, making eleven in all. The trip up the Yangtze to Chungking is quite popular with tourists, the chief attraction being the famous gorges above Ichang. Then there is the novelty offered by travel in an armored vessel. For all of these boats are protected against the pot shots which they sometimes draw from the banks.

Disbanded soldiers and "bandits" are said to take great delight in this amusement. As in the case of other sports, mercenary motives may creep in, for the boats sometimes carry large shipments of silver dollars, which would make a handsome prize. The ship's bridge, which is regarded as the "bull's-eye", is provided with steel plates which can be lowered over the windows, and there are other plates along the rail for passengers to stand behind in case of firing. On our trip, however, we did not have occasion to try them. At Kukiang we saw three gunboats, one of which flew the flag of Chiang Kai-Shek, China's commander-in-chief, who was holding a conference there on bandit suppression.

We were now beyond the territory of paper money and had to carry the large silver Mexican dollars. Their name is derived from the fact that the first ones used were introduced from Mexico. They are now coined in China. Only certain varieties of them were acceptable in Szechwan, and of these there were many counterfeits. With the silver dollars you buy coppers, from seventy-five to ninety for a dollar, the rate and variety changing from place to place. Each copper is worth two hundred cash, the cash being the old coin with the square hole in it. These used to be carried on strings, but are not often seen now. Bargaining, however, is still done in terms of cash, and the prices therefore sound high. When you pay a chair coolie or a ricksha boy three or four thousand cash it seems like a lot of money, but was then equivalent to about four American cents.

The "large silver Mexican dollars" refers to Chinese silver dollars which were called (in other books) "Mex dollars".

China silver dollar 1914 Yuan Shih Kai

Nearing Tibet, the currency became rupees.

In former times had to do this without any charge, but now they receive pay at one-half the regular rate. As the regular rate was one rupee per day for an animal with driver, equivalent at that time to seven cents in American money, we did not consider half of this sum an exorbitant charge.

Tibet Rupee 1902-1942 Szechuan China issue

SaorAlba

It is funny how they mention travelling beyond the realm of paper money. When I was visiting China in 2006 I noticed when we were in the northern part of the country coin was a lot more common for smaller denominations - then in the south paper money was more common for smaller denominations.