Chinese Coins
Introduction and History
China was among the first countries
in the world to use money as documented by historical records and
actual artifacts
dating back 4,000 years. By the time of the Shang Dynasty (16th ~
11th century BC), sea shells (cowrie) were already circulating as a
major form of currency.
China achieved the ability to cast very refined works of bronze early on
as evidenced by its extraordinary Shang and Zhou Dynasty ritual bronzes.
Based
on
this
technology,
the
first
metallic
coins,
which
even included "bronze" sea shells, appeared in
various
forms in different regions of the country during the Western Zhou
Dynasty (11th century ~ 771 BC), the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476
BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).
Some of these first forms of money were cast in shapes which resembled tools of the time such as spades or shovels (bubi 布币). An early example of spade-shaped money from the Kingdom of Zhou is shown at the left.
Another type of money was based on an ancient bronze implement known as a xue (削). This implement was in the shape of a knife and this knife-shaped money (dao bi 刀币) circulated in the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao.
Still another type of money that appeared during the Warring States Period was ring-shaped (huan qian 环 钱). Because this form of money was circular with a round hole in the center, such coins are also known as "round" money (yuan qian 圆钱). These coins are believed to have been patterned after jade rings or, perhaps, a spinning wheel.
One additional type of bronze money from this time period consisted of small oval pieces cast in the State of Chu. This form of money is known as "ant nose" (yi bi qian 蚁鼻钱), and "devil" or "ghost" faced money (gui lian qian 鬼脸钱) because the characters inscribed on them resemble a human face.
When
Qin
Shi
Huang
unified
the
country
in
221
BC and established the
Qin Dynasty, he abolished the above-mentioned forms of money that had
been circulating in the other Warring States and stipulated that the
legal coinage would
be a round coin with a square hole in the center weighing a half tael
or ban liang. This type of coin, known as
a ban liang (半两),
continued to be cast through the end of the Qin Dynasty and into the
Western Han Dynasty.
A ban liang from the Qin Dynasty is displayed at the left.
In 118 BC, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) replaced the ban liang with a different type of round coin with a square hole in the center. This coin was also named according to its weight and is known as the wu zhu or wu shu (五 铢). This basic coin shape was adopted by subsequent dynasties and continued to be cast in various forms for more than 700 years.
In 621 AD, Emperor Gao Zu of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) cast a new coin known as the kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝). From this time on, Chinese cash coins were no longer named according to their weight. Instead, they were named tong bao (通宝), zhong bao (重宝) or yuan bao (元宝). This practice continued through the subsequent dynasties down to the end of the last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Chinese "charms", as a form independent of coins, did not really appear until the Han Dynasty. But, even some of the earliest forms of metal money such as spades and knives had charm-like qualities in that they had "auspicious" or "good luck" characters and inscriptions.
This website primarily explores facets of Chinese culture through an examination of Chinese charms. While Chinese charms evolved into a number of different shapes and forms over a period of 2,000 years, the most common shape continued to resemble the familiar shape of ancient Chinese coins which were round with a square hole in the center.
Because of the close relationship between Chinese coins and charms, a variety of old Chinese coins from the various dynasties are discussed in different topics and on different pages of this website to provide a clearer picture of the background and historical context from which Chinese charms emerged.
Many visitors to this website, however, have a specific interest in these ancient Chinese coins themselves. In order to facilitate their research, I am providing links on this page to the Chinese coins scattered throughout the website.
Additionally, I have included on this page the images and a short introduction to other old Chinese coins in my collection which have not been discussed on other pages but which visitors may also find of interest.
Cowrie
shells
were
the
earliest
form
of
money
to
appear during the
Shang Dynasty (16th Century BC - 11th Century BC) in China.
Cowrie shells had certain qualities which made them desirable as
objects of value. They were white and glossy, were fairly uniform
in size and weight, and, if ground flat on one side to form an opening,
large numbers of cowrie shells could be easily strung together to make
carrying convenient.
Because conditions for transportation and trade were very primitive at the time, cowrie shells became more and more valuable the further inland they were carried.
During Shang times, it was considered an honor for officials to be bestowed cowrie shells by their superiors. In fact the Chinese word for "bestow" (ci 赐) even has the Chinese character for shell (bei 贝) as the left component of the character. Other Chinese words relating to "money" still retain the "shell" character (bei 贝) component, such as "wealth" (cai 财), "trade" (mao 贸), "money" or "goods" (huo 货), etc.
By the time of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC - 256 BC), however, cowrie shells were being replaced by imitation shells made of bone or metal. Even so, there are records indicating that real cowrie shells continued to be used as money even as late as the Yuan (1271-1368 AD) and Ming Dynasties (1368-1644 AD) in parts of Yunnan Province.
The earliest man-made forms of money were actually "imitation" cowrie shells made of bone such as the example here.
This example of bone shell money has a length of 23 mm, a width of 15 mm and a weight of 2.3 grams.
During the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty (475 BC - 221 BC), the State of Chu used a form of bronze money called Ant Nose Money (yi bi qian 蚁鼻钱) or Ghost Face Money (gui lian qian 鬼脸钱).
The Ant Nose Money specimen at the left has an inscription, read from top to bottom, which is currently believed to be "each six zhu" (ge liu zhu 各六朱). The zhu was an ancient measure of weight and each of these early forms of money would have been the equivalent of six zhu.
This particular example has a length of 17.8 mm, a width of 10 mm and a weight of 1.8 grams.
This is another example of Ant Nose Money.
It has a single character which is believed to be jun (君).
The Chinese character jun (君) means a "chief","sovereign" or "ruler" but it is unclear what this character may have signified during the period in history when this form of money circulated.
This specimen has a length of 18 mm, a width of 10.5 mm and a weight of 1.7 grams.
This type of spade money is characterized by an arched or rounded crotch between the two legs.
This spade money was cast approximately 400-300 BC during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty.
The spade coin at the left has an inscription which is believed to be liang yi jin (梁一钅斤).
Liang was one of the ancient states of China.
The "yi jin" means "one" jin with a jin being a unit of weight.
This spade money has a length of 56 mm and a width of 35 mm. The weight is 15.2 grams.
This is an example of a flat
handled spade money from the Zhou Dynasty.
The characteristic of this type of spade money is that it has a round handle, round shoulders and round feet.
This type of spade money may have been cast during the late Warring States period in the States of Qin and Zhao.
It is also possible that these coins were cast in the 4th century BC in the State of Zhong Shan.
The obverse side at the far left has the archaic Chinese character lin (蔺).
The reverse side of the spade coin is shown at the near left and appears to be inscribed with a number(s). The inverted "v" in the center may represent the number "six". The horizontal line below the "six" may represent the number "one".
It is unclear what the number "61" may signify.
This spade money has a length of 67.5 mm and a maximum width of 37 mm. The weight is 9.3 grams.
Displayed below is an example of knife money from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) of the Zhou Dynasty.
This form of money circulated during the years 600-400 BC in the State of Yan in northeast China.
This specific form of ancient Chinese money is known as a "pointed tip" knife (jian shou dao 尖首刀) because the end of the blade extends to a point.
If you examine the knife closely you will see a single character inscription near the bottom edge of the blade. This character is believed to be the Chinese character bu (卜) which means "to divine" or "to foretell". However, the characters on these ancient forms of money are not well understood and it is not clear as to their exact meaning or reference.
This specimen of Pointed Tip knife money has a length of 16 cm and a weight of 15.9 grams.
This is one of the first round
coins cast in ancient China.
Ring-shaped coins, known as huan qian (环钱), first appeared during the Warring States period (475-221 BC).
The simple round shape, which would eventually evolve into the universally recognized Chinese "cash coin", made the coins more convenient to carry than the knife and spade money that had been circulating.
The origin for the round shape with a round hole is believed to have been from either the spinning wheel or the ancient Chinese jade ring known as a bi (璧). The exact purpose of the bi is unknown but it may have originally been a symbol for the sky. It also seemed to have symbolized morality and official rank.
The inscription is one character only and is believed to be gong (共). Gong was a city in the ancient State of Liang.
The coin has a diameter of 44.5 mm and a weight of 9.8 grams.
This is another Zhou Dynasty round coin.
The inscription is currently believed to be qi yuan yi jin (漆垣一钅斤) which translates as "Qiyuan one jin".
Older texts had interpreted the inscription as chang yuan yi jin (长垣一钅 斤).
This coin was cast in the State of Liang during the period 350-220 BC.
The diameter of the coin is 37 mm and the weight is 9.4 grams.
To see other examples of Zhou Dynasty spade money and round coins please click on the desired link below:
Emperor Qin Shi Huang conquered the other "warring states" in 221 BC and in so doing unified China for the first time in its history. He proceeded to standardize the various scripts, weights and measures that were in use.
In order to standardize the monetary system, he abolished the other forms of money. This meant that the cowrie, spade money, knife money, and round coins of the other states could no longer circulate. Instead, there would be a two tier system with a "higher" form of currency (shang bi 上币) made of gold and a "lower" form of currency (xia bi 下币) made of bronze.
The "lower" form of currency,
shown at the left, was established as a
round bronze coin having a square hole in the middle and with a value
of
a half "tael" or half liang (两).
A
"liang"
consisted
of
24
zhu
(铢) so the coin pictured here was worth half (ban 半) a
"liang", or 12 zhu (铢),
and
is known
as a ban liang (banliang 半两) coin.
The Qin Dynasty ban liang was a coin that was named after its weight. It was rimless in that it did not have a rim on either the outside edge of the coin or around the central square hole. It also had a flat reverse side with no inscription.
This is a fairly
rare Qin Dynasty ban liang
variety which was cast during the period 300-200 BC.
As you can see, the ban (半) character to the right of the square hole is similar to that of other Qin banliangs, such as the specimen illustrated above.
However, the liang (两) character to the left of the hole is upside-down (inverted).
If you rotate or "circumgyrate" the coin clockwise 180 degrees, the liang (两) character will be right-side up on the right side of the coin and the ban (半) character will then be upside-down on the left.
The Chinese refer to this as xuan du (旋读).
It is unknown why a very small number of ban liang coins were cast in this way.
This coin has a diameter of about 31.7 mm and a weight of 6 grams.
This form of currency proved to be very practical. Coins could be easily strung together and conveniently carried. The ban liang, with its round shape and square hole, established the shape of Chinese coins for the centuries to come. This tradition of Chinese coins being round with square holes, known as "Chinese cash", continued for about 2,100 years until China's imperial history finally ended at the beginning of the 20th Century.
The Han Dynasty continued the use of the ban liang (半两) bronze coin, established during the Qin Dynasty, up until the year 118 BC when it was replaced by the wu zhu (五 铢) coin.
However, the Han did change the unit of weight for the gold or "higher" form of currency (shang bi 上币). The gold currency continued to be named according to its weight but, instead of being denominated in tael or liang (两) as it was under the Qin, was now denominated in jin (斤). A jin during Han times equaled about 250-300 grams.
This meant that one jin of the Han gold currency was equal to about 10,000 of the bronze ban liang coins.
Because the Qin ban liang was considered too heavy and inconvenient to use, the Han government beginning around the year 200 BC permitted the people to cast ban liang coins. Unfortunately, these coins tended to be very small and light and, because of their resemblance, became known as "elm seed" (yu jia 榆荚) ban liang coins.
It is important to note that these elm seed coins were still denominated by their presumed weight of "ban liang". While a ban liang from the Qin Dynasty averaged about 8 grams, the average weight of an elm seed ban liang was only slightly more than 1 gram. The heaviest weighed less than 2 grams. The lightest weighed only about 0.25 gram!
In response to the extreme disruption to the economy these very small coins were creating, Empress Lu in 186 BC stipulated that the official ban liang be cast at a weight of 8 zhu (铢). These new coins were thin but still had a diameter of about 26-30 mm and a weight of approximately 4.8-5.3 grams. An additional characteristic was that the ban liang inscription was now written in the "official script" (li shu 隶书) of the Han Dynasty.
In the sixth year (182 BC) of her reign, Empress Lu ordered the government to cast ban liang with a weight of 2.4 zhu (铢). These coins were thus smaller, only about 20 mm in diameter, and also had a large square hole. They typically weigh only about 1.5 grams. Since they were in reality only one-fifth of a ban liang, they are commonly referred to as "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang coins.
This coin is considered to be one of the rarer varieties of Han Dynasty 2.4 zhu (铢) ban liang, also known as a "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang, cast during the reign of Empress Lu Hou.
The inscription ban liang (半 两) is in its normal position to the right and left of the square hole.
What makes this coin special, however, is that this inscription is repeated with a liang (两) character above the square hole and a ban (半) character below.
If you rotate the coin 90 degrees counter-clockwise, you can still read the inscription from right to left as ban liang (半 两).
The reverse side of
this coin is also interesting because it displays a phenomenon
occasionally seen on ban liang
coins.
What appears to be an incused four character inscription actually is not.
During the casting of the coin, the bronze contracted as it was cooling in the mold. Areas that were high spots on the obverse side, such as the raised parts of the Chinese characters, caused the corresponding areas on the reverse side to be depressed.
For example, if you look at the area above the square hole on the reverse side, you will see what appears to be four "dots". These correspond to the "spaces" between the strokes of the liang (两) character located at the top of the coin on the obverse side.
So, these are not actually "raised" dots. It just appears that way. The area surrounding these "dots" is actually depressed to correspond with the raised area of the liang (两) character on the obverse side.
This phenomenon is easily seen on this particular coin because it is a typical "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang coin which means the metal is thin.
The coin has a diameter of 23.4 mm and a weight of 1.1 grams.
Shown at the left is another less frequently seen variety of the Han Dynasty 2.4 zhu (铢) ban liang cast during the reign of Empress Lu Hou.
This coin has a large square hole typical of "5 parts" ban liangs.
However, the coin has a very broad outside rim, which includes the Chinese inscription (ban liang 半两), and which protrudes well above the surface of the hole.
To the Chinese, these characteristics make the coin look like the eye of a snake and this variety of ban liang is, therefore, famously known as the "snake eye" ban liang (she mu ban liang 蛇目半两).
The coin has a diameter of 23.4 mm and a weight of 2.7 grams.
Emperor Wen changed the size of the ban liang again in the fifth year (175 BC) of his reign by ordering that the coin be cast at a value of 4 zhu (铢). The 4 zhu ban liangs typically have a diameter of about 23-25 mm and a weight of 3 grams or less.
Emperor Wu, at the beginning of his reign, made the final change to the ban liang by adding a rim.
A very few 4
zhu
ban
liangs
are
distinguished by displaying special
symbols such as "stars" (dots), "moons" (crescents), lines and
numbers. A number of these ban
liang coins with special symbols may be seen at Emergence of Chinese Charms.
The 4 zhu ban liang shown here is another fairly rare type because it is made of lead.
It has a diameter of 23.5 mm and a weight of 3.5 grams.
The 4 zhu ban liangs were cast for a little more than 50 years until Emperor Wu, in the winter of the fourth year (119 BC) of the Yuan Shou reign, ordered that it be replaced with a new coin called the Three Zhu (san zhu 三 铢) which weighed about 2 grams.
The san zhu coin was only cast for a few months, however, and so very few exist.
In the spring of the fifth year (118 BC) of the Yuan Shou reign, Emperor Wu ordered that casting of the san zhu cease and that it be replaced with a new Five Zhu coin (wu zhu or wu shu 五 铢).
Large quantities of wu zhu coins were cast during the Han Dynasty and wu zhu coins continued to be cast throughout the dynasties that followed until they were finally replaced by the kai yuan tong bao coin in 621 AD at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. The wu zhu was, therefore, used for over 700 years which makes it the longest used coin in Chinese history.
A more detailed history of the wu zhu, accompanied by images of a number of specimens displaying special symbols, may be seen here.
Many varieties of Han Dynasty ban liang and wu zhu (wu shu) coins can be viewed at the links below:
Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and Later Wu
Zhu Coins
Dong Zhuo (董卓) was a cruel
and tyrannical warlord that lived (138-192 AD) near the end of the
Eastern Han and whose infamy was forever immortalized in the famous 14th
Century historical novel Romance of
the Three Kingdoms (san guo
yan yi 三国演义) written by Luo Guanzhong.
He moved the capital from Luoyang to Chang'an (Xian) in 190 AD and while there melted down large bronze statues dating from the time of Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) to cast small coins.
Many of these coins were so small that they were popularly referred to as "goose eye" (e yan 鹅眼) or "chicken eye" (ji mu 鸡目) coins.
Some of these small coins, however, were also cast with the wu zhu (五 铢) inscription but because of their diminutive size only the left half of the wu (五) character and the right half of the zhu (铢) character fit on the coin.
Displayed here is an example of such a wu zhu coin attributed to Dong Zhuo. Despite its crude appearance, the characters are actually very well cast in high relief. The zhu character to the left of the square hole is particularly distinctive in that it extends from the top of the rim to the bottom.
It is also important to note that this coin is not what is referred to as a "chiselled rim" (zao bian 凿边) coin where a normal size wu zhu coin had the inside cut out so as to form two coins. This wu zhu coin was actually cast like this as evidenced by the remnant of the metal sprue (stub) from the casting process located at the rim's five o'clock position.
This small coin has a diameter of 17 mm and a weight of 1.1 grams.
This wu zhu (五 铢) coin was cast during the Datong period (540) of the reign of Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty (535-556).
The special characteristic of these Datong wu zhu coins are the broad outer rim and an inner rim only by the wu (五) character to the right of the square hole.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 3.8 grams.
The wu zhu
(五
铢) coin at the left looks very similar to the one above.
However, this coin is attributed to the Sui Dynasty (581-618).
At the beginning of his Kai Huang reign, Emperor Wen Di ordered the minting of a standard coin and abolished all other forms of money. He later permitted princes to also mint these coins in their fiefdoms.
These coins were cast beginning in 581 and are known as "Sui wu zhu" (隋五 铢) or "kai huang wu zhu" (开皇五 铢).
This particular specimen is very unusual in that it has a nail mark or crescent moon above the square hole.
The diameter of the coin is 23 mm and the weight is 2.9 grams.
Wu zhu coins were cast for more than 700 years. It is very difficult to attribute these coins to a specific reign but examples of various types of wu zhu coins can be seen at the following links.
Chen (557-589)
This coin with the beautiful calligraphy was cast in the eleventh year (579) of the Tai Jian reign of Emperor Xuan (557-589) of Chen of the Southern Dynasties.
The inscription is tai huo liu zhu (太货六铢) which translates as "large coin six zhu".
The coin was originally worth ten regular wu zhu coins but because of popular discontent was revalued to one wu zhu.
The Chinese character (liu 六), meaning "six", at the right of the square hole, resembles a person standing akimbo (with hands on hips and legs apart). The saying at the time was that this symbolized the people crying before the Emperor because of the over-valued currency.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 3.4 grams.
Northern Dynasties
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the wu zhu (五铢) coins of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) were still in common use.
However, in the 4th year (621) of the Wu De reign of Emperor Gaozu use of the wu zhu was abolished. A new coin began to be cast with the inscription kai yuan tong bao (开元 通宝) under the strict standard that ten of the new coins would be equal in weight to one liang (两).
This marked a monumental change in the history of Chinese coinage. Chinese coins would no longer be named after their weight, such as "half tael" (ban liang 半两) or "five zhu" (wu zhu 五铢). Instead, cash coins would have inscriptions with tong bao (通寶), yuan bao (元寶) and zhong bao (重寶).
Another important change was that the coin inscription would no longer be written in the ancient zhuan shu (篆书) or "seal" script. The coin inscription would now be written in li shu (隶书) or "official" script which is a square and plain style of Chinese calligraphy.
Emperor Gaozu had one of the Tang Dynasty's most famous calligraphers, Ouyang Xun (欧阳询), write the inscription for the new coin.
These changes meant that the more that 700 year "reign" of the wu zhu (五铢) coin had finally come to an end. The new kai yuan tong bao, with an inscription stipulating tong bao ("universal" or "circulating" currency) instead of its weight, and written in "official" script instead of "seal" script, would become the model for most of the coins cast in the dynasties that followed.
The kai yuan tong bao would continue to be cast for 200 years. So great was the influence of the new Tang Dynasty coin that it also became the model for the coinage of Japan, Korea and Annam (Vietnam).
The vast majority of kai yuan tong bao (开元
通宝) coins were made of bronze.
Among the many kai yuan tong bao varieties, however, are also ones made of gold, silver, lead, "white copper" ("white bronze"), and iron.
The kai yuan tong bao at the left dates from the Tang Dynasty and is made of iron. Many of these coins were produced in Sichuan where there was a lack of copper. Casting coins made of iron was thus more practical and less expensive.
There is also some evidence that during the Tang Dynasty iron kai yuan tong bao coins circulated in Hebei as well.
This coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 2.3 grams.
