Laozi and Zhang Daoling Charm

October 30, 2011
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The Chinese have been producing coin-shaped charms and amulets in a variety of themes for more than 2,000 years.  One of the most visually appealing types of charms involves scenes of people. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to interpret what historic or legendary scene is being presented. The charm at the left is frequently referred [...]

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Coins Discovered at Rufu Stone Pagoda

October 28, 2011
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Chinese archaeologists working at an ancient stone pagoda in Hainan Province (海南省) recently made a discovery which will help to establish the date when the pagoda was originally built. An article in the October 27, 2011 edition of the Haikou Evening News (海口晚报) describes the restoration work being done at the Rufu Stone Pagoda (儒符石塔) [...]

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Lu Xun and Chinese Coins

October 26, 2011
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Lu Xun (鲁迅 1881-1936) is recognized as one of the greatest Chinese writers of the 20th Century and the founder of modern Chinese literature. Few people, however, are aware of Lu Xun’s contributions to Chinese numismatics.  He was not only a collector of ancient Chinese coins but he also wrote a manuscript annotating Chinese coins [...]

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“Cassia and Orchid” Charm

October 24, 2011
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An article in “The Oriental Collection” (dongfang shoucang 东方收藏) introduced a rarely seen Chinese charm from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). One side of the charm has the inscription gui zi lan sun (桂子蘭孫). Gui (桂) refers to a plant known as the “cassia” and zi  (子) refers to “seeds”.  Lan (蘭) is the “orchid” and [...]

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Tons of Song Dynasty Iron Coins Discovered

October 21, 2011
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A Chinese newspaper reported today that several tons of iron coins dating from the Song Dynasty were recently discovered in a field near the city of Cangzhou (沧州), Hebei Province in northeast China.  Although the coins protruding through the soil have rusted together, they can still be seen just the way they were arranged in [...]

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Xian Numismatic Museum

September 27, 2011
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The official opening of the Xian Numismatic Museum (西安钱币博物馆) was announced today in a Chinese newspaper article. The new money museum is located in the ancient city of Xian (西安), the capital of Shaanxi Province (陕西).  Xian, formerly known as Changan (长安), has a history of more than 3,100 years and was the eastern terminus [...]

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Chinese Palindrome Charm

September 20, 2011
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A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same forward or backwards.  For example, “rats live on no evil star” is the same whether you read it left to right or right to left. Creating palindromes is actually much easier in Chinese, which uses “characters”, than in English which uses an alphabet.  If [...]

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Chinese “World of Brightness” Coin

September 18, 2011
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The first Chinese machine-made cash coins were minted during the reign (1875-1908) of Emperor De Zong of the Qing Dynasty. As seen at the left, these brass coins had the inscription guang xu tong bao (光緒通寶).  Many of these coins were struck at the mint in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province during the years 1889-1908. Another coin [...]

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More than 2,200 Rare “Later Jin Dynasty” Coins Discovered

September 14, 2011

According to an article published in today’s Liaoning Daily (辽宁日报), the local police have arrested a gang of thieves who unearthed more than 2,200 rare coins dating from the Later Jin (后金) Dynasty (1616-1636 AD). According to the report, the Bureau of Public Security of Liaoyang City (辽阳市) has arrested three men suspected of the [...]

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Store Signs of Ancient Chinese Coins

September 11, 2011
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Store signs (招牌) in ancient China started to become common during the Song Dynasty (960-1127).  By the time of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, stores had developed several types of signs to establish their identity. The first store signs consisted of a simple piece of cloth with some Chinese characters which was hung [...]

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Chinese Chess Mooncakes

September 8, 2011
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Chinese chess or xiangqi (象棋) is one of the most ancient forms of chess. Old Chinese chess pieces, similar to the “chariot” (車) piece displayed here, were made of bronze and can date back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). A complete set of these old Chinese chess pieces would be extremely difficult to collect. [...]

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Zithers and Grasshoppers

September 7, 2011
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Zithers and grasshoppers may seem like an unlikely combination but they  are the theme of an old Chinese charm. The zithers in this case refer to the ancient Chinese musical instruments of the qin (琴) and the se (瑟). The qin or guqin (古琴) is a seven-stringed zither which was the instrument played by the [...]

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