bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

HONG KONG'S currency, like most others in East Asia, began life in Mexico.

  The Hong Kong dollar's ancestor was the 'silver dollar' (or Spanish dollar) which was minted in Mexico when the country was colonised by Spain.

  Long before the colony of Hong Kong was founded, Chinese traders insisted on being paid in silver dollars for silk, porcelain, tea and gold.

  The silver dollar was established as the main currency for China trade in the 16th century.

     Spain's standard denomination, introduced in 1497, was the real but more acceptable in the Far East were silver dollars originally known as piezas de a ocho reales - or pieces of eight reals. These were later known as pieces of eight.

  Only 20 years ago, a pot of silver dollars dated 1654 from the Mexico City Mint was unearthed on a construction site in Quanzhou in Fujian province. Another pot, found in 1972 on the Guanqiao Commune near Nanan in Fujian, contained coins from Mexico as well as the oldest Spanish coin ever found in China - a dollar from the Segovia Mint in Spain dated 1590.

  By the 1680s, when trading links were first forged between the British East India Company and China, the currency was accepted not only in Hong Kong but throughout East Asia.

  The newcomers attempted to introduce their own currency but the Chinese were so familiar with silver dollars from Mexico, as well as Potosi in Bolivia and Peru, that they did not accept anything else.

   According to Money in the Bank, a booklet explaining the Hongkong Bank's Money Collection, the Spanish coins were preferred because they were 'invariably of good quality silver, of a consistent fineness and of a regular weight'.

  Many of these were marked with the chop of the traders who used them.

  The practice became so widespread and the marked dollars so much more in demand that, in 1799, the East India Company lamented it could not obtain enough.

  In 1861, the incumbent Hong Kong Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, wrote to Britain's Colonial Secretary: 'The sole instrument of commerce and medium of exchange both here and at all the open ports in China except Shanghai is now the dollar . . .'   The dollar was not only a trading currency. It became standard means of payment in many cities, particularly in Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

  Even after the collapse of the Spanish empire in the early 19th century, the mints of Mexico (as well as Peru and Bolivia) continued to supply vast amounts of silver for the China trade.

   Eventually, the British and Chinese began making their own dollars to avoid reliance on importing foreign coins.

   The Hongkong Bank started making British dollars for use in China in 1925.

  To a certain extent, the humble coin which originated from a Mexican silver mine has remained almighty in East Asia to this day.

  Hong Kong and Singapore have both retained the dollar. Many others have merely given a local name to the same currency - including Malaysia's ringgit, China's yuan, Japan's yen, Vietnam's dong and Korea's won.



Dollar's roots lie in silver coins