EMPIRE OF CHINA - QING (MANCHU) DYNASTY (1644-1912)
RARE YEAR 4 OF THE REIGN OF THE GUANGXU (KWANG-HSU) EMPEROR (1875-1908)
HOUSE OF AISIN GIORO (AIXINJUELUO)
HAND HAMMERED COINAGE
SINKIANG (XINJIAN) PROVINCE, THEN KNOWN AS HUIJIANG (MUSLIMLAND) HALF MISCAL (5 FEN)
RARE DUAL LANGUAGE CHINESE CHARACTER / TURKI SCRIPT ISSUES
OBVERSE / REVERSE SQUARE IN CENTER
DISTINCT TURKI DATE (1295 AH), MINTMARK AND CHINESE VALUE
YARKAND MINT XINJIAN PROVINCE, ALSO KNOWN AS "CHINESE TURKESTAN", IN WESTERN CHINA, WAS DIRECTLY ON THE FABLED "SILK ROAD" TO THE WEST. EIGHT MINTS WERE ESTABLISHED THERE, AND THREE WERE OPERATING DURING THE REIGN OF KWANG-HSU. THE OLD CHINESE NAME FOR XINJIANG WAS HUIJIANG OR "MUSLIMLAND", (CHANGED BETWEEN 1882-1884). THE DIRECT CONTROL OF THE LATE MANCHU EMPIRE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1884 WHEN XINJIANG ("NEW FRONTIER") WAS ADDED AS A FORMAL PROVINCE.
QING CONTROL OVER EASTERN XINJIANG IN THE MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WAS EXERTED BY CONQUERING THE ZHUNGAR KHANATE WHICH HAD BEEN ALREADY DECIMATED BY SMALLPOX. THE MANCHUS STARTED TO COLONIZE THE AREA WITH HAN CHINESE, AND ESTABLISHED DIRECT MILITARY CONTROL OVER THE REGION IN RESPONSE TO REBELLIONS FROM THEIR CLIENT RULERS OF THE WEST TARIM BASIN, THE SUFI SHAYKHS OF THE KHOJAS (TURKESTANI). LATER, THE TAIPING REBELLION, THE OPIUM WARS AND RUSSIAN ENCROACHMENT ALONG CHINA'S BORDERS SAPPED QING MILITARY STRENGTH, AND THE GARRISONS IN XINJIANG. CHINESE MUSLIMS AND UYGHURS REBELLED IN THE DISTRICT'S CITIES IN 1864, PROMPTED BY MUSLIM REBELLIONS IN GANSU AND SHAANSI. BEGINNING IN 1865, A TURKIC MUSLIM, YAQUB BEG (1820-1877), WARLORD OF THE KHANATE OF KOKAND, CONQUERED KASHGAR AND THE REST OF XINJIANG, MASSACRING CHINESE MUSLIMS. THIS SHORT LIVED KINGDOM OF KHASHGARIA (1865-1877) WAS RECONQUERED AFTER YAQUB BEG'S DEATH BY QING GENERAL ZUO ZONGTONG (aka GENERAL TSO).
THE 1878 COINS IN THIS LOT WERE ISSUED JUST AFTER GENERAL ZUO ZONGTONG REESTABLISHED QING DOMINATION OVER THE REGION.