This coin was cast in the year 666 of the reign of Emperor Gao Zong (649-683) of the Tang Dynasty.
The inscription is written clockwise as qian feng quan bao (乾封泉宝).
The coin was originally valued as the equivalent to ten cash coins.
However, this valuation prompted extensive forgery and the coin was withdrawn from circulation after only one year.
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 3.8 grams.
Additional Tang Dynasty coins displayed on this website can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate link below:
The lead coin at the left is also from the reign of Liu Yan of the Southern Han.
The inscription on the obverse reads qian heng zhong bao (乾亨重宝)
The reverse side has the Chinese character yong (邕) above the square hole signifying that the coin was cast at the mint in Yongzhou, Guangxi Province.
The coin has a diameter of 27 mm and a weight of 4.3 grams.
This is another lead
coin attributed to the Southern Han Kingdom or Kingdom of Chu which
means it was cast in the period 900-971.
The inscription reads wu zhu (五 铢) and the coin resembles the wu zhu coins of the Han and later dynasties.
The coin is distinctive because of the swastikas above and below the square hole.
The swastika, which can also be found on earlier wu zhu coins, is an ancient Chinese symbol and is believed to represent the Chinese character wan (万) meaning "ten-thousand". The extended meaning is "many".
The swastika is also an ancient Buddhist symbol and Buddhism was a major religion in China at the time this coin was cast.
The reverse side of the coin is flat.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 2.9 grams.
Wang Jian founded and ruled the Former Shu Kingdom (907-925), another of the Ten Kingdoms, during the period 907-918.
The bronze cash coin at the left was cast in the year 916.
The inscription is read clockwise as tong zheng yuan bao (通正元宝).
The diameter is 24 mm and the weight is 3.8 grams.
This is another coin cast during the rule of Wang Jian of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription is written clockwise as guang tian yuan bao (光天元宝) and was cast in the year 918.
The reverse side has a crescent moon above the square hole.
The coin has a diameter of about 24 mm and a weight of 3 grams.
The coin to the left was cast during the reign of Wang Yan (919-925), the son of Wang Jian, of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription is read clockwise as qian de yuan bao (乾德元宝).
These coins were cast during the years 919-924.
The diameter is 24 mm and the weight is 2.5 grams.
This is another coin cast during the rule of Wang Yan of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription reads clockwise as xian kang yuan bao (咸康元宝).
This coin was cast in the year 925.
The coin has a diameter of about 23 mm and a weight of 3.3 grams.
The coin at the left is from the reign of Emperor Yuan Zu (Li Jing) (943-961) of the Southern Tang Kingdom (937-975).
The inscription is read top to bottom and right to left as da tang tong bao (大唐通宝).
These coins were first cast in the year 959.
The diameter is 23 mm and the weight is 2.9 grams.
This coin is also from the Southern Tang Kingdom.
These coins began to be cast in 961 during the reign of Emperor Li Yu (961-978).
The inscription is written in seal (zhuan) script and reads kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝).
Coins with the same inscription, but written in regular script, were also cast. This was China's earliest example of dui qian (对钱) which means a set of matching coins with the same inscription but written in different calligraphic styles. Dui qian coinage would become very common during the Song Dynasty .
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 4.3 grams.
The Song Dynasty produced a vast variety of coins of very high esthetic value and with a large number of names and titles. Each new emperor minted coins not only after enthronement but many times with each change of the nian hao (年号) which was the "imperial title", also known as "reign title" or "period title".
Coins were also cast in a number of major calligraphic styles including seal script (zhuan shu 篆书), regular script (kai shu 楷书 or zhen shu 真书), clerk or official script (li shu 隶书), running script (xing shu 行书), and grass script (cao shu 草书).
The variety of coins from the Song is so vast that many collectors and researchers specialize in just the coins of this dynasty.
Emperor Tai Zu (960-976) was the first emperor of the Song Dynasty and established its capital at Kaifeng in Henan. Coins were cast in very large quantities with the inscription song yuan tong bao (宋元通宝). The inscription song yuan, meaning "inauguration of the Song", was modeled on the kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝) which was the inaugural coin of the Tang Dynasty. Similar to the Tang coin, many of the song yuan tong bao coins have dots (stars) and crescents (moons) in various positions on their reverse sides.
After "pacifying" Sichuan, the Song ruler had the bronze coins circulating in the area sent back to the capital. The bronze coins were replaced with those cast of iron which caused the price of goods to soar resulting in great hardship to the local populace.
Emperor Tai Zong (976-997) began the tradition of casting new coins with each change of reign title. Coins with the reign titles of Tai Ping (太平 975-989), Chun Hua (淳化 990-994) and Zhi Dao (至道 995-997) were produced. The tai ping tong bao coins resembled the song yuan tong bao (宋元通宝) coins. The coins with the inscription (legend) chun hua yuan bao (淳化元宝) are noteworthy because the calligraphy was done by Emperor Tai Zong himself in regular script, running script and grass script.
One can make an interesting observation concerning these first four coins of the Song dynasty. As already mentioned, the first coin, the song yuan tong bao, is similar to the first coin of the Tang Dynasty, the kai yuan tong bao, in that there are many varieties with dots (stars) and crescents (moons) in various positions on the reverse side. But the appearance of such symbols on the reverse side of the coins gradually decreased with the introduction of each successive reign title. For example, these symbols are found much less often on the tai ping tong bao and chun hua yuan bao coins, and are fairly rare by the time the zhi dao yuan bao (至 道元宝) coins were issued.
One other characteristic of Song Dynasty coins was established with these first issues. The coins have an obverse side with strong, deeply impressed characters and rims. The reverse sides, on the other hand, exhibit weak and shallow features.
During the reign of Emperor Zhen Zong (998-1022) coins were cast with the period titles Xian Ping (咸平 998-1003), Jing De (景德 1004-1007), Xiang Fu (祥符 1008-1016), and Tian Xi (天禧 1017-1022). All these coins have inscriptions written in regular script. Also, all the coins have blank reverses with the exception of an extremely few xiang fu tong bao coins which have dots and crescents.
Emperor Ren Zong (1023-1063) had coins with eight period titles cast during his reign. These include Tian Sheng (天圣1023-1031), Ming Dao (明道 1032-1033), Jing You (景佑 1034-1038), Huang Song (皇 宋 1039-1054?), Kang Ding (康定 1040), Qing Li (庆历 1041-1048), Zhi He (至和 1054-1055) and Jia You (嘉佑 1056-1063).
One interesting and very rare variety of the huang song tong bao (皇宋通宝) coin has the inscription written in "ninefold" script (jiu die zhuan 九叠篆) which was a style of calligraphy usually reserved for use only on official Song Dynasty seals.
Huang You (皇佑 1049-1053) was another period title used during Emperor Ren Zong's reign but no authentic coins with this inscription have ever been found and, most probably, none were ever cast.
Emperor Ying Zong (1064-1067) reigned for a very short time and only zhi ping yuan bao (治平元 宝) and zhi ping tong bao (治平通宝) coins were cast. There exists one extremely rare set of zhi ping "matched coins" (dui qian 对钱) consisting of a zhi ping yuan bao and a zhi ping tong bao with four oblique lines (si chu 四出) extending outward from each corner of the hole to the rim on the reverse sides.
Emperor Shen Zong (1068-1085) only had two reign titles, Xi Ning (熙宁 1068-1077) and Yuan Feng (元丰 1078-1085), for which coins were cast but these coins were produced in enormous quantities. In one year alone, more than 5 million strings of coins were produced. A "string" consisted of 1,000 coins so 5 million strings means that 5 billion cash coins were cast in just one year! Not surprisingly, xi ning and yuan feng coins are among the most common Song Dynasty coins found today and exist in many, many varieties.
Emperor Zhe Zong (1086-1100) cast coins with the period titles Yuan You (元佑 1086-1093), Shao Sheng (绍圣 1086-1100) and Yuan Fu (元符 1098-1100). For some unknown reason, quite a number of shao sheng yuan bao (绍 圣元宝) coins have dots (stars) and crescents (moons) on their reverse sides.
Also, as a result of government corruption, a large number of iron coins were cast near the end of Emperor Zhe Zong's reign.
Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125) was a man of culture and the arts but one whose decisions regarding administration of the state resulted in the fall of the Northern Song through defeat by the Jin. Nevertheless, the coins cast during his reign are considered among the very best produced during the Song Dynasty in terms of their quality, artistic essence and calligraphy.
Coins were cast for the following reign titles: Jian Guo (建国 1101), Sheng Song (圣宋 1101-1106?), Chong Ning (崇宁 1102-1106), Da Guan (大观 1107-1110), Zheng He (政和 1111-1117), Chong He (重和 1118) and Xuan He (宣和 1119-1125).
One variety of jian guo tong bao (建国通宝) cast in white bronze is so rare that the only known specimen is at the National Museum of China (formerly the Museum of Chinese History) in Beijing.
The sheng song yuan bao (圣 宋元宝) coins produced as a matched pair in seal and running script are particularly exquisite and exist in a number of varieties. The sheng song tong bao (圣宋通 宝) coins, on the other hand, were cast in far fewer numbers.
Emperor Hui Zong did the calligraphy for the inscription on the chong ning tong bao coins. His calligraphy is quite distinctive and is known as "slender gold" script (shou jin shu 瘦金书) because the characters resemble twisted gold filaments. While the smaller 1 cash chong ning tong bao (崇 宁通 宝) coins are fairly scarce, the larger 10 cash chong ning tong bao (崇宁通 宝) and 10 cash chong ning zhong bao (崇宁元宝) coins are plentiful and exist in many varieties.
Unfortunately, these "10 cash" coins were not worth their stated value but served instead as a means for the government to confiscate wealth.
There is a humorous story dating from this time period which illustrates the hardship caused by the lack of 1 cash coins. The story relates that a patron bought a bowl of soup and paid for it with a "10 cash" coin. The soup seller did not have any small change and so encouraged the customer to eat more and more soup. The customer continued to eat but finally sighed and said, "it is fortunate that my coin is only a "10 cash". If it had been a "100 cash" it would have killed me!"
These 10 cash coins were so overvalued that they were eventually devalued until they were worth the equivalent of 3 cash coins.
While coins of Emperor Hui Zong's Chong Ning years were produced as chong ning tong bao (崇宁通宝), chong ning yuan bao (崇宁元宝) and chong ning zhong bao (崇宁重宝), all the coins cast during the Da Guan years were da guan tong bao (大观通 宝). Many of the 1 cash and 10 cash da guan tong bao coins display the Emperor's "slender gold" calligraphy.
During the Zheng He reign of Emperor Hui Zong, coins were cast as zheng he tong bao (政和通宝) and zheng he zhong bao (政和重宝).
Emperor Hui Zong's Chong He reign only lasted three months and only coins with the inscription chong he tong bao (重和通宝) were cast.
The Xuan He reign produced a large number of xuan he tong bao (宣和通 宝) coins but only a small number of xuan he yuan bao (宣和元宝) coins.
Emperor Qin Zong (1126-1127) reigned for only a very short time because of the invasion by the Jin. As a result, only a small number of jing kang tong bao (靖康通宝) and jing kang yuan bao (靖康元宝) coins were cast and they are all considered to be rare. The inscription on these coins is believed to be the calligraphy of Emperor Qin Zong.
This is an iron coin cast during the reign of Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125) of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The inscription is written in Li script and reads clockwise as sheng song yuan bao (圣宋元宝).
These coins were cast during the period 1101-1106).
The reverse side displays a crescent moon above the square hole.
The diameter is 32.5 mm and the weight is 8.2 grams.
Emperor Hui Zong was known for his calligraphy and is credited with creating a personal style known as "slender gold script".
The inscription on the 1 cash coin at the left is written in slender gold script and reads clockwise as chong ning tong bao (崇宁通宝).
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4.6 grams.
Other Northern Song Dynasty coins, including many with flower or rosette holes, can be viewed at the following links:
Southern Song Dynasty
(1127-1279)
The coin at the left was cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong (1055-1101) of the Liao Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as qing ning tong bao (清宁通宝).
These coins were cast during the years 1055-1064.
The diameter is 24.3 mm and the weight is 3 grams.
This cash coin was also cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong.
The inscription is also written clockwise and reads da kang tong bao (大康通宝).
It was cast during the years 1075-1084.
The coin has a diameter of 23.2 mm and a weight of 3.2 grams.
This is another cash coin cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong of the Liao Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as da an yuan bao (大安元宝).
The coin was cast during the years 1085-1094.
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4 grams.
This Liao Dynasty cash coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Tian Zuo (1101-1125).
The inscription reads clockwise as qian tong yuan bao (乾统元宝).
These coins were cast during the years 1101-1110.
The coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 2.7 grams.
The following are other Liao Dynasty coins displayed on this website which may be viewed by clicking on the appropriate link:
Xi Xia Dynasty (1032-1227)
This coin was cast during the first year (1210) of the Huang Jian reign of Emperor Xiang Zong (1206-1211) of the Xi Xia (Western Xia) Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as huang jian yuan bao (皇建元宝).
The coin has a diameter of 25.5 mm and a weight of 4.9 grams.
This coin is from the reign of Kublai Khan (Emperor Shi Zu) (1260-1294) of the Yuan Dynasty.
The inscription (je üen tung baw) is written in the Mongol script (Phags-pa). The equivalent Chinese inscription is zhi yuan tong bao (至元通宝).
The size of the coin indicates that it has a value of "2 cash" which means it was equal to two regular cash coins.
These coins were cast during the years 1285-1294.
The diameter is 29 mm and the weight is 7.3 grams.
This Yuan Dynasty coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Wu Zong (Khaishan) (1308-1311).
The inscription is written in Mongolian and reads da yuan tong bao (大元通宝).
This large and heavy coin was cast during the years 1310-1311 and was equivalent in value to ten cash coins.
The diameter is 42 mm and the weight is 22.9 grams.
The inscription on this Yuan Dynasty cash coin reads zhi zheng tong bao (至正通宝).
The coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Shun (Toghon Temur) who ruled during the years 1333-1368.
It is a 3 cash coin which means that it had a value equivalent to 3 regular (1 cash) coins.
The reverse side displays the Mongol word for the Chinese cyclical character geng yin (庚寅) which means this coin was cast in the year 1350
The coin has a diameter of 33 mm and a weight of 8.8 grams.
The Ming Dynasty placed a greater reliance on coins than did the Yuan Dynasty. Even before the Mongols were defeated, Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), who would become the first emperor of the Ming, established a mint (Board of Works) in 1361 at Ying Tian Fu (Nanjing) and began casting coins with the inscription da zhong tong bao (大中通宝).
In 1368 after formally becoming the first emperor of the Ming dynasty and adopting the reign title hong wu, Zhu Yuanzhang established mints in other cities and provinces including Nanking (jing 京), Peiping (beiping 北平), Henan (yu 豫), Jinan (ji 济), Zhejiang (zhe 浙), Fujian (fu 福), Hubei (e 鄂), Guangdong (guang 广), and Guilin (gui 桂). The Chinese characters in parentheses are the respective mint marks found on the reverse side of the coins.
Bronze coins were cast in five denominations: 1 cash (xiao ping 小平), 2 cash (zhe er 折二), 3 cash (zhe san 折三), five cash (zhe wu 折五), and ten cash (dang shi 当十). The coins progressed in size from smaller to larger according to the denomination.
The 1 cash coins have a single Chinese character on the reverse side indicating where the coin was cast. The reverse side of the 2 cash coins also have a Chinese character indicating the mint. However, some of the 2 cash, 3 cash, 5 cash and 10 cash coins also include on the reverse side a Chinese number indicating the value.
New rules were promulgated in 1375 which set strict standards for coins. The previous denominations would now be, respectively, 1 qian (yi qian 一钱), 2 qian (er qian 二钱), 3 qian (san qian 三钱), 5 qian (wu qian 五钱) and one liang (yi liang 一两) and the weight of each coin would be in accordance with the stated value. Additionally, it was stipulated that the coins would be made from 100% copper and that 160 of the "1 qian" cash coins would be made from one jin (斤) of copper. Each provincial mint was required to mark the reverse side of each coin with both its value and place of casting.
The Ming Dynasty included a total of seventeen reign titles but coins were not cast for every reign title. Coins were cast for the following ten reign titles: hong wu tong bao (洪 武通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Tai Zu (1368-1398); yong le tong bao (永乐通宝) cast during the reign of Cheng Zu (1403-1424); xuan de tong bao (宣德通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xuan De (1426-1435); hong zhi tong bao (弘治通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xiao Zong (1488-1505); jia jing tong bao (嘉靖通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Shi Zong (1522-1567); long qing tong bao (隆庆通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Mu Zong (1567-1572); wan li tong bao (万历通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Shen Zong (1573-1620); tai chang tong bao (泰昌通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Guang Zong (1620); tian qi tong bao (天启通 宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xi Zong (1621-1627); and chong zhen tong bao (忠 祯通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Si Zong (1628-1644).
No coins were cast and put into circulation with the following seven Ming Dynasty reign titles: jian wen (建文), hong xi (洪熙), zheng tong (正统), jing tai (景泰), tian shun (天顺), cheng hua (成化), and zheng de (正德).
Zheng De was the reign title (1505-1521 AD) of the Ming Dynasty emperor Wu Zong. Even though no authentic coins were believed to have been cast during his reign, one can still find zheng de tong bao (正德通宝) coins and charms which are definitely old.
According to Chinese folklore, Emperor Zheng De was a "swimming" dragon that came back to life. Beginning at about the end of the Ming Dynasty and extending through the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, coins were cast privately with the inscription zheng de tong bao (正德通宝) because of the belief that carrying such a coin would act as a protective charm when crossing a river or sea.
Southern Ming coins were also cast as follows: da ming tong bao (大明通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Lu (1644-1646); hong guang tong bao (弘光通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Fu (1644-1645); long wu tong bao (隆武通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Tang (1645-1646); and yong li tong bao (永历通宝) cast during the reign of Prince Yongming (1646-1659).
It is interesting to note that all Ming Dynasty coins include "tong bao" (通宝) in the inscription, such as da zhong tong bao (大中通宝). Unlike previous dynasty coins, there are no Ming Dynasty coins which have "yuan bao" (元宝) in the inscription.
The reason is because the first emperor of the Ming was Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) who happened to have the character yuan (元) in his name. Because of the tradition of respect accorded an emperor, it was prohibited to use the character "yuan" (元) on coinage of the Ming dynasty.
Another interesting fact concerning Ming Dynasty coins is that there are far fewer still in existence compared to, for example, coins from the even older Song Dynasty (960-1127). With the exception of da zhong tong bao (大中通宝), hong wu tong bao (洪武通宝), tian qi tong bao (天启通宝) and chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝), coins cast with other Ming Dynasty reign titles are fairly scarce.
The reason for the comparative scarcity of Ming Dynasty coins is that they were devalued by the succeeding Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911). Ten cash coins from the Ming were the equivalent of only five cash coins under the Qing. As a result, many Ming Dynasty coins were taken out of circulation and melted down with the bronze then used to cast Qing Dynasty coins.
At the left is a coin cast
under the authority of Zhu Yuanzhang who was, at the time, the Prince
of Wu.
Zhu Yuanzhang was the leader of the rebellion that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, under the rule of the Mongols, and then proceeded to establish the Ming Dynasty in 1368 with himself enthroned as Emperor Tai Zu (1368-1398).
These coins were cast during the years 1361-1368 and the inscription reads da zhong tong bao (大中通宝).
The reverse side has the number 10 (shi 十) above the square hole indicating that the coin is worth ten cash coins.
Below the square hole is the Chinese character zhe (浙) meaning that the coin was cast at the Zhejiang (浙江) mint.
This large coin has a diameter of 45.2 mm and a weight of 22.5 grams.
To learn more about Emperor Tai Zu, please see the charm describing his life at Buddhist Charms.
Ming Emperor Xi Zong ruled the country during the years 1621-1627.
Cash coins with the inscription tian qi tong bao (天启通宝), such as the example at the left, were cast in very large quantities and varieties.
This coin has a diameter of 22.5 mm and a weight of 4.9 grams.
Emperor Si Zong reigned during the years 1628-1644.
A major category of chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝) cash coins display dots (stars), crescents (moons), circles (suns) and various lines on the reverse side.
The coin at the left is such an example with a large dot or star above the square hole on its reverse side.
The diameter of the coin is 26 mm and the weight is 5.6 grams.
Another category of chong zhen tong bao cash coins displays the weight or value on the reverse side such as the coin to the left.
The reverse side has the Chinese character gong (工) above the square hole and the character er (二) below.
The er (二) means "two" which means that this coin had a value equivalent to two regular cash coins.
The gong (工), meaning "work", indicates that this coin was cast at the Board of Works mint.
