CHAPTER 24 - Tea Brick Currency in Mongolia

Abstract

This chapter provides insights on the use of tea brick as currency in Mongolia. On the China–Tibet border, silver by weight constituted until recently both the standard of value and the medium of exchange. In Tibet, sheep were used as a measure of value. As in other parts of Inner Asia, tea was, and probably still is, extensively used as a medium of exchange. In Sinkiang, too, tea bricks and sheep have served as currency. During the early part of the century, sheep were largely displaced as currency by brick tea. Owing to the strong demand for it throughout Inner Asia, it is generally acceptable. The value of goods sold in the markets and shops was reckoned by numbers of tea bricks. Extensive credit transactions were concluded in tea bricks. Tea currency had its disadvantages. It was very bulky and heavy. Owing to this inconvenience, in more recent years tea bricks were replaced by the silver sycee, current in other parts of China. Scrap silver is also used, while in remote corners barter continues to prevail on a basis of tea or sheep as units of account.