Coin Mint General Factory

Coin Mint General Factory

The Coin Mint General Factory is a cultural relic protection unit of Tianjin.

Coin Mint General Factory

Era: 1903

Address: No. 137 Zhongshan Road, Hebei District, Tianjin City

Category: Important Modern Historical Site and Representative Architecture

During the Qing Dynasty in Tianjin, a wide variety of currency types were in circulation, making transactions inconvenient. Later, due to excessive coin minting and large price disparities among different currencies, monetary use became chaotic. In order to regulate finance and consolidate feudal rule, in the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), after Yuan Shikai took over the Tianjin Viceroyalty, he appointed Zhou Xuexi as the head of the Beiyang Silver Coin Bureau. Zhou Xuexi first selected a site near the Zhili Governor’s Office at the former site of the Dabeiyuan Temple Guard Palace in Xiyao Wa, Hebei District (today's No. 26 Tiwei Road) to build the factory. In the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), construction of the Ministry of Revenue Tianjin Silver and Coin General Factory began on Dajing Road (now No. 137 Zhongshan Road), referred to at the time as the “East Factory.” The original Beiyang Silver Coin Bureau was called the “West Factory” (located in Dongjuzi, Hedong District). In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), in May, the East Factory was completed and put into operation. As it was directly under the Ministry of Revenue, the original “Tianjin Silver and Coin General Factory” was renamed the Ministry of Revenue “Coin Mint General Factory.” In 1909, the Qing government reorganized the national copper coin bureaus, centralized coin minting authority, consolidated various mints into nine branches with Tianjin as the main factory, and issued the “Mint Regulations” to prevent counterfeiting. From then on, the Coin Mint General Factory of the Ministry of Revenue in Tianjin became the national center for currency production.

The factory covers an area of 31,916 square meters. Its original layout featured a multi-courtyard siheyuan structure, interconnected by east-west arrow alleys, built with brick and wood, and with flush gable roofs. The main house had five bays across the front, some with front porches or in a "connected roof" style. Side rooms had three bays across, mostly laid out in a concave shape, with original brick arched gateways and carved brick decorations still remaining. Today, only about 70 bungalows remain, with the plaque above the gate inscribed with the four characters “造币总厂” (Coin Mint General Factory), written by Wu Dingchang.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Tianjin Cultural Relic Protection Units