10 Cash – Sinkiang Province

In 1914, the currency situation in Sinkiang (Xinjiang) Province was a complex and fragmented reflection of its geopolitical position. The region was under the nominal control of the Republic of China, but in practice, Governor Yang Zengxin ruled with a high degree of autonomy from the weak central government. The monetary system was not unified, operating with a multi-currency circulation where Chinese silver yuan and tael notes issued by provincial authorities coexisted with older Qing dynasty coins. More significantly, a substantial amount of Russian Tsarist rubles, both paper and silver, circulated widely, especially in the north and along trade routes, due to extensive cross-border commerce with Russian Turkestan.

This monetary plurality created chronic instability. The value of the locally issued paper notes, known as Xinjiang piao, was unstable and often depreciated, particularly as Yang’s government frequently resorted to printing money to cover fiscal shortfalls. Meanwhile, the silver-based Russian ruble and physical silver coins were hoarded as a more reliable store of value, leading to a persistent shortage of hard currency. The system was further complicated by the varying acceptance of different currencies in different locales, with Russian money dominant in Ili and Tarbagatai, while Chinese notes circulated more freely in the south and east.

Consequently, trade and daily transactions were cumbersome, requiring constant exchange and negotiation. This chaotic currency environment underscored Sinkiang’s economic dependency on Russia and its tenuous links to China proper. It served as a tangible indicator of Yang Zengxin’s delicate balancing act: maintaining a facade of Chinese sovereignty while managing a de facto independent economy increasingly pulled into the Russian sphere of influence, a situation that would persist and evolve through the early 20th century.