China - Charms. CHINA: tea brick money, an old example, likely produced at the end of the Qing dynasty or early during the Min Guo (Republic) era with three Chinese characters on the face, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Due to the high value of tea in many parts of Asia, tea bricks were used as a form of currency throughout China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Tea bricks were, in fact, the preferred form of currency over metallic coins for the nomads of Mongolia and Siberia. The tea could not only be used as money and eaten as food in times of hunger, but also brewed as allegedly beneficial medicine for treating coughs and colds. Until World War II, tea bricks were still used as a form of edible currency in Siberia. Tea bricks for Tibet were mainly produced in the area of Yaan (formerly Yachou-fu) in Sichuan province.
