Bamboo tally

Bamboo tallies (Traditional Chinese: 錢籌; Simplified Chinese: 钱筹; Pinyin: qián chóu), alternatively known as bamboo tokens or bamboo money, were a type of alternative currency that was produced in Eastern China (primarily in the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang often around the cities of Suzhou and Wuxi) from the 1870s until the 1940s and were used to supplement Chinese cash coins and other small denomination Chinese currencies in a manner similar to paper money.^[1] Some bamboo tallies were issued in denominations of wén (文) or "strings of cash coins" (串), some bamboo tallies were denominated in qián (錢), tóngyuán (銅元, machine-struck coins of 10 wén), jiǎo (角), and yáng (洋, foreign silver coins),^[2] other than in money bamboo tallies could also be denominated in tea bags.^[3] During the same time as bamboo tallies were issued other local businesses manufactured paper money denominated in fēn (分) while others used either copper tokens or money made from bones in a similar fashion.^[4]