View source for Liang (currency)

{{short description|Traditional Asian unit of mass}}
{{other uses|Liang (disambiguation){{!}}Liang}}
{{Infobox Chinese
|title='''Liang'''
|t=兩
|s=两
|p=liǎng
|w=liang
|j=loeng5
|y=léuhng
|poj=niú, nió•
|kanji=両
|hiragana=りょう(hist. りゃう)
|romaji=ryō
|hangul=량 ([[North Korea|N]])/냥 ([[South Korea|S]])
|hanja=兩
|rr=ryang (N) / nyang (S)
|vie=lượng, lạng
|hn={{linktext|兩}}
|ind=tahil
|msa=tahil / تهيل ([[Jawi alphabet|Jawi]])
|mon=лан
|mong=ᠯᠠᠨ
|monr=lan
|mnc=ᠶᠠᠨ
|mnc_v=yan
|lang2=Buryat
|lang2_content=лан
|lang1=txg
|lang-content1={{Tangut|𗍬}}
|lang-hdr1=Tangut name
|lang-rom1=2lu3
|lang-std1=[[Marc Miyake|Miyake]] transcription
|khm=តាល
}}
[[File:ThoughtToBeTael-tkb22516.jpg|thumb|right|195px|(Coin's diameter c. 2.5 cm)]]
'''Liang''' ({{lang-zh|s=两 |t=兩 |p=liǎng}}), or ''leung'' in Cantonese, also called "Chinese ounce" or "[[tael]]",{{efn| "tael" is a borrowing from the Portuguese translation of Chinese measure unit word "兩", before [[Pinyin]] and [[Jyutping]] Romanizations were available.<ref>{{cite web |title=tael |publisher=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=2025-04-30 |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/tael_n?tab=factsheet&tl=true#19139202}}</ref>}} was a traditional Chinese unit of currency measurement.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan"/>

[[File:Chinese_Silver_Liang_with_Stamps_used_in_Central_Asia_as_Silver-Hoff-Ingot.jpg|thumb|A Chinese silver liǎng (銀兩 / 银两) with stamps Used in Central Asia as a "Silver Hoof" ingot.]]
[[File:後藤分銅1.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Japan]]ese [[Edo period|Edo era]] liang weights for [[Weighing scale#Mechanical balances|balance scales]], made of [[bronze]]. In descending size, 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, and 2 liang weights.]]

In China, there were many different weighting standards of liang currency depending on the region or type of trade. In general, the [[silver]] liang weighed around {{convert|40|g|ozt}}. The most common government measurement was the ''Kuping'' ({{lang-zh|c=庫平|hp=kùpíng|l=treasury standard|labels=no}}) liang, weighing {{convert|37.5|g|ozt}}. A common commercial weight, the ''Caoping'' ({{lang-zh|c=漕平| hp=cáopíng| l=canal shipping standard|labels=no}}) liang weighed {{convert|36.7|g|ozt}} of marginally less pure silver.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan"/><ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

== Imperial China ==
Traditional Chinese silver [[sycee]]s and other currencies of fine metals were not denominated or made by a central [[Mint (coin)|mint]] and their value was determined by their weight in liangs. 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 liang was still used in [[Qing dynasty coinage]] as the basis of the silver currency and sycee remained in use until the end of the dynasty in 1911. Common weights were 50, 10, 5 and one liang. Before the year 1840 the government of the [[Qing dynasty]] had set the official exchange rate between silver [[sycee]]s and copper-alloy [[Cash (Chinese coin)|cash coins]] was set at 1,000 ''[[Chinese cash (currency unit)|wén]]'' for 1 liang of silver before 1820, but after the year 1840 this official exchange rate was double to 2,000 ''wén'' to 1 liang.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan">{{cite web|url= http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3307/1/Yan_In_Search_of_Power.pdf|title= In Search of Power and Credibility - Essays on Chinese Monetary History (1851-1845).|date=March 2015|access-date=8 February 2020|author= Xun Yan|publisher= Department of Economic History, [[London School of Economics|London School of Economics and Political Science]]|language=en}}</ref>

During the reign of the [[Xianfeng Emperor]], the government of the Qing dynasty was forced to re-introduce [[Paper money of the Qing dynasty|paper money]], among the paper money it produced were the [[Hubu Guanpiao]] (戶部官票) silver notes that were denominated in liangs.<ref name="QingPaperMoney">{{cite web|url= http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/money-qing-baochao.html|title= Qing Period Paper Money.|date=13 April 2016|access-date=27 March 2019|author= Ulrich Theobald|publisher= [[Chinaknowledge]].de|language=en}}</ref><ref name="SandrockSilverTaelNotes">{{cite web|url= http://thecurrencycollector.com/pdfs/Ching_Dynasty_Silver_Tael_Notes_-_Part_III.pdf|title=IMPERIAL CHINESE CURRENCY OF THE TAI'PING REBELLION - PART III - CH'ING DYNASTY SILVER TAEL NOTES by John E. Sandrock.|date=1997|access-date=29 June 2019|author= John E. Sandrock|publisher= The Currency Collector.|language=en}}</ref>

The forced opening of China during the Qing dynasty created a number of [[treaty port]]s alongside the China's main waterways and its coastal areas, these treaty ports would fundamentally change both the [[History of Chinese currency|monetary system of China]] as well as its [[History of banking in China|banking system]], these changes were introduced by the establishment of [[Europe]]an and [[United States|American]] merchant houses and later banks that would engage in the Chinese money exchange and trade finance.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa">{{cite web|url= http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/41940/1/WP159.pdf|title= Money and Monetary System in China in the 19th-20th Century: An Overview. (Working Papers No. 159/12)|date=January 2012|access-date=26 January 2020|author= Debin Ma|publisher= Department of Economic History, [[London School of Economics]]|language=en}}</ref>

