China
China, silver basis, had for its unit the tael, divided into 1000 cash; there are said to be sixteen different kinds of tael in the different states of China; the most valuable is the "Haikwan," or "customs tael," the one in which customs dues are reckoned, and this equalled $0.664 United States currency, October 1, 1914. The cash is of base metal, with a square hole punched in the centre and is worth less than a mill in our currency.
In the last years of the Empire a new system of coinage was established and since continued by the Republic. The unit is the yuan of silver, worth $0.477, but varies with the price of silver; one-half, one-fifth, and one-tenth yuan are also coined in silver and smaller coins in copper and brass....