Ofício do magistrado do distrito de Xiangshan, Yang, ao procurador de Macau, sobre a compra de rapé, para ser enviado a corte
Transcription
Page 1
[Marginalia — left]
月二十七日先一領
二分頭未覆
[Stamp — top center]
諭
[Marginalia — center]
T59
人≠≠≠
Page 2
[Stamp — top right]
[Red ink seal, partially visible: characters unclear]
[Main text]
正堂楊 諭澳門夷目唵寨哆等知悉現
據該夷目等呈稱遵照協同管煙夷
目備辦上烟壹辣一瓶共十辣每辣連
瓶花銀六員該花銀六十員一辣二
Page 3
[Main text]
共十辣每辣連瓶花銀六員半該
花銀六十五員一辣四瓶共五辣
每辣連瓶花銀七員該花銀三
十五員通共花銀一百六十員另
Page 4
[Main text]
另二烟二桶一桶一百零二辣一桶
一百零三辣半共二百零五辣半
每辣花钱二员共花钱四百一十
一员二共花银五百七十一员等
Page 5
[Main text]
情除将鼻烟查收外所有通共
烟价花银五百七十一员现差家
丁赍赴给候该夷目等即将收
到银两备具领状禀缴
Page 6
[Main text]
本縣備查毋違特諭
[Annotation — red ink]
[Red circle around character: 查]
[Red checkmark below final character: 諭]
Page 7
[Stamp — center]
[Red square seal with illegible Chinese characters]
[Marginalia — left side, vertical]
乾隆四十二年七月
[Marginalia — lower center, vertical, red ink]
為
[Marginalia — lower center, vertical, black ink]
日諭
[Marginalia — right of red character, faint pencil]
T59
Translation
Page 1
[Left-hand marginalia]
27th day of the month: one item issued in advance
Two-fifths outstanding (i.e., 40% of the total quantity remains undelivered)
[Central stamp, top of page]
Imperial Edict
[Centre marginalia]
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Personnel—[illegible characters]
Page 2
[Stamp — top right]
[Red ink seal, partially legible: characters indistinct]
[Main text]
Magistrate Yang, Presiding Magistrate of the Prefecture, hereby notifies the foreign headmen of Macau—namely, Amsa Tó and others—of the following:
It has been reported to this office by the aforementioned foreign headmen that, in accordance with instructions jointly issued by the Chinese authorities and the foreign superintendent responsible for the regulation of opium, they have duly prepared and submitted one *lá* (a unit of measure) of superior-grade opium, contained in a single bottle; that the total consignment comprises ten *lá*; and that the stipulated price is six silver taels per *lá*, inclusive of the bottle. Accordingly, the aggregate sum payable amounts to sixty silver taels, at the rate of one *lá* per two taels.
Page 3
[Main text]
Ten *lā* (a unit of weight, equivalent to approximately 37.5 g) of silver flowers (*hua yin*), each *lā* inclusive of its container, amounting to six and a half *yuán*;
sixty-five *yuán* of silver flowers, four *píng* (containers), and five *lā*;
each *lā*, inclusive of its container, valued at seven *yuán*, yielding thirty-five *yuán*;
the total sum expended on silver flowers amounts to one hundred and sixty *yuán*, plus an additional sum.
Page 4
[Main text]
Two chests of tobacco: one containing 102 *lá*, the other 103½ *lá*, making a total of 205½ *lá*.
At two *yuán* per *lá*, the total expenditure amounted to 411 *yuán*;
together with an additional 160 *yuán*, the overall sum expended was 571 *yuán*.
*Note on terminology*:
– *Lá* (also transcribed as *la* or *lá*) was a unit of weight used in late imperial and early Republican China, particularly in commercial contexts involving imported goods such as tobacco; its precise value varied regionally but commonly approximated 1.25–1.5 kg. It is retained here in transliteration (with diacritic to reflect historical Portuguese orthographic conventions found in colonial records) alongside explanatory gloss for scholarly precision.
– *Yuán* (standard modern Mandarin pinyin; rendered as *yuan* in British English academic usage where unaccented romanisation is preferred) denotes the silver currency unit standardised under the Qing dynasty and continued into the early Republic. In contemporary British academic writing on Chinese economic history, ‘yuan’ is conventionally italicised when used as a technical term and accompanied by contextual clarification on first use.
Page 5
[Main text]
In addition to the confiscation of the snuff, the total value of all tobacco seized amounts to 571 taels of silver. A domestic servant has now been dispatched to deliver this sum to the relevant foreign officials; upon receipt of the silver, those officials are required to submit a formal receipt (‘lingzhuang’) to the authorities for official record.
Page 6
This order is to be duly noted by the county authorities; compliance is required—by special edict.
[Annotation — in red ink]
[Red circle around the character *chá* (‘to inspect’)]
[Red tick mark beneath the final character *yù* (‘edict’)]
Page 7
[Stamp — centred]
[Red square seal bearing illegible Chinese characters]
[Marginalia — left margin, written vertically]
Seventh month of the forty-second year of the Qianlong reign (1777 CE)
[Marginalia — lower centre, written vertically in red ink]
‘For the purpose of…’
[Marginalia — immediately to the right of the red character, faint pencil annotation]
T59