Please also note that the zhen (祯) character in the inscription, located below the hole on the obverse side, has its left component (示) written differently from that on the coin above.
The coin has a diameter of 24.5 mm and a weight of 3.4 grams.
Still another variety of chong zhen tong bao coins have only
mint marks on the reverse side.
The coin at the left, for example, has the Chinese character zhong (忠) meaning loyal or honest above the square hole.
During Emperor Si Zong's reign, there were a total of 156 mint furnaces producing cash coins. It is unclear if zhong (忠) refers to a particular mint or not.
The coin has a diameter of 24.8 mm and a weight of 3 grams.
This is an unusual chong zhen tong bao coin.
The coin is thicker and heavier than normal cash coins.
Also, the reverse side has a very wide rim and the four corners of the inner rim extend outwards towards the outer rim.
This type of coin originated during the reign of Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty (7-23 AD) and is known as a "biscuit" (bing 饼) or "cake" coin.
This coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 5.9 grams.
Unlike the coin above, this is a chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝) coin that is both smaller and lighter than normal.
However, this coin is unusual to even a greater degree.
What is fascinating about
this coin is the reverse side.
There are two Manchu characters typical of a Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911) cash coin.
Manchu characters were never used on Ming Dynasty coins.
The earliest Manchu character mintmarks did not appear on cash coins until 1657 when shun zhi tong bao (顺治通宝) coins switched from using only Chinese characters on the reverse side to using Manchu characters on some versions.
The Manchu characters (boo yun) on this coin seem to indicate that it was cast at the Yunnan mint in south China.
The best explanation for the existence of this coin is that it was privately cast in southern China during the transition period from the Ming to the early Qing (Ch'ing). This was a period when large areas of southern China were still under the control of forces loyal to the Ming court.
This coin has a diameter of 21 mm and a weight of 1.6 grams.
Other Ming Dynasty coins are discussed at the links below.
Prior to the Manchus establishing the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, Nurhachi (1616-1626), known in Chinese as Emperor Shi Zu, cast coins with the inscription tian ming tong bao (天命通宝) written in the Manchu script.
Abahai (1627-1643), also known as Hong Taiji (洪太极) or Huang Taiji (皇台吉), cast coins with the inscription tian cong tong bao (天聪通宝) written in Manchu.
At the beginning of the dynasty, the government set the standard that one tael (liang 两) of silver would be the equivalent of one thousand cash coins and that one li (厘) of silver would be equal to one cash coin.
Emperor Shi Zu (1644-1661) established mints at the Board of Revenue and the Board of Works in Peking and began casting bronze coins with the inscription shun zhi tong bao (顺治通宝). Coins with this inscription were cast in five varieties or types as described below.
Beginning in the year 1644, Type 1 and Type 2 coins were cast.
Type 1 coins were cast during 1644-1645 and followed the ancient tradition of having a reverse side with no characters.
Type 2 coins were produced from 1644 to 1661 and were modeled after the huichang (会昌) kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝) coins produced during the period 845-846 AD of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), as well as the da zhong tong bao (大中通宝) and hong wu tong bao (洪武通宝) coins of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). These coins have a single Chinese character on the reverse side indicating at which mint the coin was cast.
The mints casting Type 2 coins were the Board of Revenue (hu 户), the Board of Works (gong 工), Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Yansui garrison in Shanxi Province (yan 延), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan (原), Shanxi Province (xi 西), Miyun garrison in Zhili (yun 云), Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Jingzhou garrison in Hubei Province (jing 荆), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe (浙), Fuzhou in Fujian Province (fu 福), Yanghe garrison in Shanxi Province (yang 阳), and Xiangyang in Hubei Province (xiang 襄).
Type 3 coins were cast from 1653-1657 and are characterised by having the characters 一厘 (yi li), meaning "one li of silver", on the reverse side of the coin. A li (厘) was equal to one-thousandth of a tael (liang 两).
Type 3 coins also have a Chinese character on the reverse indicating the mint. The mints for Type 3 coins were the same as those casting the Type 2 coins but excluding the mints at Yansui garrison in Shanxi Province (yan 延), Shanxi Province (xi 西) and Jingzhou garrison in Hubei Province (jing 荆). Additionally, a mint at Jinan in Shandong Province (dong 东) was established to cast Type 3 coins.
Type 4 coins were cast during the years 1657-1661 and have only Manchu characters on the reverse side. To the left of the square hole is the Manchu character for bao (宝) and to the right is the Manchu character indicating the mint. These coins were cast in Peking at the Board of Revenue mint (bao quan 宝泉) and the Board of Works mint (bao yuan 宝源).
Type 5 coins were only cast during the years 1660-1661 and have both a Chinese and Manchu character on the reverse side indicating where the coin was cast. The Manchu character is located to the left of the square hole and the Chinese character is to the right.
There were twelve mints casting Type 5 coins: Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Jizhou garrison in Zhili (ji 蓟), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan 原), Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe 浙), and Jinan in Shandong Province (dong (东).
During the reign of Emperor Sheng Zu (1662-1722), coins were cast with the inscription kang xi tong bao (康熙通宝) modeled after both the shun zhi tong bao coins with the Manchu character on the reverse (Type 4) and the shun zhi tong bao coins with both the Chinese and Manchu characters on the reverse (Type 5).
Kang xi tong bao cash coins were cast at the following mints: Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Fuzhou in Fujian Province (fu 福), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Jinan in Shandong Province (dong 东), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan 原), Suzhou in Jiangsu Province (su 苏), Jizhou garrison in Zhili (ji 蓟), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Changsha in Hunan Province (nan 南), Guangzhou in Guangdong Province (guang 广), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe 浙), Taiwan (tai 台), Guilin in Guangxi Province (gui 桂), Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Yunan Province (yun 云), Zhangzhou in Fujian Province (zhang 漳), Gongchang in Gansu Province (gong 巩), and West (xi 西).
The cash coins cast during the reigns of the next three emperors were basically modeled after those of Kangxi. These include the yong zheng tong bao (雍正通宝) coins of Emperor Shi Zong (1723-1735), the qian long tong bao (乾隆通宝) coins of Emperor Gao Zong (1736-1795), and the jia qing tong bao (嘉庆通宝) coins of Emperor Ren Zong (1796-1820).
During the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong (1821-1850), large quantities of silver left the country as a result of the opium trade. This meant that the price of silver in China increased drastically and, because coin production was tied to a silver standard, the cost of casting bronze cash coins now exceeded their face value.
The coins produced during Emperor Xuan Zong's reign have the inscription dao guang tong bao (道光通宝) and, in general, tend to be smaller and of poorer quality than those of his predecessors.
In addition to the mints that existed under Emperor Ren Zong, a new mint was established at Kucha (ku 库) to produce cash coins for the far western province of Xinjiang.
During his reign, Emperor Wen Zong (1851-1861) faced a large-scale peasant uprising (1850 -1864 AD) known as the Taiping Rebellion. The expense of the war, aggravated by the cutting off of the supply of copper from mines in the south, had a profound effect on coin production. In addition to the small cash coins (xian feng tong bao 咸丰通宝), many coins of larger denominations were also cast.
The bronze coins cast during Emperor Wen Zong's reign thus ranged from "One Wen" to "Value One Thousand". But, the size and weight of Xian Feng coins were in no way standardized. For example, a "Value Fifty" coin would be larger than a "Value One Hundred" coin. A "Value One Hundred" coin would be heavier than a "Value One Thousand" coin.
Coins with the inscription xian feng zhong bao (咸丰重宝) include the denominations "Value Four", "Value Five", "Value Ten", and "Value Fifty".
Coins with the inscription xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) have the denominations "Value One Hundred", "Value Five Hundred" and "Value One Thousand".
Emperor Mu Zong (1862-1874) only lived to the age of nineteen but coins cast during his short reign include tong zhi tong bao (同治通宝) and tong zhi zhong bao (同治重宝).
Emperor De Zong (1875-1908) had coins cast with the inscription guang xu tong bao (光绪通宝) and guang xu zhong bao (光绪重宝).
Emperor Puyi (1909-1912) was the last emperor of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, as well as last emperor of imperial China. Cash coins cast during his reign have the inscription xuan tong tong bao (宣统通宝).
Described below are examples of Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty coins.
Emperor Gao Zong ruled under the reign title Qian Long from 1736 to 1795. He abdicated the throne after sixty years in favor of his son Jia Qing as a sign of respect to not reign longer that his grandfather Kang Xi.
The well made coin at
the left is typical of the cash coins cast during
the early part of his reign.
A very large quantity of qian long cash coins were cast but their size and quality, in comparison to that of the Kang Xi and Yong Zheng era, gradually deteriorated during his reign.
The inscription on the obverse side reads qian long tong bao (乾隆通宝).
A special characteristic of some qian long coins, and which can be seen here, is that the bottom character long (隆) is sometimes written with a fou (缶) instead of a sheng (生).
All qian long cash coins have the mint name written in Manchu only. The reverse side of this coin has the Manchu character boo, meaning "building" on the left, and the Manchu character yuwan meaning Board of Works on the right.
The coin, cast at the Board of Works mint in Peking (Beijing), has a diameter of 26 mm and a weight of 5.3 grams.
Emperor Xuan Zong reigned during the years 1821-1850 and cash coins were cast with the reign title Dao Guang (道 光).
The number of mints producing cash coins was almost the same as that during the reign of Jia Qing. However, two new mints marks appeared, namely xin (新) for Xinjiang Province and kuche (库车) for Kucha, Xinjiang Province.
In general, however, the overall quality of the dao guang coins is inferior to that of the predecessors. The price of silver rose precipitously at the time as a consequence of the opium trade and, as a result, it cost more to cast cash coins than they were worth.
The mint in Fujian Province was closed in 1824 and gradually those in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Zhili Provinces were also shutdown.
The inscription of this coin reads dao quang tong bao (道光通宝).
The Manchu character on the reverse side to the right of the square hole is jyi indicating that the coin was cast during the years 1821-1823 at the mint in Baoding, Zhili.
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 3.6 grams.
This is another dao
quang tong bao (道光通宝) cash coin.
The Manchu character at the right of the square hole on the reverse side is kiyan which refers to the mints in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.
There is a character above the hole which is either da (大) or liu (六). There is no consensus on which character this is. Da could stand for the city of Da Ding (Dading). The character may be liu, however, in which case it would be the number "six".
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 4.4 grams.
Emperor Wen Zong
(1851-1861) ruled under the reign title Xian Feng and was on the throne
during a very difficult time when the country suffered wars,
rebellions, famines, etc.
The Taiping rebellion (1850-1864) in the south cut off the supply of copper from Yunnan Province needed for coinage. As a result, Emperor Wen Zong's reign was characterized by large coins of high denominations as well as iron coins.
The coin at the left is an example of an iron coin from the 1854-1859 period.
The inscription reads xian feng tong bao (咸丰通宝) and the Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse side indicates that the coin was cast at the Board of Revenue mint in Peking (Beijing).
The diameter is 22.5 mm and the weight is 4.7 grams.
This is an example of
the large denomination token coinage from the Xian Feng era.
The inscriptions on these coins used yuan bao (元宝) or zhong bao (重宝) instead of the tong bao (通 宝) used on the smaller cash coins.
The inscription on this coin is xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) and the Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse side indicates that it was cast at the Board of Revenue mint in Peking (Beijing).
The Chinese characters above and below the square hole on the reverse are dang shi (当十) which means the coin is a Value Ten (10) or a denomination equal to ten cash coins.
The diameter of the coin is 37.5 mm and the weight is 22 grams.
This is another xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) coin.
The reverse side also has the Chinese characters dang shi (当十) meaning it has Value Ten (10) or a denomination equal to ten cash coins.
The Manchu character to the right of the hole is jyi which means the coin was cast at Baoding, Zhili.
The diameter is 34.5 mm and the weight is 12.6 grams.
This xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) coin is a Value Fifty (50) as evidenced by the Chinese characters dang wu shi (当五十) above and below the hole on the reverse side.
The Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse is su indicating that the coin was cast at the Suzhou, Jiangsu mint.
This coin was cast during the years 1854-1855.
The diameter of the coin is 49 mm.
The inscription on this large coin is xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) and it is a Value One Hundred (100) as indicated by the Chinese characters dang bai (当百) above and below the square hole on the reverse side.
The Manchu character shan on the reverse shows that the coin was cast at the mint in Xian, Shaanxi Province.
The coin has a diameter of 52 mm.
Large denomination coins were cast at the Kuche mint in Xinjiang Province during the years 1853-1856.
Xinjiang coins are characterized by a red appearance as is the case with this xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) coin.
The denomination stated on the reverse side is Value One Hundred (100) according to the Chinese characters dang bai (当百).
The diameter is 40.5 mm and the weight is 21.2 grams.
During the reign of Emperor Mu Zong (1862-1874) coins were also cast at the Kuche mint in Xinjiang Province.
Emperor Mu Zong used the title Tong Zhi and the inscription on the coin at the left reads tong zhi tong bao (同治通宝).
The Chinese characters dang wu (当五) on the reverse side states that this coin is a Value Five (5).
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4.2 grams.
This cash coin was cast during the reign of Emperor De Zong (1875-1908) who adopted the reign title of Guang Xu.
The inscription is guang xu tong bao (光绪通宝) and the Manchu character dung on the reverse side indicates that the coin was cast at the Yantai (Chefoo) mint in Shandong Province.
The diameter of the coin is 24 mm and the weight is 3.4 grams.
Please visit the following links to view other Qing Dynasty coins.
Return to Ancient Chinese Charms and Coins
China achieved the ability to cast very refined works of bronze early on
as evidenced by its extraordinary Shang and Zhou Dynasty ritual bronzes.
Based
on
this
technology,
the
first
metallic
coins,
which
even included "bronze" sea shells, appeared in
various
forms in different regions of the country during the Western Zhou
Dynasty (11th century ~ 771 BC), the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476
BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).Some of these first forms of money were cast in shapes which resembled tools of the time such as spades or shovels (bubi 布币). An early example of spade-shaped money from the Kingdom of Zhou is shown at the left.
Another type of money was based on an ancient bronze implement known as a xue (削). This implement was in the shape of a knife and this knife-shaped money (dao bi 刀币) circulated in the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao.
Still another type of money that appeared during the Warring States Period was ring-shaped (huan qian 环 钱). Because this form of money was circular with a round hole in the center, such coins are also known as "round" money (yuan qian 圆钱). These coins are believed to have been patterned after jade rings or, perhaps, a spinning wheel.
One additional type of bronze money from this time period consisted of small oval pieces cast in the State of Chu. This form of money is known as "ant nose" (yi bi qian 蚁鼻钱), and "devil" or "ghost" faced money (gui lian qian 鬼脸钱) because the characters inscribed on them resemble a human face.
When
Qin
Shi
Huang
unified
the
country
in
221
BC and established the
Qin Dynasty, he abolished the above-mentioned forms of money that had
been circulating in the other Warring States and stipulated that the
legal coinage would
be a round coin with a square hole in the center weighing a half tael
or ban liang. This type of coin, known as
a ban liang (半两),
continued to be cast through the end of the Qin Dynasty and into the
Western Han Dynasty.A ban liang from the Qin Dynasty is displayed at the left.
In 118 BC, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) replaced the ban liang with a different type of round coin with a square hole in the center. This coin was also named according to its weight and is known as the wu zhu or wu shu (五 铢). This basic coin shape was adopted by subsequent dynasties and continued to be cast in various forms for more than 700 years.
In 621 AD, Emperor Gao Zu of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) cast a new coin known as the kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝). From this time on, Chinese cash coins were no longer named according to their weight. Instead, they were named tong bao (通宝), zhong bao (重宝) or yuan bao (元宝). This practice continued through the subsequent dynasties down to the end of the last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Chinese "charms", as a form independent of coins, did not really appear until the Han Dynasty. But, even some of the earliest forms of metal money such as spades and knives had charm-like qualities in that they had "auspicious" or "good luck" characters and inscriptions.
This website primarily explores facets of Chinese culture through an examination of Chinese charms. While Chinese charms evolved into a number of different shapes and forms over a period of 2,000 years, the most common shape continued to resemble the familiar shape of ancient Chinese coins which were round with a square hole in the center.
Because of the close relationship between Chinese coins and charms, a variety of old Chinese coins from the various dynasties are discussed in different topics and on different pages of this website to provide a clearer picture of the background and historical context from which Chinese charms emerged.
Many visitors to this website, however, have a specific interest in these ancient Chinese coins themselves. In order to facilitate their research, I am providing links on this page to the Chinese coins scattered throughout the website.
Additionally, I have included on this page the images and a short introduction to other old Chinese coins in my collection which have not been discussed on other pages but which visitors may also find of interest.
Zhou Dynasty (11th Century BC - 221 BC)
Cowrie
shells
were
the
earliest
form
of
money
to
appear during the
Shang Dynasty (16th Century BC - 11th Century BC) in China.
Cowrie shells had certain qualities which made them desirable as
objects of value. They were white and glossy, were fairly uniform
in size and weight, and, if ground flat on one side to form an opening,
large numbers of cowrie shells could be easily strung together to make
carrying convenient.Because conditions for transportation and trade were very primitive at the time, cowrie shells became more and more valuable the further inland they were carried.
During Shang times, it was considered an honor for officials to be bestowed cowrie shells by their superiors. In fact the Chinese word for "bestow" (ci 赐) even has the Chinese character for shell (bei 贝) as the left component of the character. Other Chinese words relating to "money" still retain the "shell" character (bei 贝) component, such as "wealth" (cai 财), "trade" (mao 贸), "money" or "goods" (huo 货), etc.
By the time of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC - 256 BC), however, cowrie shells were being replaced by imitation shells made of bone or metal. Even so, there are records indicating that real cowrie shells continued to be used as money even as late as the Yuan (1271-1368 AD) and Ming Dynasties (1368-1644 AD) in parts of Yunnan Province.
The earliest man-made forms of money were actually "imitation" cowrie shells made of bone such as the example here.
This example of bone shell money has a length of 23 mm, a width of 15 mm and a weight of 2.3 grams.
During the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty (475 BC - 221 BC), the State of Chu used a form of bronze money called Ant Nose Money (yi bi qian 蚁鼻钱) or Ghost Face Money (gui lian qian 鬼脸钱).
The Ant Nose Money specimen at the left has an inscription, read from top to bottom, which is currently believed to be "each six zhu" (ge liu zhu 各六朱). The zhu was an ancient measure of weight and each of these early forms of money would have been the equivalent of six zhu.
This particular example has a length of 17.8 mm, a width of 10 mm and a weight of 1.8 grams.
This is another example of Ant Nose Money.
It has a single character which is believed to be jun (君).
The Chinese character jun (君) means a "chief","sovereign" or "ruler" but it is unclear what this character may have signified during the period in history when this form of money circulated.
This specimen has a length of 18 mm, a width of 10.5 mm and a weight of 1.7 grams.
This type of spade money is characterized by an arched or rounded crotch between the two legs.
This spade money was cast approximately 400-300 BC during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty.
The spade coin at the left has an inscription which is believed to be liang yi jin (梁一钅斤).
Liang was one of the ancient states of China.
The "yi jin" means "one" jin with a jin being a unit of weight.
This spade money has a length of 56 mm and a width of 35 mm. The weight is 15.2 grams.
This is an example of a flat
handled spade money from the Zhou Dynasty.The characteristic of this type of spade money is that it has a round handle, round shoulders and round feet.
This type of spade money may have been cast during the late Warring States period in the States of Qin and Zhao.
It is also possible that these coins were cast in the 4th century BC in the State of Zhong Shan.
The obverse side at the far left has the archaic Chinese character lin (蔺).
The reverse side of the spade coin is shown at the near left and appears to be inscribed with a number(s). The inverted "v" in the center may represent the number "six". The horizontal line below the "six" may represent the number "one".
It is unclear what the number "61" may signify.
This spade money has a length of 67.5 mm and a maximum width of 37 mm. The weight is 9.3 grams.
Displayed below is an example of knife money from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) of the Zhou Dynasty.
This form of money circulated during the years 600-400 BC in the State of Yan in northeast China.
This specific form of ancient Chinese money is known as a "pointed tip" knife (jian shou dao 尖首刀) because the end of the blade extends to a point.
If you examine the knife closely you will see a single character inscription near the bottom edge of the blade. This character is believed to be the Chinese character bu (卜) which means "to divine" or "to foretell". However, the characters on these ancient forms of money are not well understood and it is not clear as to their exact meaning or reference.
This specimen of Pointed Tip knife money has a length of 16 cm and a weight of 15.9 grams.
This is one of the first round
coins cast in ancient China.Ring-shaped coins, known as huan qian (环钱), first appeared during the Warring States period (475-221 BC).
The simple round shape, which would eventually evolve into the universally recognized Chinese "cash coin", made the coins more convenient to carry than the knife and spade money that had been circulating.
