Between 1916 and 1928, the right of the stronger ruled in China; provincial governors and everyone else who could afford it recruited an army of his own. The personalities of these war lords were quite different: former generals participated in the power struggle just as the 13th Dalai Lama in Tibet, and a German baron ruled in outer Mongolia. The chaotic state of the country naturally had an immediate effect on its currency because everyone of the different war lords issued his own coins. This piece is from the province of Xinjiang. Xinjiang had been part of the Chinese Empire since the Manchu's had conquered this area in the 18th century. Rebellions characterized the region ever since this time – and up to this very day.