system,
| 10 li [214] (copper cash) | = | 1 fên ( Candarin ) of silver. |
|---|---|---|
| 10 fên | = | 1 chi’en ( mace ). |
| 10 chi’en | = | 1 liung (or tael or Chinese ounce). |
This liung or, as it is more commonly called, tael is the maximum monetary weight. Hence we hear always of payments in silver as being 1000 or 2000 ounces and so on, but never in the higher commercial units of the catty or pound, and pical or hundredweight, to which we shall come immediately. But though the Chinese never employed any coinage of gold or silver, beyond all doubt they have possessed and employed both metals for almost