The origin for the round shape with a round hole is believed to have been from either the spinning wheel or the ancient Chinese jade ring known as a bi (璧). The exact purpose of the bi is unknown but it may have originally been a symbol for the sky. It also seemed to have symbolized morality and official rank.
The inscription is one character only and is believed to be gong (共). Gong was a city in the ancient State of Liang.
The coin has a diameter of 44.5 mm and a weight of 9.8 grams.
This is another Zhou Dynasty round coin.
The inscription is currently believed to be qi yuan yi jin (漆垣一钅斤) which translates as "Qiyuan one jin".
Older texts had interpreted the inscription as chang yuan yi jin (长垣一钅 斤).
This coin was cast in the State of Liang during the period 350-220 BC.
The diameter of the coin is 37 mm and the weight is 9.4 grams.
To see other examples of Zhou Dynasty spade money and round coins please click on the desired link below:
| Description: |
Type: | Pinyin: | Years Cast | State |
| Pointed
Shoulder Spade Money |
布币 | bubi | 500-400 BC | Zhou |
| Sloping
Shoulder Spade Money |
卢 氏 | lu shi | 400-300 BC | Zhou |
| Square Foot Spade
Money |
公 | gong | 350-250 BC | |
| Zhou Round Coin |
一化 | yi hua | 300-220 BC | Yan |
Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 207 BC)
Emperor Qin Shi Huang conquered the other "warring states" in 221 BC and in so doing unified China for the first time in its history. He proceeded to standardize the various scripts, weights and measures that were in use.
In order to standardize the monetary system, he abolished the other forms of money. This meant that the cowrie, spade money, knife money, and round coins of the other states could no longer circulate. Instead, there would be a two tier system with a "higher" form of currency (shang bi 上币) made of gold and a "lower" form of currency (xia bi 下币) made of bronze.
The "lower" form of currency,
shown at the left, was established as a
round bronze coin having a square hole in the middle and with a value
of
a half "tael" or half liang (两).
A
"liang"
consisted
of
24
zhu
(铢) so the coin pictured here was worth half (ban 半) a
"liang", or 12 zhu (铢),
and
is known
as a ban liang (banliang 半两) coin.The Qin Dynasty ban liang was a coin that was named after its weight. It was rimless in that it did not have a rim on either the outside edge of the coin or around the central square hole. It also had a flat reverse side with no inscription.
This is a fairly
rare Qin Dynasty ban liang
variety which was cast during the period 300-200 BC.As you can see, the ban (半) character to the right of the square hole is similar to that of other Qin banliangs, such as the specimen illustrated above.
However, the liang (两) character to the left of the hole is upside-down (inverted).
If you rotate or "circumgyrate" the coin clockwise 180 degrees, the liang (两) character will be right-side up on the right side of the coin and the ban (半) character will then be upside-down on the left.
The Chinese refer to this as xuan du (旋读).
It is unknown why a very small number of ban liang coins were cast in this way.
This coin has a diameter of about 31.7 mm and a weight of 6 grams.
This form of currency proved to be very practical. Coins could be easily strung together and conveniently carried. The ban liang, with its round shape and square hole, established the shape of Chinese coins for the centuries to come. This tradition of Chinese coins being round with square holes, known as "Chinese cash", continued for about 2,100 years until China's imperial history finally ended at the beginning of the 20th Century.
A more detailed discussion of ban liang coins, accompanied by
many images of specimens with special characteristics, can be seen at Emergence
of Chinese
Charms.
Specific varieties of Qin Dynasty ban liangs can also be seen by clicking on the links below:
Specific varieties of Qin Dynasty ban liangs can also be seen by clicking on the links below:
| Type: |
Inscription: | Pinyin: | Years Cast |
| Qin ban liang | 半两 | ban liang | 221 BC- 207 BC |
| Qin ban liang with dots
(stars) |
半两 | ban liang | 221 BC- 207 BC |
| Qin/Han
transitional ban liang |
半两 | ban liang | Late Qin/Early Han |
| Qin/Han
transitional ban liang with reversed inscription |
两半 | liang
ban |
Late Qin/Early Han |
Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD)
The Han Dynasty continued the use of the ban liang (半两) bronze coin, established during the Qin Dynasty, up until the year 118 BC when it was replaced by the wu zhu (五 铢) coin.
However, the Han did change the unit of weight for the gold or "higher" form of currency (shang bi 上币). The gold currency continued to be named according to its weight but, instead of being denominated in tael or liang (两) as it was under the Qin, was now denominated in jin (斤). A jin during Han times equaled about 250-300 grams.
This meant that one jin of the Han gold currency was equal to about 10,000 of the bronze ban liang coins.
Because the Qin ban liang was considered too heavy and inconvenient to use, the Han government beginning around the year 200 BC permitted the people to cast ban liang coins. Unfortunately, these coins tended to be very small and light and, because of their resemblance, became known as "elm seed" (yu jia 榆荚) ban liang coins.
It is important to note that these elm seed coins were still denominated by their presumed weight of "ban liang". While a ban liang from the Qin Dynasty averaged about 8 grams, the average weight of an elm seed ban liang was only slightly more than 1 gram. The heaviest weighed less than 2 grams. The lightest weighed only about 0.25 gram!
In response to the extreme disruption to the economy these very small coins were creating, Empress Lu in 186 BC stipulated that the official ban liang be cast at a weight of 8 zhu (铢). These new coins were thin but still had a diameter of about 26-30 mm and a weight of approximately 4.8-5.3 grams. An additional characteristic was that the ban liang inscription was now written in the "official script" (li shu 隶书) of the Han Dynasty.
In the sixth year (182 BC) of her reign, Empress Lu ordered the government to cast ban liang with a weight of 2.4 zhu (铢). These coins were thus smaller, only about 20 mm in diameter, and also had a large square hole. They typically weigh only about 1.5 grams. Since they were in reality only one-fifth of a ban liang, they are commonly referred to as "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang coins.
This coin is considered to be one of the rarer varieties of Han Dynasty 2.4 zhu (铢) ban liang, also known as a "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang, cast during the reign of Empress Lu Hou.
The inscription ban liang (半 两) is in its normal position to the right and left of the square hole.
What makes this coin special, however, is that this inscription is repeated with a liang (两) character above the square hole and a ban (半) character below.
If you rotate the coin 90 degrees counter-clockwise, you can still read the inscription from right to left as ban liang (半 两).
The reverse side of
this coin is also interesting because it displays a phenomenon
occasionally seen on ban liang
coins.What appears to be an incused four character inscription actually is not.
During the casting of the coin, the bronze contracted as it was cooling in the mold. Areas that were high spots on the obverse side, such as the raised parts of the Chinese characters, caused the corresponding areas on the reverse side to be depressed.
For example, if you look at the area above the square hole on the reverse side, you will see what appears to be four "dots". These correspond to the "spaces" between the strokes of the liang (两) character located at the top of the coin on the obverse side.
So, these are not actually "raised" dots. It just appears that way. The area surrounding these "dots" is actually depressed to correspond with the raised area of the liang (两) character on the obverse side.
This phenomenon is easily seen on this particular coin because it is a typical "5 parts" (wu fen 五分) ban liang coin which means the metal is thin.
The coin has a diameter of 23.4 mm and a weight of 1.1 grams.
Shown at the left is another less frequently seen variety of the Han Dynasty 2.4 zhu (铢) ban liang cast during the reign of Empress Lu Hou.
This coin has a large square hole typical of "5 parts" ban liangs.
However, the coin has a very broad outside rim, which includes the Chinese inscription (ban liang 半两), and which protrudes well above the surface of the hole.
To the Chinese, these characteristics make the coin look like the eye of a snake and this variety of ban liang is, therefore, famously known as the "snake eye" ban liang (she mu ban liang 蛇目半两).
The coin has a diameter of 23.4 mm and a weight of 2.7 grams.
Emperor Wen changed the size of the ban liang again in the fifth year (175 BC) of his reign by ordering that the coin be cast at a value of 4 zhu (铢). The 4 zhu ban liangs typically have a diameter of about 23-25 mm and a weight of 3 grams or less.
Emperor Wu, at the beginning of his reign, made the final change to the ban liang by adding a rim.
A very few 4
zhu
ban
liangs
are
distinguished by displaying special
symbols such as "stars" (dots), "moons" (crescents), lines and
numbers. A number of these ban
liang coins with special symbols may be seen at Emergence of Chinese Charms.The 4 zhu ban liang shown here is another fairly rare type because it is made of lead.
It has a diameter of 23.5 mm and a weight of 3.5 grams.
The 4 zhu ban liangs were cast for a little more than 50 years until Emperor Wu, in the winter of the fourth year (119 BC) of the Yuan Shou reign, ordered that it be replaced with a new coin called the Three Zhu (san zhu 三 铢) which weighed about 2 grams.
The san zhu coin was only cast for a few months, however, and so very few exist.
In the spring of the fifth year (118 BC) of the Yuan Shou reign, Emperor Wu ordered that casting of the san zhu cease and that it be replaced with a new Five Zhu coin (wu zhu or wu shu 五 铢).
Large quantities of wu zhu coins were cast during the Han Dynasty and wu zhu coins continued to be cast throughout the dynasties that followed until they were finally replaced by the kai yuan tong bao coin in 621 AD at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. The wu zhu was, therefore, used for over 700 years which makes it the longest used coin in Chinese history.
A more detailed history of the wu zhu, accompanied by images of a number of specimens displaying special symbols, may be seen here.
Many varieties of Han Dynasty ban liang and wu zhu (wu shu) coins can be viewed at the links below:
| Description |
Inscription | Pinyin | Type |
Years Cast | Emperor |
| Elm seed ban
liang |
半两 | ban liang | Elm Seed (yu jia 榆荚) | 200 - 180 BC |
|
| 8 zhu ban liang |
半两 | ban liang | 8 zhu (铢) | 186 BC - ??? |
Empress Lu |
| 8 zhu ban liang |
半两 | ban liang | 8 zhu (铢) with
flower hole |
186 BC - ??? | Empress Lu |
| 5 parts ban liang |
半两 | ban liang | 5 parts (wu fen 五分) | 182 BC | Empress Lu Hou |
| 4 zhu ban liang |
半两 | ban liang | 4 zhu (铢) | 175 BC | Wen |
| 4 zhu ban
liang with reversed inscription |
两半 | liang ban |
4 zhu (铢) | 175-119 BC | |
| ban
liang coins with dots |
半两 | ban liang | 4 zhu (铢) coins with stars | 175-119 BC | |
| ban
liang coins with crescents |
半两 | ban liang | 4 zhu (铢) coins with moons |
175-119 BC | |
| ban liang
coins with lines |
半两 | ban liang | 4 zhu (铢) coins with lines |
175-119 BC | |
| ban
liang coins with numbers |
半两 | ban liang | 4 zhu (铢) coins with
numbers |
175-119 BC | |
| Jun Guo five zhu
coin |
君国五 铢 | jun guo wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu) |
118-115 BC |
Commandaries (Jun)
and Principalities (Guo) |
| five zhu coin with
reverse inscription |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu) |
118 BC - 25AD |
Xin Dynasty (7-23)
While Wang Mang and his Xin Dynasty
only existed for a very short period of time, he nevertheless
introduced 37 different kinds of money in different substances,
patterns and units. Examples can be seen at the links below.
| Type: |
Inscription: |
Pinyin: |
Description: |
Years Cast: |
| Wang Mang
large coin fifty |
大泉五十 | da quan wu shi | large coin fifty with radiating lines (四出) | 7-14 |
| Wang
Mang knife money |
金错刀 | jin cuo dao | one knife worth five
thousand |
7-9 |
| Wang Mang Spades |
幼布三百 | you bu san bai | juvenile spade, three
hundred |
10-14 |
| Wang
Mang
money
spade |
货布 | huo bu | money spade |
14-23 |
| Wang Mang wealth/money coin |
货泉 | huo quan | wealth/money coin |
14-?? |
| Wang Mang biscuit
coin |
货泉 | huo quan (bing qian) |
wealth/money biscuit or
cake coin |
14-?? |
| Wang Mang
spade coin |
布泉 | bu quan | spade coin |
14-?? |
Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and Later Wu
Zhu Coins
Dong Zhuo (董卓) was a cruel
and tyrannical warlord that lived (138-192 AD) near the end of the
Eastern Han and whose infamy was forever immortalized in the famous 14th
Century historical novel Romance of
the Three Kingdoms (san guo
yan yi 三国演义) written by Luo Guanzhong.He moved the capital from Luoyang to Chang'an (Xian) in 190 AD and while there melted down large bronze statues dating from the time of Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) to cast small coins.
Many of these coins were so small that they were popularly referred to as "goose eye" (e yan 鹅眼) or "chicken eye" (ji mu 鸡目) coins.
Some of these small coins, however, were also cast with the wu zhu (五 铢) inscription but because of their diminutive size only the left half of the wu (五) character and the right half of the zhu (铢) character fit on the coin.
Displayed here is an example of such a wu zhu coin attributed to Dong Zhuo. Despite its crude appearance, the characters are actually very well cast in high relief. The zhu character to the left of the square hole is particularly distinctive in that it extends from the top of the rim to the bottom.
It is also important to note that this coin is not what is referred to as a "chiselled rim" (zao bian 凿边) coin where a normal size wu zhu coin had the inside cut out so as to form two coins. This wu zhu coin was actually cast like this as evidenced by the remnant of the metal sprue (stub) from the casting process located at the rim's five o'clock position.
This small coin has a diameter of 17 mm and a weight of 1.1 grams.
This wu zhu (五 铢) coin was cast during the Datong period (540) of the reign of Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty (535-556).
The special characteristic of these Datong wu zhu coins are the broad outer rim and an inner rim only by the wu (五) character to the right of the square hole.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 3.8 grams.
The wu zhu
(五
铢) coin at the left looks very similar to the one above.However, this coin is attributed to the Sui Dynasty (581-618).
At the beginning of his Kai Huang reign, Emperor Wen Di ordered the minting of a standard coin and abolished all other forms of money. He later permitted princes to also mint these coins in their fiefdoms.
These coins were cast beginning in 581 and are known as "Sui wu zhu" (隋五 铢) or "kai huang wu zhu" (开皇五 铢).
This particular specimen is very unusual in that it has a nail mark or crescent moon above the square hole.
The diameter of the coin is 23 mm and the weight is 2.9 grams.
Wu zhu coins were cast for more than 700 years. It is very difficult to attribute these coins to a specific reign but examples of various types of wu zhu coins can be seen at the following links.
| Description: |
Inscription: | Pinyin: | Special Characteristic: |
| five zhu coins with reverse inscription | 铢五 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu)
coins with reverse inscriptions |
| five zhu
coins with dots |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu)
coins with stars |
| five zhu
coins with circles |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu) coins with suns |
| five
zhu coins with numbers |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu)
coins with numbers |
| five zhu
coins with rod numbers |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu)
coins with rod numbers |
| five zhu
coins with lines |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu)
coins with lines |
| five
zhu coins with characters and symbols |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu) coins with
characters and symbols |
| five zhu coin with
flower hole, dots, number and character |
五 铢 | wu zhu | wu zhu (wu shu) coin with flower hole, stars, and number "2" or character gong (工) |
Three Kingdoms (220-280)
This is a distinctive variety of wu
zhu (五
铢).
Unlike most wu zhu, there is a rim around the square hole on the obverse side.
This coin is attributed to the Kingdom of Shu (221-263) and is consequently known as a "Shu" wu zhu (蜀五铢).
The diameter is 21.7 mm and the weight is 2.3 grams.
Unlike most wu zhu, there is a rim around the square hole on the obverse side.
This coin is attributed to the Kingdom of Shu (221-263) and is consequently known as a "Shu" wu zhu (蜀五铢).
The diameter is 21.7 mm and the weight is 2.3 grams.
Other examples of coins from the
Three
Kingdoms can be found at the links below.
| Inscription: | Pinyin: | Special Characteristic: |
Years Cast | Kingdom |
| 直百五铢 | zhi bai wu zhu |
fish symbol on reverse side |
214 |
Shu |
| 太平百钱 | tai ping bai qian | 221-265 | Shu |
|
| 太平百钱 | tai
ping bai qian |
very small with flower hole |
221-265 | Shu |
A coin from the Later Zhou can be
seen at the link below.
| Inscription: |
Pinyin: |
Years Cast: |
Kingdom: |
| 丰货 | feng
huo |
319-352 |
Later Zhou |
Liang Dynasty (502-557)
A coin from the Liang Dynasty can
be viewed at the following link.
| Inscription: | Pinyin: | Type |
Years Cast | Emperor |
| 五 铢 | wu zhu | si
chu (四出) (iron) |
523 AD | Wu |
Southern Dynasties
Chen (557-589)
This coin with the beautiful calligraphy was cast in the eleventh year (579) of the Tai Jian reign of Emperor Xuan (557-589) of Chen of the Southern Dynasties.
The inscription is tai huo liu zhu (太货六铢) which translates as "large coin six zhu".
The coin was originally worth ten regular wu zhu coins but because of popular discontent was revalued to one wu zhu.
The Chinese character (liu 六), meaning "six", at the right of the square hole, resembles a person standing akimbo (with hands on hips and legs apart). The saying at the time was that this symbolized the people crying before the Emperor because of the over-valued currency.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 3.4 grams.
Northern Dynasties
Northern Zhou (557-581)
A Northern Zhou coin on
which many charms are based can be seen at the link below.
| Inscription: | Pinyin: | Years Cast | Emperor |
| 五行大布 | wu xing da bu | 574-576 |
Wu |
Tang Dynasty (618-907)
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the wu zhu (五铢) coins of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) were still in common use.
However, in the 4th year (621) of the Wu De reign of Emperor Gaozu use of the wu zhu was abolished. A new coin began to be cast with the inscription kai yuan tong bao (开元 通宝) under the strict standard that ten of the new coins would be equal in weight to one liang (两).
This marked a monumental change in the history of Chinese coinage. Chinese coins would no longer be named after their weight, such as "half tael" (ban liang 半两) or "five zhu" (wu zhu 五铢). Instead, cash coins would have inscriptions with tong bao (通寶), yuan bao (元寶) and zhong bao (重寶).
Another important change was that the coin inscription would no longer be written in the ancient zhuan shu (篆书) or "seal" script. The coin inscription would now be written in li shu (隶书) or "official" script which is a square and plain style of Chinese calligraphy.
Emperor Gaozu had one of the Tang Dynasty's most famous calligraphers, Ouyang Xun (欧阳询), write the inscription for the new coin.
These changes meant that the more that 700 year "reign" of the wu zhu (五铢) coin had finally come to an end. The new kai yuan tong bao, with an inscription stipulating tong bao ("universal" or "circulating" currency) instead of its weight, and written in "official" script instead of "seal" script, would become the model for most of the coins cast in the dynasties that followed.
The kai yuan tong bao would continue to be cast for 200 years. So great was the influence of the new Tang Dynasty coin that it also became the model for the coinage of Japan, Korea and Annam (Vietnam).
The vast majority of kai yuan tong bao (开元
通宝) coins were made of bronze.Among the many kai yuan tong bao varieties, however, are also ones made of gold, silver, lead, "white copper" ("white bronze"), and iron.
The kai yuan tong bao at the left dates from the Tang Dynasty and is made of iron. Many of these coins were produced in Sichuan where there was a lack of copper. Casting coins made of iron was thus more practical and less expensive.
There is also some evidence that during the Tang Dynasty iron kai yuan tong bao coins circulated in Hebei as well.
This coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 2.3 grams.
This coin was cast in the year 666 of the reign of Emperor Gao Zong (649-683) of the Tang Dynasty.
The inscription is written clockwise as qian feng quan bao (乾封泉宝).
The coin was originally valued as the equivalent to ten cash coins.
However, this valuation prompted extensive forgery and the coin was withdrawn from circulation after only one year.
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 3.8 grams.
Additional Tang Dynasty coins displayed on this website can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate link below:
| Inscription | Pinyin | Special Characteristic: |
Years cast | Emperor |
| 开元通宝 | kai yuan tong bao | flower hole |
621-907 | Gao Zu |
| 开元通宝 | kai yuan tong bao | dot (star) on obverse,
crescent (moon) on reverse |
621-907 |
Gao Zu |
| 乾元重宝 | qian yuan zhong bao | auspicious cloud and
crescent (moon) on reverse |
759-762 |
Su Zong |
| 乾元重宝 | qian yuan zhong bao |
ordinary one cash coin with
flower hole |
759-762 | Su Zong |
| 乾元重宝 | qian
yuan zhong bao |
Value Fifty with double rim
reverse, flower hole |
759-762 |
Su Zong |
| 顺天元宝 | shun tian yuan bao | crescent (moon) on reverse |
759-761 |
Shi Siming |
| 大历元宝 |
da
li
yuan
bao |
flower hole |
766-779 |
Dai Zong |
| 开元通宝 | kai yuan tong bao |
Hui Chang Kai Yuan cast at Yan
Prefecture with flower hole |
845-846 |
Wu Zong |
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960)
One notable characteristic of the
money from this era is the casting of coins made of lead in addition to
those made of bronze.
