5 Cash - Guangxu Hu Poo

The Board of Revenue Mint in Beijing was established in 1900 specifically to produce machine-struck copper cash as the Qing government scrambled to modernize its currency infrastructure following the Boxer Rebellion and the punishing indemnities of the Boxer Protocol. The Hu Poo mint was equipped with imported Western machinery, a deliberate departure from the centuries-old cast cash tradition. Output was substantial but the mint's operational window proved short — it was absorbed into broader currency reforms by 1906 under the new unified coinage system.