Between the years 1840 and 1900, 1 market liang was worth 1.38 [[Spanish dollar]]s.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsXunYan"/>

Various Western banking companies, the largest of which were the [[HSBC]], and later [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] banking companies started to begin to accept deposits. They would issue banknotes which were convertible into silver; these banknotes were popularized among the Chinese public that resided in the treaty ports.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

An important development during this era was the establishment of the [[Chinese Maritime Customs Service|Imperial Maritime Customs Service]]. This agency was placed in charge of collecting transit taxes for traded goods that were shipped both in and out of the Chinese Empire, these rules and regulations were all stipulated in various trade treaties that were imposed on the Qing by the Western colonial powers.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> Because these changes were implemented during the height of the [[Taiping Rebellion]], the Western powers had managed to take over the complete administration of the Qing's maritime customs from the imperial Chinese governmental bureaucracy.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

The Imperial Maritime Customs Service developed the Haikwan liang (海關兩), this new form of measurement was an abstract unit of silver liang that would become the nationwide standard unit of account in silver for any form of Customs tax.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> The Haikwan liang was preferred over the Kuping liang (庫平兩) by many merchants across China, this was because the units of the Kuping tliang varied often to the advantage of imperial tax collectors, this form of corruption was an extra source of income for government bureaucrats at the expense of traders.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> The Haikwan liang unit was completely uniform, it was very carefully defined, and its creation had been negotiated among the various colonial powers and the government of the Qing dynasty.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/> The Haikwan liang was on average 5% to 10% larger than the various local liang units that had existed in China, this was done as it deliberately excluded any form of extra surcharges which were embedded in the other units of the silver liang that existed as a form of intermediary income for local government tax collection, these surcharges were added to local liangs as a form of corruption and these taxes never reached the imperial government under the traditional fiscal regime.<ref name="LondonSchoolOfEconomicsDebinMa"/>

Near the end of the Qing dynasty, one {{Transliteration|zh|[[ding (unit)|dìng]]}} (sycee, or {{Transliteration|zh|yuanbao}}) was about 50 liangs.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Morse |first=H.B. |author-link=H.B. Morse |title=Currency in China |journal=Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=1907 |volume=38 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56xBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36 |location=Shanghai |quote=The standard ingot of China weighs about 50 liangs (from 49 to 54) and, formerly called ''ting'' {{lang|zh-hant|鋌}}, is now called ''pao'' {{lang|zh-hant|寶}} (jewel, article of value, as in the inscription on the copper cash ''tung-pao'' {{lang|zh-hant|通寶}} = "current coin") and more commonly ''yuan-pao'' {{lang|zh|元}}}}</ref>

== Conversion rates in imperial China ==
[[File:10 Taels - International Banking Corporation, Shanghai Branch (01.01.1918) 02.jpg|thumb|Shanghai 10 liang banknote issued by [[Citibank]]]]
The local liang took precedence over any central measure. Thus, the [[Guangzhou|Canton]] liang weighed {{convert|37.5|g|ozt|2}}, the Convention or [[Shanghai]] liang was {{convert|33.9|g|ozt|2}}, and the ''Haiguan'' ({{lang-zh|c=海關|p=hǎiguān|l=customs|labels=no}}) liang {{convert|37.8|g|ozt|2}}. The conversion rates between various common liangs were well known.

== Republic of China ==
In 1933, the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] abolished the liang and completely replaced it with the [[Yuan (currency)|yuan]] in a process known as the ''fei liang gai yuan'' ({{Lang-zh|t=廢兩改元|l=Abolishing liang and changing to yuan|labels=no}}). During this time the [[Governments of the Republic of China|Republican government]] cleared all banknotes denominated in the liang currency, making all bills which used this currency unit obsolete.<ref name="ChinaKnowledgeQianzhuang">{{cite web|url= http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Terms/qianzhuang.html|title= ''qianzhuang'' 錢莊, private banks.|date=24 November 2015|access-date=9 August 2019|author= Ulrich Theobald|publisher= [[Chinaknowledge]].de|language=en}}</ref>

== Purchasing power ==
Modern studies suggest that, on [[purchasing power parity]] basis, one liang of silver was worth about 4,130 yuan [[Renminbi|RMB]] in the early [[Tang dynasty]], 2,065 yuan RMB in the late [[Tang dynasty]], and 660.8 yuan RMB in the mid [[Ming dynasty]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} {{as of|2024|2}}, the price of silver is about 254 yuan RMB/liang of 50&nbsp;g.

== See also ==
{{Portal|China|Money|Numismatics}}
* [[Liang (mass)]]
* [[History of Chinese currency]]
* [[Economic history of China]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [[:zh:%E9%93%B6%E4%B8%A4|Corresponding Chinese Wiki article]]
* {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080405225408/http://www.gold.org/assets/file/pr_archive/html/bars/Categ.htm |date=April 5, 2008 |title=World Gold Council description of gold bars}}

*{{further|zh:银两|zh:平色}}

{{Currency units of China}} 
{{Monetary weight units of China}} 
{{Chinese currency and coinage}}

[[Category:Chinese units in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Currencies of China]]
[[Category:Modern obsolete currencies]]
[[Category:Units of mass]]