Bronze ‘passport’ a testimony to economic and tax systems from 2,000 years ago

During the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), tally was used as a laissez-passer of business exchanges. Here are two bronze tallies owned by Marquis Qi of E, a fief in the Chu State. They are of different lengths but share the same shaped bamboo culm. The owner of the tallies was given the right of tax exemption when doing business.

Gold-inlaid inscriptions in the seal script of the tallies not only stipulate the scale and route of the trade caravan, but also serve an anti-counterfeiting function.

Unearthed in eastern Shouxian county in Anhui province, in 1957, the two tallies are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of China. They provide testimony to ancient economic and tax systems from more than 2,000 years ago.