While lead coins had occasionally appeared in earlier dynasties, they were not regularly cast in large quantities.
The earliest forms of money made of lead actually appeared during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and included the yi hua (一化) round coin from the State of Yan as well as the ghost face money (ant nose money) from the State of Chu. There are also examples of lead ban liang coins from the Qin (221-207 BC) and lead ban liangs from the Western Han (206 BC -24 AD) Dynasties.
However, large quantities of lead coins were not cast until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. As a result of decades of constant warfare, copper mining became disrupted and administrative centers were frequently cutoff from a source of copper. Lacking copper to make bronze, mints had little choice but to turn to lead and iron for the casting of coins.
The earliest use of lead for the regular production of cash coins is generally believed to have occurred in the year 916 during the reign of Wang Shenzhi, the Prince of Min, of the Kingdom of Min. The coin, made of lead, was a copy of the bronze kai yuan tong bao (开 元通宝) of the Tang Dynasty but had the Chinese character min (闽) or fu (福), indicating the area of Fujian, on its reverse side.
The Southern Han Kingdom was another of the Ten Kingdoms that existed in southeast China during the years 905-971.
Both bronze and lead coins were cast during the years 917-924 of the reign of Emperor Lie Zu (Liu Yan) of the Southern Han Kingdom.
An example of this Southern Han coinage would be the lead kai yuan tong bao (开 元通宝) cast in 917 in the area of Canton (Guangzhou), then known as Xingwangfu.
While lead coins had occasionally appeared in earlier dynasties, they were not regularly cast in large quantities.
The earliest forms of money made of lead actually appeared during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and included the yi hua (一化) round coin from the State of Yan as well as the ghost face money (ant nose money) from the State of Chu. There are also examples of lead ban liang coins from the Qin (221-207 BC) and lead ban liangs from the Western Han (206 BC -24 AD) Dynasties.
However, large quantities of lead coins were not cast until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. As a result of decades of constant warfare, copper mining became disrupted and administrative centers were frequently cutoff from a source of copper. Lacking copper to make bronze, mints had little choice but to turn to lead and iron for the casting of coins.
The earliest use of lead for the regular production of cash coins is generally believed to have occurred in the year 916 during the reign of Wang Shenzhi, the Prince of Min, of the Kingdom of Min. The coin, made of lead, was a copy of the bronze kai yuan tong bao (开 元通宝) of the Tang Dynasty but had the Chinese character min (闽) or fu (福), indicating the area of Fujian, on its reverse side.
The Southern Han Kingdom was another of the Ten Kingdoms that existed in southeast China during the years 905-971.
Both bronze and lead coins were cast during the years 917-924 of the reign of Emperor Lie Zu (Liu Yan) of the Southern Han Kingdom.
An example of this Southern Han coinage would be the lead kai yuan tong bao (开 元通宝) cast in 917 in the area of Canton (Guangzhou), then known as Xingwangfu.
The lead coin at the left is also from the reign of Liu Yan of the Southern Han.
The inscription on the obverse reads qian heng zhong bao (乾亨重宝)
The reverse side has the Chinese character yong (邕) above the square hole signifying that the coin was cast at the mint in Yongzhou, Guangxi Province.
The coin has a diameter of 27 mm and a weight of 4.3 grams.
This is another lead
coin attributed to the Southern Han Kingdom or Kingdom of Chu which
means it was cast in the period 900-971.The inscription reads wu zhu (五 铢) and the coin resembles the wu zhu coins of the Han and later dynasties.
The coin is distinctive because of the swastikas above and below the square hole.
The swastika, which can also be found on earlier wu zhu coins, is an ancient Chinese symbol and is believed to represent the Chinese character wan (万) meaning "ten-thousand". The extended meaning is "many".
The swastika is also an ancient Buddhist symbol and Buddhism was a major religion in China at the time this coin was cast.
The reverse side of the coin is flat.
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 2.9 grams.
Wang Jian founded and ruled the Former Shu Kingdom (907-925), another of the Ten Kingdoms, during the period 907-918.
The bronze cash coin at the left was cast in the year 916.
The inscription is read clockwise as tong zheng yuan bao (通正元宝).
The diameter is 24 mm and the weight is 3.8 grams.
This is another coin cast during the rule of Wang Jian of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription is written clockwise as guang tian yuan bao (光天元宝) and was cast in the year 918.
The reverse side has a crescent moon above the square hole.
The coin has a diameter of about 24 mm and a weight of 3 grams.
The coin to the left was cast during the reign of Wang Yan (919-925), the son of Wang Jian, of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription is read clockwise as qian de yuan bao (乾德元宝).
These coins were cast during the years 919-924.
The diameter is 24 mm and the weight is 2.5 grams.
This is another coin cast during the rule of Wang Yan of the Former Shu Kingdom.
The inscription reads clockwise as xian kang yuan bao (咸康元宝).
This coin was cast in the year 925.
The coin has a diameter of about 23 mm and a weight of 3.3 grams.
The coin at the left is from the reign of Emperor Yuan Zu (Li Jing) (943-961) of the Southern Tang Kingdom (937-975).
The inscription is read top to bottom and right to left as da tang tong bao (大唐通宝).
These coins were first cast in the year 959.
The diameter is 23 mm and the weight is 2.9 grams.
This coin is also from the Southern Tang Kingdom.
These coins began to be cast in 961 during the reign of Emperor Li Yu (961-978).
The inscription is written in seal (zhuan) script and reads kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝).
Coins with the same inscription, but written in regular script, were also cast. This was China's earliest example of dui qian (对钱) which means a set of matching coins with the same inscription but written in different calligraphic styles. Dui qian coinage would become very common during the Song Dynasty .
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 4.3 grams.
Other coins from the Five Dynasties
and Ten Kingdoms can be seen at the links below.
| Inscription | Pinyin | Years cast | Special Characteristic: |
Emperor |
| 天汉元宝 | tian han yuan bao | 917 |
flower (rosette) hole | King Wang Jian |
| 乾德元宝 | qian de yuan bao |
919-924 |
flower (rosette) hole |
Wang Yan |
| 汉元通宝 | han yuan tong bao | 947-948 |
Gao Zu |
|
| 周元通宝 | zhou yuan tong bao | 955-??? |
Shi Zong |
|
| 大唐通宝 | da tang tong bao | 959-961 |
Yuan Zu (Li Jing) |
|
| 开元通宝 | kai
yuan
tong
bao
(lead
coin) |
900-971 |
Liu Yan of Southern Han |
Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)
The Song Dynasty produced a vast variety of coins of very high esthetic value and with a large number of names and titles. Each new emperor minted coins not only after enthronement but many times with each change of the nian hao (年号) which was the "imperial title", also known as "reign title" or "period title".
Coins were also cast in a number of major calligraphic styles including seal script (zhuan shu 篆书), regular script (kai shu 楷书 or zhen shu 真书), clerk or official script (li shu 隶书), running script (xing shu 行书), and grass script (cao shu 草书).
The variety of coins from the Song is so vast that many collectors and researchers specialize in just the coins of this dynasty.
Emperor Tai Zu (960-976) was the first emperor of the Song Dynasty and established its capital at Kaifeng in Henan. Coins were cast in very large quantities with the inscription song yuan tong bao (宋元通宝). The inscription song yuan, meaning "inauguration of the Song", was modeled on the kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝) which was the inaugural coin of the Tang Dynasty. Similar to the Tang coin, many of the song yuan tong bao coins have dots (stars) and crescents (moons) in various positions on their reverse sides.
After "pacifying" Sichuan, the Song ruler had the bronze coins circulating in the area sent back to the capital. The bronze coins were replaced with those cast of iron which caused the price of goods to soar resulting in great hardship to the local populace.
Emperor Tai Zong (976-997) began the tradition of casting new coins with each change of reign title. Coins with the reign titles of Tai Ping (太平 975-989), Chun Hua (淳化 990-994) and Zhi Dao (至道 995-997) were produced. The tai ping tong bao coins resembled the song yuan tong bao (宋元通宝) coins. The coins with the inscription (legend) chun hua yuan bao (淳化元宝) are noteworthy because the calligraphy was done by Emperor Tai Zong himself in regular script, running script and grass script.
One can make an interesting observation concerning these first four coins of the Song dynasty. As already mentioned, the first coin, the song yuan tong bao, is similar to the first coin of the Tang Dynasty, the kai yuan tong bao, in that there are many varieties with dots (stars) and crescents (moons) in various positions on the reverse side. But the appearance of such symbols on the reverse side of the coins gradually decreased with the introduction of each successive reign title. For example, these symbols are found much less often on the tai ping tong bao and chun hua yuan bao coins, and are fairly rare by the time the zhi dao yuan bao (至 道元宝) coins were issued.
One other characteristic of Song Dynasty coins was established with these first issues. The coins have an obverse side with strong, deeply impressed characters and rims. The reverse sides, on the other hand, exhibit weak and shallow features.
During the reign of Emperor Zhen Zong (998-1022) coins were cast with the period titles Xian Ping (咸平 998-1003), Jing De (景德 1004-1007), Xiang Fu (祥符 1008-1016), and Tian Xi (天禧 1017-1022). All these coins have inscriptions written in regular script. Also, all the coins have blank reverses with the exception of an extremely few xiang fu tong bao coins which have dots and crescents.
Emperor Ren Zong (1023-1063) had coins with eight period titles cast during his reign. These include Tian Sheng (天圣1023-1031), Ming Dao (明道 1032-1033), Jing You (景佑 1034-1038), Huang Song (皇 宋 1039-1054?), Kang Ding (康定 1040), Qing Li (庆历 1041-1048), Zhi He (至和 1054-1055) and Jia You (嘉佑 1056-1063).
One interesting and very rare variety of the huang song tong bao (皇宋通宝) coin has the inscription written in "ninefold" script (jiu die zhuan 九叠篆) which was a style of calligraphy usually reserved for use only on official Song Dynasty seals.
Huang You (皇佑 1049-1053) was another period title used during Emperor Ren Zong's reign but no authentic coins with this inscription have ever been found and, most probably, none were ever cast.
Emperor Ying Zong (1064-1067) reigned for a very short time and only zhi ping yuan bao (治平元 宝) and zhi ping tong bao (治平通宝) coins were cast. There exists one extremely rare set of zhi ping "matched coins" (dui qian 对钱) consisting of a zhi ping yuan bao and a zhi ping tong bao with four oblique lines (si chu 四出) extending outward from each corner of the hole to the rim on the reverse sides.
Emperor Shen Zong (1068-1085) only had two reign titles, Xi Ning (熙宁 1068-1077) and Yuan Feng (元丰 1078-1085), for which coins were cast but these coins were produced in enormous quantities. In one year alone, more than 5 million strings of coins were produced. A "string" consisted of 1,000 coins so 5 million strings means that 5 billion cash coins were cast in just one year! Not surprisingly, xi ning and yuan feng coins are among the most common Song Dynasty coins found today and exist in many, many varieties.
Emperor Zhe Zong (1086-1100) cast coins with the period titles Yuan You (元佑 1086-1093), Shao Sheng (绍圣 1086-1100) and Yuan Fu (元符 1098-1100). For some unknown reason, quite a number of shao sheng yuan bao (绍 圣元宝) coins have dots (stars) and crescents (moons) on their reverse sides.
Also, as a result of government corruption, a large number of iron coins were cast near the end of Emperor Zhe Zong's reign.
Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125) was a man of culture and the arts but one whose decisions regarding administration of the state resulted in the fall of the Northern Song through defeat by the Jin. Nevertheless, the coins cast during his reign are considered among the very best produced during the Song Dynasty in terms of their quality, artistic essence and calligraphy.
Coins were cast for the following reign titles: Jian Guo (建国 1101), Sheng Song (圣宋 1101-1106?), Chong Ning (崇宁 1102-1106), Da Guan (大观 1107-1110), Zheng He (政和 1111-1117), Chong He (重和 1118) and Xuan He (宣和 1119-1125).
One variety of jian guo tong bao (建国通宝) cast in white bronze is so rare that the only known specimen is at the National Museum of China (formerly the Museum of Chinese History) in Beijing.
The sheng song yuan bao (圣 宋元宝) coins produced as a matched pair in seal and running script are particularly exquisite and exist in a number of varieties. The sheng song tong bao (圣宋通 宝) coins, on the other hand, were cast in far fewer numbers.
Emperor Hui Zong did the calligraphy for the inscription on the chong ning tong bao coins. His calligraphy is quite distinctive and is known as "slender gold" script (shou jin shu 瘦金书) because the characters resemble twisted gold filaments. While the smaller 1 cash chong ning tong bao (崇 宁通 宝) coins are fairly scarce, the larger 10 cash chong ning tong bao (崇宁通 宝) and 10 cash chong ning zhong bao (崇宁元宝) coins are plentiful and exist in many varieties.
Unfortunately, these "10 cash" coins were not worth their stated value but served instead as a means for the government to confiscate wealth.
There is a humorous story dating from this time period which illustrates the hardship caused by the lack of 1 cash coins. The story relates that a patron bought a bowl of soup and paid for it with a "10 cash" coin. The soup seller did not have any small change and so encouraged the customer to eat more and more soup. The customer continued to eat but finally sighed and said, "it is fortunate that my coin is only a "10 cash". If it had been a "100 cash" it would have killed me!"
These 10 cash coins were so overvalued that they were eventually devalued until they were worth the equivalent of 3 cash coins.
While coins of Emperor Hui Zong's Chong Ning years were produced as chong ning tong bao (崇宁通宝), chong ning yuan bao (崇宁元宝) and chong ning zhong bao (崇宁重宝), all the coins cast during the Da Guan years were da guan tong bao (大观通 宝). Many of the 1 cash and 10 cash da guan tong bao coins display the Emperor's "slender gold" calligraphy.
During the Zheng He reign of Emperor Hui Zong, coins were cast as zheng he tong bao (政和通宝) and zheng he zhong bao (政和重宝).
Emperor Hui Zong's Chong He reign only lasted three months and only coins with the inscription chong he tong bao (重和通宝) were cast.
The Xuan He reign produced a large number of xuan he tong bao (宣和通 宝) coins but only a small number of xuan he yuan bao (宣和元宝) coins.
Emperor Qin Zong (1126-1127) reigned for only a very short time because of the invasion by the Jin. As a result, only a small number of jing kang tong bao (靖康通宝) and jing kang yuan bao (靖康元宝) coins were cast and they are all considered to be rare. The inscription on these coins is believed to be the calligraphy of Emperor Qin Zong.
This is an iron coin cast during the reign of Emperor Hui Zong (1101-1125) of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The inscription is written in Li script and reads clockwise as sheng song yuan bao (圣宋元宝).
These coins were cast during the period 1101-1106).
The reverse side displays a crescent moon above the square hole.
The diameter is 32.5 mm and the weight is 8.2 grams.
Emperor Hui Zong was known for his calligraphy and is credited with creating a personal style known as "slender gold script".
The inscription on the 1 cash coin at the left is written in slender gold script and reads clockwise as chong ning tong bao (崇宁通宝).
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4.6 grams.
Other Northern Song Dynasty coins, including many with flower or rosette holes, can be viewed at the following links:
| Inscription | Pinyin | Special Characteristic: |
Years cast | Emperor |
| 太 平通宝 | tai ping tong bao | li script |
976-989 |
Tai Zong |
| 景德元宝 |
jing de yuan bao |
regular script |
1004-1007 |
Zhen Zong |
| 样符元宝 | xiang fu
yuan bao |
regular script |
1008-1016 | Zhen Zong |
| 天禧通宝 | tian xi tong bao | regular script |
1017-1022 | Zhen Zong |
| 天圣元宝 | tian
sheng yuan bao |
regular script | 1023-1031 |
Ren Zong |
| 明道元宝 | ming dao yuan bao | regular script |
1032-1033 | Ren Zong |
| 皇宋通宝 | huang song tong bao | seal script |
1039-1054 | Ren Zong |
| 至和通宝 | zhi he tong bao |
regular script |
1054-1055 | Ren Zong |
| 至和通宝 | zhi he tong bao |
seal script | 1054-1055 |
Ren Zong |
| 嘉祐通寳 | jia you tong bao | seal script |
1056-1063 | Ren Zong |
| 治平元宝 | zhi ping yuan bao |
seal script | 1064-1067 | Ying Zong |
| 治平元宝 | zhi ping yuan bao |
regular script |
1064-1067 |
Ying Zong |
| 治平通宝 |
zhi ping tong bao |
seal script |
1064-1067 |
Ying Zong |
| 熙宁元宝 | xi ning yuan bao | regular script |
1068-1077 | Shen Zong |
| 熙宁元宝 | xi ning yuan bao |
seal script |
1068-1077 | Shen Zong |
| 熙宁重宝 | xi ning zhong bao |
seal script, large cash coin |
1071-1077 |
Shen Zong |
| 熙宁重宝 | xi ning zhong bao |
regular script, large cash coin | 1071-1077 | Shen Zong |
| 元丰通宝 | yuan feng tong bao | running script with
engraving |
1078-1085 | Shen Zong |
| 元丰通宝 | yuan feng tong bao |
seal script |
1078-1085 | Shen Zong |
| 元祐通寳 | yuan you tong bao | seal script | 1086-1093 | Zhe Zong |
| 元祐通寳 | yuan you tong bao |
seal script, large cash coin |
1086-1093 | Zhe Zong |
| 元祐通寳 | yuan you tong
bao |
running style |
1086-1093 | Zhe Zong |
| 绍圣元宝 | shao sheng yuan bao | seal script | 1094-1097 | Zhe Zong |
| 绍圣元宝 | shao sheng yuan bao |
seal script, large cash coin |
1094-1097 | Zhe Zong |
| 绍圣元宝 | shao sheng yuan bao |
running script |
1094-1097 | Zhe Zong |
| 元符通宝 | yuan fu tong bao |
seal script |
1098-1100 |
Zhe Zong |
| 圣宋元宝 | sheng song
yuan bao |
seal script | 1101-1106 |
Hui Zong |
| 圣宋元宝 | sheng song yuan bao | running script | 1101-1106 | Hui Zong |
| 崇宁重宝 | chong ning zhong bao | 10 Cash, li script |
1102 - 1106 | Hui Zong |
| 崇宁重宝 | chong ning zhong bao |
10 Cash with engraving |
1102 - 1106 | Hui Zong |
| 大观通宝 | da guan tong bao | slender gold script |
1107-1110 | Hui Zong |
| 政和通宝 | zheng he tong bao | seal script |
1111-1117 | Hui Zong |
| 宣和通宝 | xuan he tong bao | seal script | 1119-1125 | Hui Zong |
Southern Song Dynasty
(1127-1279)
The capital of the Southern Song
was established at Hangzhou.
Because Hangzhou is not near any sources of copper, the quantity of
bronze coins cast during the Southern Song was considerably
less than what was produced during the Northern Song.
Emperor Gao Zong (1127-1162) had coins cast during his Jian Yan reign years (1127-1130) as jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝), jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) and jian yan tong bao (建炎通宝). The jian yan tong bao (建炎通宝) coins are fairly plentiful but there are very few jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝) and jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) coins.
Jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝) coins were cast as 1 cash with inscriptions written in seal (zhuan 篆) or official (li 隶) script. Jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) coins were only cast as bronze coins in seal script with a value of 3 cash. Jian yan tong bao (建 炎通宝) coins were cast in both bronze and iron with inscriptions written in seal or official scripts and with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
During the Shao Xing (1131-1162) reign years of Emperor Gao Zong, coins were cast as shao xing yuan bao (绍兴元宝) and shao xing tong bao (绍兴通宝) only. No authentic shao xing zhong bao (绍兴重宝) coins are known to exist.
The shao xing yuan bao (绍兴元宝) coins were cast in bronze and iron with inscriptions in seal and regular scripts and with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The shao xing tong bao (绍兴通宝) bronze and iron coins were written in official script as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
The quantity of shao xing coins produced exceeded that of the jian yan coins but most are "2 cash" or "3 cash" coins. Very few "1 cash" (xiao ping 小平) coins were cast.
Emperor Xiao Zong ruled during the period 1163-1190 and had coins cast with the reign titles of Long Xing (1163-1164), Qian Dao (1165-1173) and Chun Xi (1173-1190). Because it was not considered worth the expense in either raw materials or labor, no official "1 cash" bronze coins were cast during the Long Xing and Qian Dao period title years. There were also very few official "2 cash" coins cast during the Long Xing years.
