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1 Tael Khotan District Administration
| Issuer | Khotan District Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1934-1936 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 150 × 97 mm |
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| Obverse description | Hand-stamped note on plain paper stock with a decorative blue ink border incorporating stylised floral and foliate motifs at the corners and along the edges. A large pink ink underprint fills the central rectangular field, over which Chinese characters are applied in black ink, conveying the denomination and issuing authority text. A blue official seal stamp is applied over the design, validating the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a central oval vignette printed in pink ink enclosing a triangular device, surrounded by bilingual text in Arabic script and Chinese characters setting out the terms of use and issuing authority. Additional lines of Arabic script run below the oval. A red official seal stamp is applied to the face of the note, and hand-written numerals appear in the right margin. |
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| Comments |
Khotan in the mid-1930s was effectively running its own monetary affairs. The district administration issued these notes during a period when central authority over Xinjiang was fractured between Nationalist Chinese claims, Soviet-backed warlord Sheng Shicai in Ürümqi, and persistent local pressures from Turkic-speaking populations who had briefly established an independent state in the region just years earlier. A locally printed tael note, secured by nothing more than an official seal, was a practical solution to a genuine administrative vacuum.
The tael as a unit was already being phased out across most of China by this point — the 1933 yuan reforms had formalized its obsolescence — making this note an anachronism almost from the moment of issue.