10 Cash Urumchi

Urumchi (Ürümqi) operated as one of several semi-independent minting centers in Sinkiang during the early Republican period, producing cash coinage well after the denomination had been abandoned across most of China. The province's geographic isolation — separated from central authority by the Gobi and the Tian Shan — meant local military governors effectively controlled monetary policy independent of Beijing. This issue dates to the warlord governorship of Yang Zengxin, who ran Sinkiang as a personal fiefdom from 1912 until his assassination at a banquet in 1928.

The Urumchi mint's copper output from this period is notoriously inconsistent in die alignment and planchet quality.