During Emperor Xiao Zong's Long Xing (1163-1164) reign, coins were cast as long xing yuan bao (隆兴元宝) with seal and official scripts. Only 2 cash coins were cast in bronze. One cash, 2 cash and 3 cash coins were produced in iron.
Long xing tong bao (隆兴通宝) were only cast as iron coins with a value of 2 cash.
Coins cast during Emperor Xiao Zong's Qian Dao (1165-1173) years included qian dao yuan bao (乾道元宝) and qian dao tong bao (乾道通宝). Qian dao yuan bao (乾道元宝) coins were cast in seal and official scripts in bronze as 2 cash and in iron as 1 cash and 2 cash. The qian dao tong bao (乾道通宝) coins were only cast in iron as 1 cash and 2 cash.
In 1173 the period title was proclaimed to be Chun Xi with chun written as 纯. Only 6 days later, the chun was officially changed to be written as 淳. The Tongan mint in in Anhui produced a very small number of chun xi yuan bao (纯熙元宝) iron coins with the chun written as 纯. These small iron coins are very rare.
Beginning in the 7th year (1180) of the Chun Xi reign of Emperor Xiao Zong, a number indicating the year of the period title in which the coin was cast was added to the reverse side of coins. This measure was taken to help reduce the illegal casting of private coins. It was believed that those casting private coins would not adopt the technology necessary to prepare and mate properly the obverse and reverse molds to produce coins with well cast inscriptions. Most privately cast coins of that time tended to be thin with flat reverses.
From this time until the end of the Song Dynasty in 1279, there tended to be few officially produced bronze coins with the period title year cast on the reverse side of the coin. Many iron coins, however, were cast with the year indicated on the reverse.
Also, beginning with the Chun Xi era coins and continuing to the end of the Song Dynasty, the inscriptions on bronze cash coins tended to be written in what is now known as the "Song style" or "regular script". For this reason, there are fewer varieties of bronze cash coins.
Emperor Xiao Zong during the years 1174-1189 had coins cast as chun xi yuan bao (淳熙元宝) and chun xi tong bao (淳熙通宝). The chun xi yuan bao (淳熙元宝) coins were cast in bronze and iron, in both seal and regular scripts, as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The chun xi tong bao (淳熙通宝) iron coins were written in seal script and issued as 1 cash and 2 cash.
During the short reign of Emperor Guang Zong (1190-1194), bronze coins were cast with the inscription shao xi yuan bao (绍熙元宝) in values of both "1 cash" and "2 cash". Shao xi yuan bao coins cast in iron were produced as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The reverse sides display years 1 (yuan 元) through 5.
Shao xi tong bao (绍 熙通宝) coins, however, were only cast in iron and only in values of 1 cash and 2 cash.
In the 4th year (1193) of the Shao Xi reign, "5 cash" coins were cast as both shao xi yuan bao and shao xi tong bao but these coins are very rare.
Emperor Ning Zong (1195-1224) produced coins under a number or period titles including Qing Yuan (1195-1200), Jia Tai (1201-1204), Kai Xi (1205-1207), Jia Ding (1208-1224) and Sheng Song (1208-1210).
Qing yuan tong bao (庆元通宝) coins began to be cast in 1195 in both bronze and iron and in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. Qing yuan yuan bao (庆元元宝) coins were only cast as a 5 cash iron coin.
Beginning in the first year (1201) of Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Tai reign, jia tai tong bao (嘉泰通宝) bronze coins were cast in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. Iron coins with this inscription were cast as 1 cash and 2 cash. Jia tai yuan bao (嘉泰元宝) coins were only cast in iron and in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
Emperor Ning Zong's Kai Xi reign began in 1205 and produced both bronze and iron coins with the inscription kai xi tong bao (开禧通宝) in both 1 cash and 2 cash values. Coins with the legend kai xi yuan bao (开禧元宝) were only cast in iron and only with a value of 3 cash.
During Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Ding (1208-1224) title reign, jia ding tong bao (嘉定通宝) bronze coins were cast in 1 cash and 2 cash values. Jia ding tong bao coins were also produced in iron with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 5 cash.
Jia ding yuan bao (嘉定元宝) bronze coins were only cast as a large "10 cash" coin. Iron jia ding yuan bao coins, however, were cast as 2 cash, 3 cash and 5 cash coins.
Most coin inscriptions include the characters tong bao (通宝), yuan bao (元宝) or zhong bao (重宝). Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Ding reign, however, is noted for producing a number of coins with inscriptions that had not previously been seen. These are all large 2 cash and 3 cash iron coins and include such new inscriptions as jia ding chong bao (嘉定崇宝), jia ding quan bao (嘉定全宝), jia ding yong bao (嘉定永宝), jia ding zhen bao (嘉定真宝), jia ding xin bao (嘉定新宝), jia ding an bao (嘉定安宝), jia ding long bao (嘉定隆宝), jia ding quan bao (嘉定泉宝), jia ding zheng bao (嘉定正宝), jia ding hong bao (嘉定洪宝), jia ding wan bao (嘉定万宝), jia ding zhi bao (嘉定之宝), jia ding zhen bao (嘉定珍宝), and jia ding xing bao (嘉定兴宝).
Some even larger "5 cash" iron coins were cast as jia ding zhen bao (嘉定珍宝), jia ding xing bao (嘉定兴宝), jia ding zhong bao (嘉定重宝), jia ding zhi bao (嘉定之宝), and jia ding quan bao (嘉定全宝). Five cash coins, with never seen before inscriptions, include the jia ding zhi bao (嘉定至宝) and the jia ding feng bao (嘉定封宝).
Emperor Ning Zong also cast coins during his Sheng Song (1208-1210) reign. These are all 5 cash iron coins with the inscription sheng song zhong bao (圣宋重宝) that were produced at the Shaoxing (绍兴) mint in Li Prefecture (利洲) in Sichuan (四川).
The Southern Song is noted for the very large quantity of iron coins cast. The period 1163-1224, during the reigns of Emperor Xiao Zong and Emperor Ning Zong, saw the largest production of iron coins of the dynasty.
Emperor Li Zong ruled during the years 1225-1264 which included nine period titles. The reign titles are Bao Qing (1225), Da Song (1225-1227), Shao Ding (1228-1233), Duan Ping (1234-1236), Jia Xi (1237-1240), Chun You (1241-1252), Huang Song (1253-1258), Kai Qing (1259), and Jing Ding (1260-1264).
During his Bao Qing (1225) reign, Emperor Li Zong ordered 1 cash and 2 cash iron coins cast with the inscription bao qing yuan bao (宝庆元宝).
The Da Song (1225-1227) era of Emperor Li Zong saw production of da song yuan bao (大宋元宝) 1 cash and 2 cash bronze coins as well as 1 cash and 3 cash iron coins. Da song tong bao (大宋通宝) coins were cast as 10 cash coins in bronze and 1 cash coins in iron.
The Shao Ding (1228-1233) years saw the minting of shao ding tong bao (绍定通宝) bronze and iron 1 cash and 2 cash coins. The shao ding yuan bao (绍定元宝) coins were only cast in iron with a value of 3 cash.
Emperor Li Zong's Duan Ping (1234-1236) reign had duan ping yuan bao (端平元宝) coins cast as 1 cash in bronze, and 3 cash and 5 cash in iron. Bronze 5 cash coins, as well as 1 cash and 5 cash iron coins, were minted as duan ping tong bao (端平通宝). Duan ping zhong bao (端平重宝) coins were only produced as 5 cash bronze coins.
During the Jia Xi (1237-1240) reign of Emperor Li Zong, jia xi tong bao (嘉熙通宝) coins in bronze were cast as 1 cash and 2 cash. Large 5 cash and 10 cash coins with this inscription were also cast in iron. Only bronze 5 cash coins were made with the inscription jia xi zhong bao (嘉熙重宝).
Emperor Li Zong's Chun You (1241-1252) period saw chun you yuan bao (淳佑元宝) coins minted as 1 cash and 2 cash bronze coins. Chun you tong bao (淳佑通宝) coins were cast as 1 cash, 2 cash, 3 cash and 100 cash (当百) in bronze, as well as 20 cash and 100 cash in iron.
The Huang Song (1253-1258) years of Emperor Li Zong's rule produced only bronze coins of 1 cash and 2 cash with the inscription huang song yuan bao (皇宋元宝).
Emperor Li Zong's Kai Qing (1259) reign lasted just one year and produced only bronze 1 cash and 2 cash coins with the inscription kai qing tong bao (开庆通宝).
The ninth and final dynastic title of Emperor Li Zong was Jing Ding (1260-1264). Only bronze jing ding yuan bao (景定元宝) bronze coins were cast with values of 1 cash and 2 cash.
Emperor Du Zong (1265-1274) was the last Song Dynasty emperor to cast coins. Coins during his title reign of Xian Chun (1265-1274) were produced as 1 cash and 2 cash in bronze only with the inscription xian chun yuan bao (咸淳元宝).
Because of the invasion by the Mongol army, the last three Song emperors were constantly on the run and, therefore, did not have the means to establish mints. For this reason, no coins were cast with the dynastic titles of De You (德佑), Jing Yan (景炎) and Xiang Xing (祥兴). In the past, and in order to meet the demand for such coins by avid coin collectors, a few unscrupulous ancient Chinese coin dealers produced fake de you and jing yan coins. There is also a small, thin xiang xing coin that can be found but this coin was cast in Annam (Vietnam) and is in no way associated with Song Dynasty coinage.
Because of serious inflation during the last years of the Southern Song, the government also cast a type of very small coin tablet or coin tally known as qian pai (钱牌). These coin tallies were made of bronze or lead and were issued in denominations of 10 cash, 40 cash, 100 cash 200 cash, 300 cash and 500 cash. Most of these coin tallies have the inscription lin an fu xing yong (临安府行用) which translates as "(for) use in Lin An Prefecture". Lin An is the old name for Hangzhou which was the capital of the Southern Song.
Emperor Gao Zong (1127-1162) had coins cast during his Jian Yan reign years (1127-1130) as jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝), jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) and jian yan tong bao (建炎通宝). The jian yan tong bao (建炎通宝) coins are fairly plentiful but there are very few jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝) and jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) coins.
Jian yan yuan bao (建炎元宝) coins were cast as 1 cash with inscriptions written in seal (zhuan 篆) or official (li 隶) script. Jian yan zhong bao (建炎重宝) coins were only cast as bronze coins in seal script with a value of 3 cash. Jian yan tong bao (建 炎通宝) coins were cast in both bronze and iron with inscriptions written in seal or official scripts and with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
During the Shao Xing (1131-1162) reign years of Emperor Gao Zong, coins were cast as shao xing yuan bao (绍兴元宝) and shao xing tong bao (绍兴通宝) only. No authentic shao xing zhong bao (绍兴重宝) coins are known to exist.
The shao xing yuan bao (绍兴元宝) coins were cast in bronze and iron with inscriptions in seal and regular scripts and with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The shao xing tong bao (绍兴通宝) bronze and iron coins were written in official script as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
The quantity of shao xing coins produced exceeded that of the jian yan coins but most are "2 cash" or "3 cash" coins. Very few "1 cash" (xiao ping 小平) coins were cast.
Emperor Xiao Zong ruled during the period 1163-1190 and had coins cast with the reign titles of Long Xing (1163-1164), Qian Dao (1165-1173) and Chun Xi (1173-1190). Because it was not considered worth the expense in either raw materials or labor, no official "1 cash" bronze coins were cast during the Long Xing and Qian Dao period title years. There were also very few official "2 cash" coins cast during the Long Xing years.
During Emperor Xiao Zong's Long Xing (1163-1164) reign, coins were cast as long xing yuan bao (隆兴元宝) with seal and official scripts. Only 2 cash coins were cast in bronze. One cash, 2 cash and 3 cash coins were produced in iron.
Long xing tong bao (隆兴通宝) were only cast as iron coins with a value of 2 cash.
Coins cast during Emperor Xiao Zong's Qian Dao (1165-1173) years included qian dao yuan bao (乾道元宝) and qian dao tong bao (乾道通宝). Qian dao yuan bao (乾道元宝) coins were cast in seal and official scripts in bronze as 2 cash and in iron as 1 cash and 2 cash. The qian dao tong bao (乾道通宝) coins were only cast in iron as 1 cash and 2 cash.
In 1173 the period title was proclaimed to be Chun Xi with chun written as 纯. Only 6 days later, the chun was officially changed to be written as 淳. The Tongan mint in in Anhui produced a very small number of chun xi yuan bao (纯熙元宝) iron coins with the chun written as 纯. These small iron coins are very rare.
Beginning in the 7th year (1180) of the Chun Xi reign of Emperor Xiao Zong, a number indicating the year of the period title in which the coin was cast was added to the reverse side of coins. This measure was taken to help reduce the illegal casting of private coins. It was believed that those casting private coins would not adopt the technology necessary to prepare and mate properly the obverse and reverse molds to produce coins with well cast inscriptions. Most privately cast coins of that time tended to be thin with flat reverses.
From this time until the end of the Song Dynasty in 1279, there tended to be few officially produced bronze coins with the period title year cast on the reverse side of the coin. Many iron coins, however, were cast with the year indicated on the reverse.
Also, beginning with the Chun Xi era coins and continuing to the end of the Song Dynasty, the inscriptions on bronze cash coins tended to be written in what is now known as the "Song style" or "regular script". For this reason, there are fewer varieties of bronze cash coins.
Emperor Xiao Zong during the years 1174-1189 had coins cast as chun xi yuan bao (淳熙元宝) and chun xi tong bao (淳熙通宝). The chun xi yuan bao (淳熙元宝) coins were cast in bronze and iron, in both seal and regular scripts, as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The chun xi tong bao (淳熙通宝) iron coins were written in seal script and issued as 1 cash and 2 cash.
During the short reign of Emperor Guang Zong (1190-1194), bronze coins were cast with the inscription shao xi yuan bao (绍熙元宝) in values of both "1 cash" and "2 cash". Shao xi yuan bao coins cast in iron were produced as 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. The reverse sides display years 1 (yuan 元) through 5.
Shao xi tong bao (绍 熙通宝) coins, however, were only cast in iron and only in values of 1 cash and 2 cash.
In the 4th year (1193) of the Shao Xi reign, "5 cash" coins were cast as both shao xi yuan bao and shao xi tong bao but these coins are very rare.
Emperor Ning Zong (1195-1224) produced coins under a number or period titles including Qing Yuan (1195-1200), Jia Tai (1201-1204), Kai Xi (1205-1207), Jia Ding (1208-1224) and Sheng Song (1208-1210).
Qing yuan tong bao (庆元通宝) coins began to be cast in 1195 in both bronze and iron and in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. Qing yuan yuan bao (庆元元宝) coins were only cast as a 5 cash iron coin.
Beginning in the first year (1201) of Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Tai reign, jia tai tong bao (嘉泰通宝) bronze coins were cast in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash. Iron coins with this inscription were cast as 1 cash and 2 cash. Jia tai yuan bao (嘉泰元宝) coins were only cast in iron and in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
Emperor Ning Zong's Kai Xi reign began in 1205 and produced both bronze and iron coins with the inscription kai xi tong bao (开禧通宝) in both 1 cash and 2 cash values. Coins with the legend kai xi yuan bao (开禧元宝) were only cast in iron and only with a value of 3 cash.
During Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Ding (1208-1224) title reign, jia ding tong bao (嘉定通宝) bronze coins were cast in 1 cash and 2 cash values. Jia ding tong bao coins were also produced in iron with values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 5 cash.
Jia ding yuan bao (嘉定元宝) bronze coins were only cast as a large "10 cash" coin. Iron jia ding yuan bao coins, however, were cast as 2 cash, 3 cash and 5 cash coins.
Most coin inscriptions include the characters tong bao (通宝), yuan bao (元宝) or zhong bao (重宝). Emperor Ning Zong's Jia Ding reign, however, is noted for producing a number of coins with inscriptions that had not previously been seen. These are all large 2 cash and 3 cash iron coins and include such new inscriptions as jia ding chong bao (嘉定崇宝), jia ding quan bao (嘉定全宝), jia ding yong bao (嘉定永宝), jia ding zhen bao (嘉定真宝), jia ding xin bao (嘉定新宝), jia ding an bao (嘉定安宝), jia ding long bao (嘉定隆宝), jia ding quan bao (嘉定泉宝), jia ding zheng bao (嘉定正宝), jia ding hong bao (嘉定洪宝), jia ding wan bao (嘉定万宝), jia ding zhi bao (嘉定之宝), jia ding zhen bao (嘉定珍宝), and jia ding xing bao (嘉定兴宝).
Some even larger "5 cash" iron coins were cast as jia ding zhen bao (嘉定珍宝), jia ding xing bao (嘉定兴宝), jia ding zhong bao (嘉定重宝), jia ding zhi bao (嘉定之宝), and jia ding quan bao (嘉定全宝). Five cash coins, with never seen before inscriptions, include the jia ding zhi bao (嘉定至宝) and the jia ding feng bao (嘉定封宝).
Emperor Ning Zong also cast coins during his Sheng Song (1208-1210) reign. These are all 5 cash iron coins with the inscription sheng song zhong bao (圣宋重宝) that were produced at the Shaoxing (绍兴) mint in Li Prefecture (利洲) in Sichuan (四川).
The Southern Song is noted for the very large quantity of iron coins cast. The period 1163-1224, during the reigns of Emperor Xiao Zong and Emperor Ning Zong, saw the largest production of iron coins of the dynasty.
Emperor Li Zong ruled during the years 1225-1264 which included nine period titles. The reign titles are Bao Qing (1225), Da Song (1225-1227), Shao Ding (1228-1233), Duan Ping (1234-1236), Jia Xi (1237-1240), Chun You (1241-1252), Huang Song (1253-1258), Kai Qing (1259), and Jing Ding (1260-1264).
During his Bao Qing (1225) reign, Emperor Li Zong ordered 1 cash and 2 cash iron coins cast with the inscription bao qing yuan bao (宝庆元宝).
The Da Song (1225-1227) era of Emperor Li Zong saw production of da song yuan bao (大宋元宝) 1 cash and 2 cash bronze coins as well as 1 cash and 3 cash iron coins. Da song tong bao (大宋通宝) coins were cast as 10 cash coins in bronze and 1 cash coins in iron.
The Shao Ding (1228-1233) years saw the minting of shao ding tong bao (绍定通宝) bronze and iron 1 cash and 2 cash coins. The shao ding yuan bao (绍定元宝) coins were only cast in iron with a value of 3 cash.
Emperor Li Zong's Duan Ping (1234-1236) reign had duan ping yuan bao (端平元宝) coins cast as 1 cash in bronze, and 3 cash and 5 cash in iron. Bronze 5 cash coins, as well as 1 cash and 5 cash iron coins, were minted as duan ping tong bao (端平通宝). Duan ping zhong bao (端平重宝) coins were only produced as 5 cash bronze coins.
During the Jia Xi (1237-1240) reign of Emperor Li Zong, jia xi tong bao (嘉熙通宝) coins in bronze were cast as 1 cash and 2 cash. Large 5 cash and 10 cash coins with this inscription were also cast in iron. Only bronze 5 cash coins were made with the inscription jia xi zhong bao (嘉熙重宝).
Emperor Li Zong's Chun You (1241-1252) period saw chun you yuan bao (淳佑元宝) coins minted as 1 cash and 2 cash bronze coins. Chun you tong bao (淳佑通宝) coins were cast as 1 cash, 2 cash, 3 cash and 100 cash (当百) in bronze, as well as 20 cash and 100 cash in iron.
The Huang Song (1253-1258) years of Emperor Li Zong's rule produced only bronze coins of 1 cash and 2 cash with the inscription huang song yuan bao (皇宋元宝).
Emperor Li Zong's Kai Qing (1259) reign lasted just one year and produced only bronze 1 cash and 2 cash coins with the inscription kai qing tong bao (开庆通宝).
The ninth and final dynastic title of Emperor Li Zong was Jing Ding (1260-1264). Only bronze jing ding yuan bao (景定元宝) bronze coins were cast with values of 1 cash and 2 cash.
Emperor Du Zong (1265-1274) was the last Song Dynasty emperor to cast coins. Coins during his title reign of Xian Chun (1265-1274) were produced as 1 cash and 2 cash in bronze only with the inscription xian chun yuan bao (咸淳元宝).
Because of the invasion by the Mongol army, the last three Song emperors were constantly on the run and, therefore, did not have the means to establish mints. For this reason, no coins were cast with the dynastic titles of De You (德佑), Jing Yan (景炎) and Xiang Xing (祥兴). In the past, and in order to meet the demand for such coins by avid coin collectors, a few unscrupulous ancient Chinese coin dealers produced fake de you and jing yan coins. There is also a small, thin xiang xing coin that can be found but this coin was cast in Annam (Vietnam) and is in no way associated with Song Dynasty coinage.
