Chinese, Japan and Korean currency units with names 'circle, round' and round-shaped coins appeared in the 19th century under the influence of the Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (Spanish real de a ocho, dólar, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), a silver coin worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497. It was widely used as the international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency. In the Far East, it also appeared in the form of the Philippine peso in the Philippines as part of the Spanish colonial empire through the galleons that transported Mexican silver peso to Manila, where it would be exchanged for Philippine and Chinese goods, since silver was the only foreign commodity China would accept. In Chinese this coins were called 'silver yuan' (银圆) or 'western yuan' (洋圆). The specifications of the Spanish dollar became a trade standard in the Far East. Later United Kingdom issued colonial currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar (香港壹圆, 1866) and Straits dollar, with the same specifications i.e. a weight 7 mace and 2 candareens (approx. 27.22 grams or 420 grains) and a fineness of .900 (90%). The names of these coins in China, Japan and Korea derives from 圓, meaning round or circular object in Chinese, a link to these silver coins surviving in the modern names of the Chinese, Japanese and North and South Korean currencies, that is yuan, yen, and won. The first locally minted silver dollar or yuan accepted all over Qing Dynasty China was the 'silver dragon dollar' (龍銀圓) introduced in 1889. On June 27, 1871 the Meiji government officially adopted the "yen" as Japan's modern unit of currency under the New Currency Act of 1871. The Korean won was introduced in 1902.