1 / 8

OP: Why couldn’t traditional Chinese Yinpiao银票/silver drafts be forged if they were merely slips of paper? (cr大明宝钞，渐越)

Traditional Chinese yinpiao/silver drafts were paper vouchers issued by private banks starting from the Song Dynasty(960–1279). People could exchange these slips for physical silver at bank branches across the country.

Silver drafts were made in multiple copies with matching serrated seal edges. One copy went to the customer and others stayed at the bank. All edges had to fit perfectly together to withdraw silver. The unique split edge marks were almost impossible to copy.

This mechanism is known as qifeng骑缝 (split-joint seal) in China. It first originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The Rites of Zhou records that contracts were written on bamboo or wooden slips in duplicate. Notches and marks were carved in the middle before splitting the slips, with each party keeping one half. The two halves would be matched by their notches for verification.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770–221 BC), this idea evolved into hufu虎符/tiger tally tokens. A military tally was split into two pieces with identical inscriptions carved along the split edge. Troops could only be deployed if the patterns and characters on both halves perfectly aligned, serving as a metal version of the split-joint anti-counterfeiting system.

The technology matured in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Government documents and private contracts commonly used split-joint seals stamped across the dividing line. The Chinese character "hetong合同" (contract) was written across the middle before the paper was torn apart, so the complete characters would only appear when the two halves were put together. This split-coupon system was later adopted for Song Dynasty (960–1279) jiaozi paper money and yinpiao/silver drafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912).

Official Song dynasty paper money (Jiaozi交子) was abolished in 1107. Private silver drafts issued by Qing-era piaohao票行 (ancient exchange banks) vanished completely in 1951, hit hard by modern banks and currency reforms. Nowadays silver drafts no longer circulate as currency. Their collectible value depends on their rarity and physical condition.

Pool and reflected Palm Tree - David Hockney , 1976.

British, b. 1937 -

Since the dawn of human civilization, folks have been telling stories about other dope-ass civilizations that were lost forever. Think of Atlantis. El Dorado, the "Lost City of Gold." Narnia. And now: Wisconsin. It didn't used to be this way.

Decades ago, when I was growing up, we understood that Wisconsin was a real place. It was in our textbooks. It was on our maps, sandwiched in between Minnesota and a big-ass lake. Did we know anyone who had been there? No. I grew up in Canada, and despite Ontario supposedly "bordering" the big W, I didn't know anyone from there who had visited, either. What was even there to visit? Rather than confront the awful truth, we stuck it out, convinced that what our betters had told us was true.

It wasn't until the revolution that we started to find out what was real. In all the chaos, some of the rioters got into the Information Ministry's buildings. So many horrible conspiracies had been inflicted upon us for our so-called good. In those, we found agreements between Canada and the United States, to make up the entire concept of a state. What purpose could it have? To disappear dissidents, it turns out: just like your parents told you that Tucker P. Hotdog went to a nice farm upstate, so too did a bunch of your more radical schoolteachers "take a transfer to Madison." It sounded so unappealing, none of us would dare follow up and drop in on them.