Because of serious inflation during the last years of the Southern Song, the government also cast a type of very small coin tablet or coin tally known as qian pai (钱牌). These coin tallies were made of bronze or lead and were issued in denominations of 10 cash, 40 cash, 100 cash 200 cash, 300 cash and 500 cash. Most of these coin tallies have the inscription lin an fu xing yong (临安府行用) which translates as "(for) use in Lin An Prefecture". Lin An is the old name for Hangzhou which was the capital of the Southern Song.
Examples of coins from the Southern
Song are discussed at the links below.
| Inscription | Pinyin | Special Characteristic: |
Years cast | Emperor |
| 绍兴元宝 | shao xing yuan bao | 2 Cash, seal script, moon
and star, flower (rosette) hole |
1131-1162 | Gao Zong |
| 绍兴元宝 | shao
xing
yuan
bao |
2 Cash, regular script,
moon and star on reverse |
1131-1162 | Gao Zong |
| 淳熙元宝 | chun xi yuan bao |
Large cash coin, regular
script, moon and star on reverse |
1174-1189 |
Xiao Zong |
| 绍熙元宝 | shao xi yuan bao | regular script, yuan (元)
on reverse |
1190-1194 |
Guang Zong |
| 庆元通宝 | qing yuan tong bao | san (三) on reverse, flower
(rosette) hole |
1195 - 1200 | Ning Zong |
| 绍定通宝 | shao ding tong bao |
liu (六) on
reverse, flower (rosette) hole |
1233 |
Li Zong |
| 开庆通宝 | kai qing tong bao |
yuan
(元) on reverse, flower (rosette) hole |
1259 |
Li Zong |
Liao Dynasty (907-1125)
The Liao Dynasty was established by
a
nomadic people known as the Qidan
(Khitan) (契丹) and occupied an area
of the northern prairies that included Manchuria, a portion of Mongolia
as well as parts of Hebei and
Shanxi provinces.
While the bronze coins of the Liao Dynasty were patterned after those of the Song, the Chinese character inscriptions and the overall quality do not meet the same high standards exhibited by Song Dynasty coinage.
The very earliest Liao coins were cast in very small quantities and extant examples are extremely rare. For example, there is only one known specimen of a tian xian tong bao (天显通宝) coin cast during the reign of Emperor Tai Zong (927-947). It is estimated that not more than 20 examples exist of the tian lu tong bao (天禄通宝) coin cast during the rule of Emperor Shi Zong (947-951). And, there are only about 5 specimens each known to exist of the ying li tong bao (应历通宝) and bao ning tong bao (保宁通宝) coins from the reigns of Emperor Mu Zong (951-969) and Emperor Jing Zong (969-982), respectively.
On the other hand, Liao coins beginning from the time of Emperor Xing Zong (1031-1055), such as the chong xi tong bao (重 熙通宝), are much less scarce and examples of these coins may be seen below.
While the bronze coins of the Liao Dynasty were patterned after those of the Song, the Chinese character inscriptions and the overall quality do not meet the same high standards exhibited by Song Dynasty coinage.
The very earliest Liao coins were cast in very small quantities and extant examples are extremely rare. For example, there is only one known specimen of a tian xian tong bao (天显通宝) coin cast during the reign of Emperor Tai Zong (927-947). It is estimated that not more than 20 examples exist of the tian lu tong bao (天禄通宝) coin cast during the rule of Emperor Shi Zong (947-951). And, there are only about 5 specimens each known to exist of the ying li tong bao (应历通宝) and bao ning tong bao (保宁通宝) coins from the reigns of Emperor Mu Zong (951-969) and Emperor Jing Zong (969-982), respectively.
On the other hand, Liao coins beginning from the time of Emperor Xing Zong (1031-1055), such as the chong xi tong bao (重 熙通宝), are much less scarce and examples of these coins may be seen below.
The coin at the left was cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong (1055-1101) of the Liao Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as qing ning tong bao (清宁通宝).
These coins were cast during the years 1055-1064.
The diameter is 24.3 mm and the weight is 3 grams.
This cash coin was also cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong.
The inscription is also written clockwise and reads da kang tong bao (大康通宝).
It was cast during the years 1075-1084.
The coin has a diameter of 23.2 mm and a weight of 3.2 grams.
This is another cash coin cast during the reign of Emperor Dao Zong of the Liao Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as da an yuan bao (大安元宝).
The coin was cast during the years 1085-1094.
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4 grams.
This Liao Dynasty cash coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Tian Zuo (1101-1125).
The inscription reads clockwise as qian tong yuan bao (乾统元宝).
These coins were cast during the years 1101-1110.
The coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 2.7 grams.
The following are other Liao Dynasty coins displayed on this website which may be viewed by clicking on the appropriate link:
| Inscription |
Pinyin |
Years cast |
Emperor |
| 千秋万岁 | qian qiu wan sui |
938 |
Tai Zong |
| 重熙通宝 | chong xi tong bao | 1032-1055 | Xing Zong |
| 大安元宝 | da
an
yuan
bao |
1085-1093 | Dao Zong |
| 寿昌元宝 | shou chang yuan bao | 1095-1101 | Dao Zong |
| 乾统元宝 | qian tong yuan bao | 1101-1110 | Tian Zuo |
| 天庆元宝 | tian qing yuan bao | 1111-1120 | Tian Zuo |
Xi Xia Dynasty (1032-1227)
Like the Liao Dynasty, the Xi Xia
(Western Xia) Dynasty was established by a minority nationality that
existed in northwest China. The Tangut tribe established the Xi
Xia Dynasty in 1032 situated in an area that now encompasses Ningxia
Province, Gansu Province and the western part of Inner Mongolia.
At first, coins with inscriptions written in the Tangut or Xi Xia script were cast but coins with Chinese inscriptions were later produced. Inscriptions are read clockwise as opposed to top to bottom and right to left.
Although coins were cast over a period of about 170 years, the quantity was not great and many types are considered rare.
The first coins were cast in the years 1053-1055 with the inscription fu sheng bao qian (福圣宝钱), written not in Chinese but in the Tangut script, during the reign of Emperor Yi Zong (1048-1067).
Emperors Hui Zong (1068-1086), Chong Zong (1086-1139), Ren Zong (1139-1193) and Huan Zong (1194-1206) cast coins with both Tangut and Chinese inscriptions during their reigns.
The reigns of Emperors Xiang Zong (1206-1211) and Shen Zong (1211-1223) produced coins with Chinese inscriptions only.
In general, the coins of the Xi Xia are considered to be of a higher quality than those of the Liao Dynasty.
Except for the bronze and iron versions of the tian sheng yuan bao (天盛元宝) cast in the years 1149-1169 and the iron version of the qian you yuan bao (乾佑元宝) cast in the period 1170-1193 during the reign of Emperor Ren Zong, most other coins of the Xi Xia are considered to be scarce or rare.
At first, coins with inscriptions written in the Tangut or Xi Xia script were cast but coins with Chinese inscriptions were later produced. Inscriptions are read clockwise as opposed to top to bottom and right to left.
Although coins were cast over a period of about 170 years, the quantity was not great and many types are considered rare.
The first coins were cast in the years 1053-1055 with the inscription fu sheng bao qian (福圣宝钱), written not in Chinese but in the Tangut script, during the reign of Emperor Yi Zong (1048-1067).
Emperors Hui Zong (1068-1086), Chong Zong (1086-1139), Ren Zong (1139-1193) and Huan Zong (1194-1206) cast coins with both Tangut and Chinese inscriptions during their reigns.
The reigns of Emperors Xiang Zong (1206-1211) and Shen Zong (1211-1223) produced coins with Chinese inscriptions only.
In general, the coins of the Xi Xia are considered to be of a higher quality than those of the Liao Dynasty.
Except for the bronze and iron versions of the tian sheng yuan bao (天盛元宝) cast in the years 1149-1169 and the iron version of the qian you yuan bao (乾佑元宝) cast in the period 1170-1193 during the reign of Emperor Ren Zong, most other coins of the Xi Xia are considered to be scarce or rare.
This coin was cast during the first year (1210) of the Huang Jian reign of Emperor Xiang Zong (1206-1211) of the Xi Xia (Western Xia) Dynasty.
The inscription is read clockwise as huang jian yuan bao (皇建元宝).
The coin has a diameter of 25.5 mm and a weight of 4.9 grams.
This coin is from the reign of
Emperor Shen Zong (1211-1223) of the Xi
Xia or Western Xia Dynasty.
The inscription on this coin is
written in Chinese and is read clockwise as guang ding yuan bao (光定元宝).
The diameter is 25.5 mm and the
weight is 3.8 grams.
Jin Dynasty (1115-1234)
The
Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) was established by the Jurched (Nuzhen) (女贞)
nationality in
northern China during the late Northern Song Dynasty.
The Jurched defeated the Liao and, at first, used the coins of the Liao and the Song Dynasties.
In 1154, the Jin began to issue paper money, known as jiao chao (交钞).
The Jin did not begin to cast its own coins until 1157 which means the history of Jin coinage spans only about 60 years.
Unlike the Liao, however, the coins of the Jin, such as the zheng long yuan bao (正 隆元宝), tend to be very well made. While there are fewer types of coins than the Liao, they were cast in larger quantities.
Modeled after the Song Dynasty da guan tong bao (大观 通宝) coin which displayed the personal calligraphy style of Emperor Hui Zong, the da ding tong bao (大定通 宝) coins of Emperor Shi Zong exhibit a similar high degree of workmanship and calligraphy.
The tai he zhong bao (泰和重宝) coin, with its seal script calligraphy in high relief, and cast during the years 1204-1209 of the reign of Emperor Zhang Zong (1190-1209), is surely one of the most beautiful of all Chinese coins. It is said that the inscription was written by the famous calligrapher Tang Huai Ying (堂坏英). This style of seal script is variously known as "jade tendon", "jade chopstick", and "jade ligament" (yu jin zhuan 玉筋篆).
Coins cast in the later years of the Jin are very rare.
During the rule of King Wei Shao (1209-1213), the chong qing tong bao (崇庆通宝) and chong qing yuan bao (崇庆元宝) coins were cast in the years 1212-1213. Only one specimen of chong qing yuan bao is known to exist.
Also cast during the reign of King Wei Shao was the zhi ning yuan bao (至宁元宝) of which only one example of the coin is known to have survived to the present time.
The zhen you tong bao (贞 佑通宝) and zhen you yuan bao (贞 佑元宝) coins cast in the years 1213-1217 of the reign of Emperor Zuan Zong (1213-1224) are also very rare. Only one specimen of zhen you yuan bao is known to exist.
The Jurched defeated the Liao and, at first, used the coins of the Liao and the Song Dynasties.
In 1154, the Jin began to issue paper money, known as jiao chao (交钞).
The Jin did not begin to cast its own coins until 1157 which means the history of Jin coinage spans only about 60 years.
Unlike the Liao, however, the coins of the Jin, such as the zheng long yuan bao (正 隆元宝), tend to be very well made. While there are fewer types of coins than the Liao, they were cast in larger quantities.
Modeled after the Song Dynasty da guan tong bao (大观 通宝) coin which displayed the personal calligraphy style of Emperor Hui Zong, the da ding tong bao (大定通 宝) coins of Emperor Shi Zong exhibit a similar high degree of workmanship and calligraphy.
The tai he zhong bao (泰和重宝) coin, with its seal script calligraphy in high relief, and cast during the years 1204-1209 of the reign of Emperor Zhang Zong (1190-1209), is surely one of the most beautiful of all Chinese coins. It is said that the inscription was written by the famous calligrapher Tang Huai Ying (堂坏英). This style of seal script is variously known as "jade tendon", "jade chopstick", and "jade ligament" (yu jin zhuan 玉筋篆).
Coins cast in the later years of the Jin are very rare.
During the rule of King Wei Shao (1209-1213), the chong qing tong bao (崇庆通宝) and chong qing yuan bao (崇庆元宝) coins were cast in the years 1212-1213. Only one specimen of chong qing yuan bao is known to exist.
Also cast during the reign of King Wei Shao was the zhi ning yuan bao (至宁元宝) of which only one example of the coin is known to have survived to the present time.
The zhen you tong bao (贞 佑通宝) and zhen you yuan bao (贞 佑元宝) coins cast in the years 1213-1217 of the reign of Emperor Zuan Zong (1213-1224) are also very rare. Only one specimen of zhen you yuan bao is known to exist.
Jin Dynasty coins may be viewed at
the links below.
| Inscription |
Pinyin |
Years Cast |
Emperor |
| 正隆元宝 | zheng long yuan bao | 1158-1161 |
Wan Yan Liang (King Hai
Ling) |
| 大定通宝 | da ding tong bao | 1178-1189 |
Shi Zong |
| 泰和重宝 | tai he zhong bao | 1204-1209 | Zhang Zong |
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
The Mongols, through a series of
ruthless military campaigns, successfully created an enormous empire
during the 13th and 14th
centuries that spanned from East Asia to eastern Europe and which
became known as the Mongol Empire, Mongol World Empire, or Empire of
the Great Khan. It was the largest contiguous empire in the
history of
the world.
Prior to the formal establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in 1280, it is quite probable that the Mongols, in order to help restore the economy, allowed coins to be locally produced on a very small scale in those areas formerly ruled by the Jin Dynasty. This is because monetary policies adopted during the late Jin Dynasty resulted in the paper money of the Jin Dynasty being seriously depreciated. These locally cast coins were then allowed to circulate along with older coins from previous Chinese dynasties.
Some of these newly cast coins were similar to those cast during the Song Dynasty. One such coin was the da guan tong bao (大观通 宝) but with the inscription written in a calligraphy different from the "slender gold" style of the Song coin.
Coins similar to those of the Jin Dynasty, such as the tai he tong bao (泰和重 宝) and da ding tong bao (大 定通 宝), were also cast. Because these coins have characteristics slightly different from those officially produced during those dynasties, they were previously known as "frontier" or "border" area coins, or "later" cast coins.
The Mongol Empire, also known as the "great dynasty" (da chao 大朝), cast bronze and silver coins of its own in China with the appropriate inscription da chao tong bao (大朝通宝). These coins are said to have been cast by Ghengis Khan and are very rare.
Following the establishment of Kublai Khan as the Great Khan in 1260, a very few bronze coins were cast with the inscriptions zhong tong yuan bao.
The zhong tong yuan bao (1260-1263), which exists in seal script and regular script versions, probably began to be cast at about the same time as the paper money began to be issued. Very few of these coins exist.
With the founding of the Yuan Dynasty in 1280, the primary form of money was paper money and, to a much smaller extent, silver ingots (sycee 细 丝 or yuanbao 元 宝).
During the 1260-1294 reign of Emperor Shi Zu (Kublai Khan or Khubilai Khan), coins with the inscription zhong tong yuan bao (中统元宝) were cast in the years 1260-1263.
Zhi yuan tong bao (至 元通宝) coins were cast during the years 1285-1294 of Kublai Khan's reign. The zhi yuan tong bao coin was cast in two versions. One version has the inscription in regular script (kai shu) while the other version is written in Mongol script, also known as "Phags-pa" (Phagspa). Matidhvaja Sribhadra was a Tibetan Lama commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1269 to create a Mongolian alphabet. The resulting alphabet closely resembles Tibetan and is known as the Phags-pa script.
The reign of Emperor Cheng Zong (Temur Oljeitu) during the years 1294-1307 saw the production of a small quantity of yuan zhen yuan bao (元贞元宝), yuan zhen tong bao (元贞通宝) and da de tong bao (大德通宝) bronze coins. These coins were only cast for symbolic reasons during the years 1295-1296, in both Chinese and Phags-pa versions, since the primary currrency was paper money.
When Emperor Wu Zong (Khaishan) became the ruler in 1308, he almost emptied the national treasury by appointing his own relatives to official positions and by bestowing gifts. In 1309 he tried to rectify the situation by issuing a new form of paper money called zhi da yin chao (至大银钞).
During the period 1310-1311 Emperor Wu Zong also ordered the casting of bronze coins with the inscription zhi da yuan bao (至大元宝) and zhi da tong bao (至大通宝). The zhi da tong bao 1 cash coins are the most common Yuan Dynasty coins found today. The 2 cash and 3 cash versions, however, are rare.
Also during the years 1310-1311 Emperor Wu Zong cast da yuan tong bao (大元通宝) coins in both Chinese and Mongol (Phags-pa) script versions and in values of 1 cash and 10 cash.
Emperor Ren Zong (Ayurbarwada) took power in 1312 and proceeded to stop the production of bronze coins. For about the next 40 years the government permitted only the circulation of paper currency although coins did continue to be used privately by the people. A small quantity of small bronze coins were cast during this period but these coins are referred to as "temple coins" and were not intended to be used as currency.
The Yuan Dynasty is famous for these "temple coins" or "offering coins" (gong yang qian 供养钱). Because the Yuan Dynasty emperors were Buddhist, the Buddhist temples tended to receive official support. The larger Buddhist temples cast bronze Buddha statues and other religious artifacts and it was therefore easy for them to also cast these coins which could be used by the faithful as offerings to Buddha. In general, these coins tend to be small and crudely made. However, because these coins still had intrinsic value, they sometimes served as currency particular during difficult economic times when paper money was not considered to be of value.
Emperor Shun (Toghon Temur) reigned during the period 1333-1368. He continued the use of paper money while only allowing limited casting of the small bronze "temple coins". In the tenth year (1350) of his Zhi Zheng reign, however, Emperor Shun ordered the printing of a new type of paper money known as zhi zheng jiao chao (至正交钞).
At the same time, Emperor Shun resumed the casting of bronze coins with the inscription zhi zheng tong bao (至正通宝) to circulate together with the new paper currency.
Zhi zheng tong bao coins can be divided into four basic types. The first type has the Earthly Stem, indicating the year cast, written in Mongol script above the square hole on the reverse side. The years are as follows: 寅 (yin 1350), 卯 (mao 1351), 辰 (chen 1352), 巳 (si 1353), and 午 (wu 1354). These coins were cast in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
The zhi zheng tong bao coins with the 寅 (yin 1350) on the reverse are the most scarce because the order to begin casting these coins was not made until November which means the casting period was very short.
The second type of zhi zheng tong bao has, on the reverse side, the year written as the Earthly Stem in Mongol above the square hole and also the denomination written below the hole. To give an example, 戌十 (xu shi) would be the year 1358 and a denomination of 10 cash. Denominations were cast as 2 cash, 3 cash, 5 cash and 10 cash.
The third type of zhi zheng tong bao coin has, on the reverse side, the year written as the Earthly Stem in Mongol above the square hole and the weight written below the hole. For example, 亥 (hai) written above the hole indicates the year 1359 and 壹两重 (yi liang zhong) written below the hole means 1 liang in weight.
The fourth type of coin actually has the inscription zhi zheng zhi bao (至 正之 宝). The calligraphy for the inscription was done by Zhou Boqi (周伯琦) who was a famous poet and calligrapher of the time. On the reverse side to the right of the square hole are the characters quan chao (权钞) which means equivalent to paper money. On the reverse side to the left of the hole are Chinese characters indicating that the coin is worth, for example, the equivalent of wu qian (伍钱) or 5 qian in paper money.
Several examples of Yuan Dynasty coins are displayed below.
Prior to the formal establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in 1280, it is quite probable that the Mongols, in order to help restore the economy, allowed coins to be locally produced on a very small scale in those areas formerly ruled by the Jin Dynasty. This is because monetary policies adopted during the late Jin Dynasty resulted in the paper money of the Jin Dynasty being seriously depreciated. These locally cast coins were then allowed to circulate along with older coins from previous Chinese dynasties.
Some of these newly cast coins were similar to those cast during the Song Dynasty. One such coin was the da guan tong bao (大观通 宝) but with the inscription written in a calligraphy different from the "slender gold" style of the Song coin.
Coins similar to those of the Jin Dynasty, such as the tai he tong bao (泰和重 宝) and da ding tong bao (大 定通 宝), were also cast. Because these coins have characteristics slightly different from those officially produced during those dynasties, they were previously known as "frontier" or "border" area coins, or "later" cast coins.
The Mongol Empire, also known as the "great dynasty" (da chao 大朝), cast bronze and silver coins of its own in China with the appropriate inscription da chao tong bao (大朝通宝). These coins are said to have been cast by Ghengis Khan and are very rare.
Following the establishment of Kublai Khan as the Great Khan in 1260, a very few bronze coins were cast with the inscriptions zhong tong yuan bao.
The zhong tong yuan bao (1260-1263), which exists in seal script and regular script versions, probably began to be cast at about the same time as the paper money began to be issued. Very few of these coins exist.
