The Kin or "Golden" Dynasty of Northern Invaders who immediately
preceded the Mongols took to paper, in spite of their title, as kindly as
the native sovereigns. Their notes had a course of seven years, after
which new notes were issued to the holders, with a deduction of 15 per
cent.
The Mongols commenced their issues of paper-money in 1236, long before
they had transferred the seat of their government to China. Kublai made
such an issue in the first year of his reign (1260), and continued to
issue notes copiously till the end. In 1287 he put out a complete new
currency, one note of which was to exchange against five of the previous
series of equal nominal value! In both issues the paper-money was, in
official valuation, only equivalent to half its nominal value in silver; a
circumstance not very easy to understand. The paper-money was called
Chao.
The notes of Kublai's first issue (1260-1287) with which Polo maybe
supposed most familiar, were divided into three classes; (1) Notes of
Tens, viz. of 10, 20, 30, and 50 tsien or cash; (2) Notes of
Hundreds, viz.
