Ch'ien Pi Public Deposited
also written Tsien or Tsen. The common Chinese term for money which has been thus used from very early times. It probably superseded the word Ch'uan (q.v.). Specifically it applied to the round copper coins, they being the only coins made, and is synonomous to our word cash (q.v.). It originally meant the Hoe coins as the word was used for a hoe. The word has been until recent times written Tsien. It is also a weight and is then known as a Mace (q.v.) by foreigners, it be- ing the one tenth part of the Liang or Tael. Certain coins of the Hsien Feng period had the weight thus expressed on them, as well as the first struck Kwang-tung cash, which bore " Treasury weight, one Ch'ien." The words Ch'ien Pi are also used as a general term for copper money. Bee also Wen and Li.
In Japan the word is Sen (q.V.) ; in Korea, Chun or Chon (q.v.) ; in Siam Salung (q.v.).
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)