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質權(pledge) is a security created on 動產 (pesonal property), including negotiable instruments, corporate share certificates, etc. where the possession of the property must be passed to the creditor (pledgee).

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Note added at 1 day 1 hr 53 mins (2004-10-17 13:51:30 GMT)
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Pledge is a security created on personal property, and the possession (占有)of the property must be transferred to the creditor. Mortgage is a security on real estate (不動產) and the possession of the property does not have to pass to the creditor (mortgagee), but the mortgage must be recorded 登記(general with a government agency)to be effective. Hypothecation is a unique system under the Franch Civil Code. It is similar to mortgage on real property, but the possession is passed to the credit. You have probably heard from the elders about an old system in China,whereby a residential house or shop was 頂讓 to a money borrower, i.e. to create a mortgage on the house or shop in favor of the money borrower as a security for repayment of the debt. But unlike a mortgage, possession of the property (house or shop)would have to be transferred to the borrower, although the property could usually be redeemed 贖回 within an agreed period of time upon full repayment of the debt. This old Chinese system is very much similar to hypothecation in France.

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Note added at 1 day 20 hrs 15 mins (2004-10-18 08:12:43 GMT)
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Lasst Hermit is right in that the term 質權 is basically a Taiwanese legal term. The same term is also used in Japanese law. In PRC before 1995, the only legal mechanism available for securing repayment of debts was 抵押 under the PRC 《民法通則》第89條〈二〉, which was applicable to both real property (also called immovables 不動產) and personal property (also called movables 動產) , but no detail rules were enacted to put the general statute into practice. In 1995, the National People\'s Congress enacted the 《中華人民共和國擔保法》as the first law to regulate the mechnisms of security against debts and the relationship between the creditor and the debtor under such mechnisms. For the first time, 抵押 is clearly defined by Articles 33 & 34 of the Law (which, incidentally, may be translated into \"Security Law\") as a security created by the debtor on real property (land, building, and other structures on land) and machinery, tansportation means, etc.),without delivery of the possession of the property. Chapter of the Law regulates 質押 〈包括動產質押和權利質押〉. The Chinese term has the same meaning as 質 權 in law and practice. 參閱：徐開墅主編《民商法辭典》〈1997 上海人民出版社〉：“職權(pledge) 指為了擔保債務的屢行，債權人佔有債務人或第三人移交的動產或權利...抵押權以不動產為客體，一般不移轉佔有；質權以動產和權利為客體，主要以移轉佔有為特點。我國擔保法將質押分為動產質押和權利質押兩種....Hence, under the PRC law, 質押 is a formal legal term, and 質權 may be considered an informal term to emphasize the \"right\" of the pledgee (質權人holder of the right to the pledge).

Bankers in Taiwan also use the term 質押 in collateral agreements to include both pledge and mortgage.