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Silver currency as ingots were called sycee, but they were not denominated or made by a central mint and their value was determined by their weight in taels. They were made by individual silversmiths for local exchange, and as such the shape and amount of extra detail on each ingot were highly variable; square and oval shapes were common but 'boat', flower, tortoise and others are known. The local tael also took precidence over any central measure, so the Canton tael weighed 1.21 ounces, the Convention or Shanghai tael was 1.09 ounces, and the Customs or Haikwan tael 1.22 ounces. The conversion rates between various common taels were well known.
Sycee were first used as a medium for exchange as early as the Qin Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, a standard bi-metallic system of silver and copper coinage was codified with 10 silver coins equal to 1,000 copper cash coins. Paper money and bonds were introduced in the 9th century. However, the tael was still the basis of the silver currency and sycee remained in use until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Common weights were 50 taels, 10 taels and 5 down to 1.
The word is still in use. In Mainland China and Taiwan it equivalent to 10 qian (錢) at 37.5 g. In Hong Kong it is 37.8 g. In Shanghai silver is still traded in taels.
Currencies Units of massTael is also the name of a dark coloured fairyA fairy or faery is a creature from stories and mythology, often portrayed in art and literature as a minuscule humanoid with wings. This word is derived from the name of a place where they were said to live: Faerie, and fairies are sometimes called fairy companion of the Skull KidSkull Kid is a character from the Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (a non-significant appearance) and notably The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The alternate spelling of this is Skullkid, and is the spelling used in the game. In man in The Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda was the first game of the Legend of Zelda series of video games, made by Nintendo under the direction of game creator Shigeru Miyamoto. The game was inspired by Miyamoto's imaginary adventures in the woods behind his home from when he: Majora's Mask. Tael is TatlTatl is a fairy companion of the Skull Kid in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. After being separated from her brother Tael (another one of the Skull Kid's fairies), she befriends Link on his journey and helps him along the way, much like Navi (Link's f's brother, but they were seperated unwillingly after the Skull Kid met up with LinkThe term link can refer to: One element of a chain. one conection betwen 2 objects. one new name used instead of the original name of a file. customary unit of length equal to one hundredth of a chain. A connection between two components of a network.. Tael stayed with the Skull Kid while Tatl went on a journey with Link, but in the end they were reunited. Legend of Zelda characters