Chinese coins

Coins are one of the most easily recognized symbols of prosperity and good fortune and China, being one of the first countries in the world to use coins, has a monetary history going back more than 2,500 years. For this reason, ancient Chinese coin symbols have historically been popular for such non-currency purposes as fortune-telling, [...]

The Tlingit (特里吉特人) are one of the Native American people that live along the southern coastal region of Alaska and western Canada. They have long enjoyed a reputation for being skilled traders and competent warriors.  They have strikingly beautiful homes, carve large and imposing totem poles, and wear highly decorated ceremonial clothing made of bird [...]

A large quantity of Tang Dynasty kaiyuan tongbao (开元通宝) coins were recently unearthed at an 1,100-year-old temple in Quanzhou (泉州), Fujian Province (福建省), according to a local newspaper report. Construction of the Fuhaiyuan (福海院) Temple in Anxi Prefecture (安溪县) began in the year 900 AD. The temple still has such ancient cultural artifacts as a [...]

Although it is not included in most Chinese coin catalogs, this coin is known as the “King of Qing Dynasty Coins” (清钱之王). Chinese coin collectors refer to it as the “daqing one hundred” (daqing yibai 大清壹百). It is a denomination “100 cash” (壹百) coin cast at the Fuzhou (福州) mint during the reign (1850-1861) of the [...]

Chinese archaeologists recently excavated approximately 3,500 kilograms of coins, as well as more than 100 clay coin casting moulds, from the ruins of an ancient Chinese mint dating from the 1st Century AD according to several newspaper reports. The coins were found at a site in the town of Huoluochaideng (霍洛柴登) in Ordos City (鄂尔多斯) [...]

Various forms of non-governmental currencies began to appear in the Changzhou (常州) area of Jiangsu Province (江苏省) during the early years (1939-1941) of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China (zhongguo kangri zhanzheng 中国抗日战争). These currencies were issued by various stores and individuals and only circulated in a very limited area.  They took the form [...]

On November 25, 2012, a very rare coin from the Warring States period  (475-221 BC) was sold at auction by the Beijing ChengXuan Auctions Co., Ltd (北京诚轩拍卖有限公司). The coin sold for US$591,000 (RMB 3,680,000) which set a new world record for an ancient Chinese coin. The coin, shown at the left, is known as a [...]

Now there is a restaurant in Beijing where you can spend ancient Chinese money to buy “donkey burgers” (lurou huoshao 驴肉火烧). An article in the November 26, 2012 edition of the Beijing Evening News (beijing wanbao 北京晚报) describes a restaurant that sells donkey burgers with the prices denominated in ancient Chinese money.  Donkey burgers are [...]

Chinese charms very often resemble Chinese coins.  A number of old Chinese charms are modeled after a coin issued during the reign of Emperor Taizong (太宗 939-997 AD) of the Northern Song Dynasty.  The inscription on the coin was taiping tongbao (太平通宝) which translates as “Currency of the Great Peace”. At the left is a [...]

In early October, 2012, a villager digging near an old wall in wangminxiang hongtaicun village (王民乡红太村) located in Xiji Prefecture (西吉县) in China’s northwest Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (宁夏回族自治区) unearthed 17 ancient Silk Road coins, according to several reports in the Chinese press. The newspapers interviewed Mr. Su Zhengxi (苏正喜) of the Xiji Prefecture Coin [...]

A Chinese villager digging a well in his yard unearthed a large cache of knife and spade money dating to the Warring States (战国 475-221 BC) and Qin Dynasty (秦 221-207 BC) period according a recent newspaper report from Hebei Province (河北省). This is the first time such a large and ancient hoard of coins [...]