1 Sar - Guangxu Ration coinage, with Arabic on reverse, circled dragon

Sinkiang's ration coinage was never intended for general commerce. Struck to pay and supply Qing military garrisons along the Central Asian frontier, these heavy silver pieces circulated within a closed logistical system rather than a market economy — which explains the Arabic script directed at the predominantly Muslim Uyghur and Turkic population the administration was simultaneously taxing and attempting to pacify. The 1 Sar denomination, derived from the local weight standard rather than the tael system used elsewhere in China, reflects how administratively isolated Sinkiang remained from the Qing monetary mainstream.

Y#7.1 distinguishes this variety by the circled dragon treatment, a detail with real die-identification value given how loosely the Dihua mint operated during this period.