the imperial mints in Beijing then consequently suspended the production of copper-alloy cash coinage due to the increased cost of production; and the existing cash as "undervalued money" (Gresham's law) were then melted down for their intrinsic value. Additionally, the provision of cash coinage was a centralised decision which was also implemented by regional governments throughout China. Because of these factors the Chinese were not able to seize the opportunity to increase their exports due to the "cheap silver" as Japan, India, and Vietnam had. In fact, rather than being an opportunity for China, "cheap silver" presented itself as a challenge for China, especially for the Chinese bimetallic monetary system. Despite a large silver inflow to treaty ports and urban centres throughout China, the vast Chinese rural population was now suffering from a shortage of copper-alloy cash coins. Only when the Chinese copper coinage was adequately depreciated could the trade benefits presented by "cheap silver" be realised and benefit the economy of the Qing dynasty. This could only be realised by once again devaluing the copper coinage. Scarcity of copper-alloy cash coins Due to the prevalence of "cheap silver" (an enormous decrease of the global price of silver) the copper-alloy cash coin-based economy of China suffered deflation which discouraged the export of Chinese products. International trade was further discouraged because of the scarcity of copper-alloy cash coins in rural China during the late 19th century. This scarcity not only discouraged international trade, but also long-distance exchanges within China because of the deflationary pressure. Furthermore, this scarcity of small denomination copper-alloy cash coins in China was having a negative impact on daily transactions, especially in the inland rural areas where absolutely no business was done in silver and the local people had an inelastic demand for these coins. The rural Chinese workers tended to only receive their salaries in copper-alloy cash coins and would pay their taxes in silver using the official government set exchange rates between the two metal currencies. When the scarcity started causing deflation the rural workers would receive lower salaries, but the government kept maintaining a relatively high exchange rate between the two currencies. According to reports published by provincial governors in the year 1896, the official exchange rate between copper-alloy cash coins and silver was 2200 wén for only 1 tael of silver; while at the time a tael of silver traded on the private market