With the founding of the Yuan Dynasty in 1280, the primary form of money was paper money and, to a much smaller extent, silver ingots (sycee 细 丝 or yuanbao 元 宝).
During the 1260-1294 reign of Emperor Shi Zu (Kublai Khan or Khubilai Khan), coins with the inscription zhong tong yuan bao (中统元宝) were cast in the years 1260-1263.
Zhi yuan tong bao (至 元通宝) coins were cast during the years 1285-1294 of Kublai Khan's reign. The zhi yuan tong bao coin was cast in two versions. One version has the inscription in regular script (kai shu) while the other version is written in Mongol script, also known as "Phags-pa" (Phagspa). Matidhvaja Sribhadra was a Tibetan Lama commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1269 to create a Mongolian alphabet. The resulting alphabet closely resembles Tibetan and is known as the Phags-pa script.
The reign of Emperor Cheng Zong (Temur Oljeitu) during the years 1294-1307 saw the production of a small quantity of yuan zhen yuan bao (元贞元宝), yuan zhen tong bao (元贞通宝) and da de tong bao (大德通宝) bronze coins. These coins were only cast for symbolic reasons during the years 1295-1296, in both Chinese and Phags-pa versions, since the primary currrency was paper money.
When Emperor Wu Zong (Khaishan) became the ruler in 1308, he almost emptied the national treasury by appointing his own relatives to official positions and by bestowing gifts. In 1309 he tried to rectify the situation by issuing a new form of paper money called zhi da yin chao (至大银钞).
During the period 1310-1311 Emperor Wu Zong also ordered the casting of bronze coins with the inscription zhi da yuan bao (至大元宝) and zhi da tong bao (至大通宝). The zhi da tong bao 1 cash coins are the most common Yuan Dynasty coins found today. The 2 cash and 3 cash versions, however, are rare.
Also during the years 1310-1311 Emperor Wu Zong cast da yuan tong bao (大元通宝) coins in both Chinese and Mongol (Phags-pa) script versions and in values of 1 cash and 10 cash.
Emperor Ren Zong (Ayurbarwada) took power in 1312 and proceeded to stop the production of bronze coins. For about the next 40 years the government permitted only the circulation of paper currency although coins did continue to be used privately by the people. A small quantity of small bronze coins were cast during this period but these coins are referred to as "temple coins" and were not intended to be used as currency.
The Yuan Dynasty is famous for these "temple coins" or "offering coins" (gong yang qian 供养钱). Because the Yuan Dynasty emperors were Buddhist, the Buddhist temples tended to receive official support. The larger Buddhist temples cast bronze Buddha statues and other religious artifacts and it was therefore easy for them to also cast these coins which could be used by the faithful as offerings to Buddha. In general, these coins tend to be small and crudely made. However, because these coins still had intrinsic value, they sometimes served as currency particular during difficult economic times when paper money was not considered to be of value.
Emperor Shun (Toghon Temur) reigned during the period 1333-1368. He continued the use of paper money while only allowing limited casting of the small bronze "temple coins". In the tenth year (1350) of his Zhi Zheng reign, however, Emperor Shun ordered the printing of a new type of paper money known as zhi zheng jiao chao (至正交钞).
At the same time, Emperor Shun resumed the casting of bronze coins with the inscription zhi zheng tong bao (至正通宝) to circulate together with the new paper currency.
Zhi zheng tong bao coins can be divided into four basic types. The first type has the Earthly Stem, indicating the year cast, written in Mongol script above the square hole on the reverse side. The years are as follows: 寅 (yin 1350), 卯 (mao 1351), 辰 (chen 1352), 巳 (si 1353), and 午 (wu 1354). These coins were cast in values of 1 cash, 2 cash and 3 cash.
The zhi zheng tong bao coins with the 寅 (yin 1350) on the reverse are the most scarce because the order to begin casting these coins was not made until November which means the casting period was very short.
The second type of zhi zheng tong bao has, on the reverse side, the year written as the Earthly Stem in Mongol above the square hole and also the denomination written below the hole. To give an example, 戌十 (xu shi) would be the year 1358 and a denomination of 10 cash. Denominations were cast as 2 cash, 3 cash, 5 cash and 10 cash.
The third type of zhi zheng tong bao coin has, on the reverse side, the year written as the Earthly Stem in Mongol above the square hole and the weight written below the hole. For example, 亥 (hai) written above the hole indicates the year 1359 and 壹两重 (yi liang zhong) written below the hole means 1 liang in weight.
The fourth type of coin actually has the inscription zhi zheng zhi bao (至 正之 宝). The calligraphy for the inscription was done by Zhou Boqi (周伯琦) who was a famous poet and calligrapher of the time. On the reverse side to the right of the square hole are the characters quan chao (权钞) which means equivalent to paper money. On the reverse side to the left of the hole are Chinese characters indicating that the coin is worth, for example, the equivalent of wu qian (伍钱) or 5 qian in paper money.
Several examples of Yuan Dynasty coins are displayed below.
This coin is from the reign of Kublai Khan (Emperor Shi Zu) (1260-1294) of the Yuan Dynasty.
The inscription (je üen tung baw) is written in the Mongol script (Phags-pa). The equivalent Chinese inscription is zhi yuan tong bao (至元通宝).
The size of the coin indicates that it has a value of "2 cash" which means it was equal to two regular cash coins.
These coins were cast during the years 1285-1294.
The diameter is 29 mm and the weight is 7.3 grams.
This Yuan Dynasty coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Wu Zong (Khaishan) (1308-1311).
The inscription is written in Mongolian and reads da yuan tong bao (大元通宝).
This large and heavy coin was cast during the years 1310-1311 and was equivalent in value to ten cash coins.
The diameter is 42 mm and the weight is 22.9 grams.
The inscription on this Yuan Dynasty cash coin reads zhi zheng tong bao (至正通宝).
The coin was cast during the reign of Emperor Shun (Toghon Temur) who ruled during the years 1333-1368.
It is a 3 cash coin which means that it had a value equivalent to 3 regular (1 cash) coins.
The reverse side displays the Mongol word for the Chinese cyclical character geng yin (庚寅) which means this coin was cast in the year 1350
The coin has a diameter of 33 mm and a weight of 8.8 grams.
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
The Ming Dynasty placed a greater reliance on coins than did the Yuan Dynasty. Even before the Mongols were defeated, Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), who would become the first emperor of the Ming, established a mint (Board of Works) in 1361 at Ying Tian Fu (Nanjing) and began casting coins with the inscription da zhong tong bao (大中通宝).
In 1368 after formally becoming the first emperor of the Ming dynasty and adopting the reign title hong wu, Zhu Yuanzhang established mints in other cities and provinces including Nanking (jing 京), Peiping (beiping 北平), Henan (yu 豫), Jinan (ji 济), Zhejiang (zhe 浙), Fujian (fu 福), Hubei (e 鄂), Guangdong (guang 广), and Guilin (gui 桂). The Chinese characters in parentheses are the respective mint marks found on the reverse side of the coins.
Bronze coins were cast in five denominations: 1 cash (xiao ping 小平), 2 cash (zhe er 折二), 3 cash (zhe san 折三), five cash (zhe wu 折五), and ten cash (dang shi 当十). The coins progressed in size from smaller to larger according to the denomination.
The 1 cash coins have a single Chinese character on the reverse side indicating where the coin was cast. The reverse side of the 2 cash coins also have a Chinese character indicating the mint. However, some of the 2 cash, 3 cash, 5 cash and 10 cash coins also include on the reverse side a Chinese number indicating the value.
New rules were promulgated in 1375 which set strict standards for coins. The previous denominations would now be, respectively, 1 qian (yi qian 一钱), 2 qian (er qian 二钱), 3 qian (san qian 三钱), 5 qian (wu qian 五钱) and one liang (yi liang 一两) and the weight of each coin would be in accordance with the stated value. Additionally, it was stipulated that the coins would be made from 100% copper and that 160 of the "1 qian" cash coins would be made from one jin (斤) of copper. Each provincial mint was required to mark the reverse side of each coin with both its value and place of casting.
The Ming Dynasty included a total of seventeen reign titles but coins were not cast for every reign title. Coins were cast for the following ten reign titles: hong wu tong bao (洪 武通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Tai Zu (1368-1398); yong le tong bao (永乐通宝) cast during the reign of Cheng Zu (1403-1424); xuan de tong bao (宣德通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xuan De (1426-1435); hong zhi tong bao (弘治通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xiao Zong (1488-1505); jia jing tong bao (嘉靖通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Shi Zong (1522-1567); long qing tong bao (隆庆通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Mu Zong (1567-1572); wan li tong bao (万历通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Shen Zong (1573-1620); tai chang tong bao (泰昌通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Guang Zong (1620); tian qi tong bao (天启通 宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Xi Zong (1621-1627); and chong zhen tong bao (忠 祯通宝) cast during the reign of Emperor Si Zong (1628-1644).
No coins were cast and put into circulation with the following seven Ming Dynasty reign titles: jian wen (建文), hong xi (洪熙), zheng tong (正统), jing tai (景泰), tian shun (天顺), cheng hua (成化), and zheng de (正德).
Zheng De was the reign title (1505-1521 AD) of the Ming Dynasty emperor Wu Zong. Even though no authentic coins were believed to have been cast during his reign, one can still find zheng de tong bao (正德通宝) coins and charms which are definitely old.
According to Chinese folklore, Emperor Zheng De was a "swimming" dragon that came back to life. Beginning at about the end of the Ming Dynasty and extending through the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, coins were cast privately with the inscription zheng de tong bao (正德通宝) because of the belief that carrying such a coin would act as a protective charm when crossing a river or sea.
Southern Ming coins were also cast as follows: da ming tong bao (大明通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Lu (1644-1646); hong guang tong bao (弘光通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Fu (1644-1645); long wu tong bao (隆武通宝) cast during the reign of the Prince of Tang (1645-1646); and yong li tong bao (永历通宝) cast during the reign of Prince Yongming (1646-1659).
It is interesting to note that all Ming Dynasty coins include "tong bao" (通宝) in the inscription, such as da zhong tong bao (大中通宝). Unlike previous dynasty coins, there are no Ming Dynasty coins which have "yuan bao" (元宝) in the inscription.
The reason is because the first emperor of the Ming was Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) who happened to have the character yuan (元) in his name. Because of the tradition of respect accorded an emperor, it was prohibited to use the character "yuan" (元) on coinage of the Ming dynasty.
Another interesting fact concerning Ming Dynasty coins is that there are far fewer still in existence compared to, for example, coins from the even older Song Dynasty (960-1127). With the exception of da zhong tong bao (大中通宝), hong wu tong bao (洪武通宝), tian qi tong bao (天启通宝) and chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝), coins cast with other Ming Dynasty reign titles are fairly scarce.
The reason for the comparative scarcity of Ming Dynasty coins is that they were devalued by the succeeding Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911). Ten cash coins from the Ming were the equivalent of only five cash coins under the Qing. As a result, many Ming Dynasty coins were taken out of circulation and melted down with the bronze then used to cast Qing Dynasty coins.
At the left is a coin cast
under the authority of Zhu Yuanzhang who was, at the time, the Prince
of Wu.Zhu Yuanzhang was the leader of the rebellion that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty, under the rule of the Mongols, and then proceeded to establish the Ming Dynasty in 1368 with himself enthroned as Emperor Tai Zu (1368-1398).
These coins were cast during the years 1361-1368 and the inscription reads da zhong tong bao (大中通宝).
The reverse side has the number 10 (shi 十) above the square hole indicating that the coin is worth ten cash coins.
Below the square hole is the Chinese character zhe (浙) meaning that the coin was cast at the Zhejiang (浙江) mint.
This large coin has a diameter of 45.2 mm and a weight of 22.5 grams.
To learn more about Emperor Tai Zu, please see the charm describing his life at Buddhist Charms.
Ming Emperor Xi Zong ruled the country during the years 1621-1627.
Cash coins with the inscription tian qi tong bao (天启通宝), such as the example at the left, were cast in very large quantities and varieties.
This coin has a diameter of 22.5 mm and a weight of 4.9 grams.
Emperor Si Zong reigned during the years 1628-1644.
A major category of chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝) cash coins display dots (stars), crescents (moons), circles (suns) and various lines on the reverse side.
The coin at the left is such an example with a large dot or star above the square hole on its reverse side.
The diameter of the coin is 26 mm and the weight is 5.6 grams.
Another category of chong zhen tong bao cash coins displays the weight or value on the reverse side such as the coin to the left.
The reverse side has the Chinese character gong (工) above the square hole and the character er (二) below.
The er (二) means "two" which means that this coin had a value equivalent to two regular cash coins.
The gong (工), meaning "work", indicates that this coin was cast at the Board of Works mint.
Please also note that the zhen (祯) character in the inscription, located below the hole on the obverse side, has its left component (示) written differently from that on the coin above.
The coin has a diameter of 24.5 mm and a weight of 3.4 grams.
Still another variety of chong zhen tong bao coins have only
mint marks on the reverse side.The coin at the left, for example, has the Chinese character zhong (忠) meaning loyal or honest above the square hole.
During Emperor Si Zong's reign, there were a total of 156 mint furnaces producing cash coins. It is unclear if zhong (忠) refers to a particular mint or not.
The coin has a diameter of 24.8 mm and a weight of 3 grams.
This is an unusual chong zhen tong bao coin.
The coin is thicker and heavier than normal cash coins.
Also, the reverse side has a very wide rim and the four corners of the inner rim extend outwards towards the outer rim.
This type of coin originated during the reign of Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty (7-23 AD) and is known as a "biscuit" (bing 饼) or "cake" coin.
This coin has a diameter of 24 mm and a weight of 5.9 grams.
Unlike the coin above, this is a chong zhen tong bao (忠祯通宝) coin that is both smaller and lighter than normal.
However, this coin is unusual to even a greater degree.
What is fascinating about
this coin is the reverse side.There are two Manchu characters typical of a Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911) cash coin.
Manchu characters were never used on Ming Dynasty coins.
The earliest Manchu character mintmarks did not appear on cash coins until 1657 when shun zhi tong bao (顺治通宝) coins switched from using only Chinese characters on the reverse side to using Manchu characters on some versions.
The Manchu characters (boo yun) on this coin seem to indicate that it was cast at the Yunnan mint in south China.
The best explanation for the existence of this coin is that it was privately cast in southern China during the transition period from the Ming to the early Qing (Ch'ing). This was a period when large areas of southern China were still under the control of forces loyal to the Ming court.
This coin has a diameter of 21 mm and a weight of 1.6 grams.
Other Ming Dynasty coins are discussed at the links below.
| Inscription |
Pinyin |
Special Characteristic: |
Years Cast |
Emperor |
| 洪武通宝 | hong wu tong bao | flower (rosette) hole |
1368-1398 |
Tai Zu |
| 洪武通宝 | hong wu
tong bao |
dot (star) on obverse,
crescent (moon) on
reverse |
1368-1398 | Tai Zu |
| 永乐通宝 | yong le tong bao | flower (rosette) hole |
1403-1424 | Cheng Zu |
| 万历通宝 | wan li tong bao | 4 dots (stars) on obverse |
1573-1620 | Shen Zong |
| 崇祯通宝 | chong zhen tong bao | tai ping (太
平) on reverse |
1628-1644 |
Si Zong |
Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty (1644-1911)
Prior to the Manchus establishing the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, Nurhachi (1616-1626), known in Chinese as Emperor Shi Zu, cast coins with the inscription tian ming tong bao (天命通宝) written in the Manchu script.
Abahai (1627-1643), also known as Hong Taiji (洪太极) or Huang Taiji (皇台吉), cast coins with the inscription tian cong tong bao (天聪通宝) written in Manchu.
At the beginning of the dynasty, the government set the standard that one tael (liang 两) of silver would be the equivalent of one thousand cash coins and that one li (厘) of silver would be equal to one cash coin.
Emperor Shi Zu (1644-1661) established mints at the Board of Revenue and the Board of Works in Peking and began casting bronze coins with the inscription shun zhi tong bao (顺治通宝). Coins with this inscription were cast in five varieties or types as described below.
Beginning in the year 1644, Type 1 and Type 2 coins were cast.
Type 1 coins were cast during 1644-1645 and followed the ancient tradition of having a reverse side with no characters.
Type 2 coins were produced from 1644 to 1661 and were modeled after the huichang (会昌) kai yuan tong bao (开元通宝) coins produced during the period 845-846 AD of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), as well as the da zhong tong bao (大中通宝) and hong wu tong bao (洪武通宝) coins of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). These coins have a single Chinese character on the reverse side indicating at which mint the coin was cast.
The mints casting Type 2 coins were the Board of Revenue (hu 户), the Board of Works (gong 工), Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Yansui garrison in Shanxi Province (yan 延), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan (原), Shanxi Province (xi 西), Miyun garrison in Zhili (yun 云), Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Jingzhou garrison in Hubei Province (jing 荆), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe (浙), Fuzhou in Fujian Province (fu 福), Yanghe garrison in Shanxi Province (yang 阳), and Xiangyang in Hubei Province (xiang 襄).
Type 3 coins were cast from 1653-1657 and are characterised by having the characters 一厘 (yi li), meaning "one li of silver", on the reverse side of the coin. A li (厘) was equal to one-thousandth of a tael (liang 两).
Type 3 coins also have a Chinese character on the reverse indicating the mint. The mints for Type 3 coins were the same as those casting the Type 2 coins but excluding the mints at Yansui garrison in Shanxi Province (yan 延), Shanxi Province (xi 西) and Jingzhou garrison in Hubei Province (jing 荆). Additionally, a mint at Jinan in Shandong Province (dong 东) was established to cast Type 3 coins.
Type 4 coins were cast during the years 1657-1661 and have only Manchu characters on the reverse side. To the left of the square hole is the Manchu character for bao (宝) and to the right is the Manchu character indicating the mint. These coins were cast in Peking at the Board of Revenue mint (bao quan 宝泉) and the Board of Works mint (bao yuan 宝源).
Type 5 coins were only cast during the years 1660-1661 and have both a Chinese and Manchu character on the reverse side indicating where the coin was cast. The Manchu character is located to the left of the square hole and the Chinese character is to the right.
There were twelve mints casting Type 5 coins: Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Jizhou garrison in Zhili (ji 蓟), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan 原), Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe 浙), and Jinan in Shandong Province (dong (东).
During the reign of Emperor Sheng Zu (1662-1722), coins were cast with the inscription kang xi tong bao (康熙通宝) modeled after both the shun zhi tong bao coins with the Manchu character on the reverse (Type 4) and the shun zhi tong bao coins with both the Chinese and Manchu characters on the reverse (Type 5).
Kang xi tong bao cash coins were cast at the following mints: Datong garrison in Shanxi Province (tong 同), Fuzhou in Fujian Province (fu 福), Linqing garrison in Shandong Province (lin 临), Jinan in Shandong Province (dong 东), Nanchang in Jiangxi Province (jiang (江), Xuanhua garrison in Zhili (xuan 宣), Taiyuan in Shanxi Province (yuan 原), Suzhou in Jiangsu Province (su 苏), Jizhou garrison in Zhili (ji 蓟), Wuchang in Hubei Province (chang 昌), Jiangning or Nanking (ning 宁), Kaifeng in Henan Province (he 河), Changsha in Hunan Province (nan 南), Guangzhou in Guangdong Province (guang 广), Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province (zhe 浙), Taiwan (tai 台), Guilin in Guangxi Province (gui 桂), Xian in Shaanxi Province (shan 陕), Yunan Province (yun 云), Zhangzhou in Fujian Province (zhang 漳), Gongchang in Gansu Province (gong 巩), and West (xi 西).
The cash coins cast during the reigns of the next three emperors were basically modeled after those of Kangxi. These include the yong zheng tong bao (雍正通宝) coins of Emperor Shi Zong (1723-1735), the qian long tong bao (乾隆通宝) coins of Emperor Gao Zong (1736-1795), and the jia qing tong bao (嘉庆通宝) coins of Emperor Ren Zong (1796-1820).
During the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong (1821-1850), large quantities of silver left the country as a result of the opium trade. This meant that the price of silver in China increased drastically and, because coin production was tied to a silver standard, the cost of casting bronze cash coins now exceeded their face value.
The coins produced during Emperor Xuan Zong's reign have the inscription dao guang tong bao (道光通宝) and, in general, tend to be smaller and of poorer quality than those of his predecessors.
In addition to the mints that existed under Emperor Ren Zong, a new mint was established at Kucha (ku 库) to produce cash coins for the far western province of Xinjiang.
During his reign, Emperor Wen Zong (1851-1861) faced a large-scale peasant uprising (1850 -1864 AD) known as the Taiping Rebellion. The expense of the war, aggravated by the cutting off of the supply of copper from mines in the south, had a profound effect on coin production. In addition to the small cash coins (xian feng tong bao 咸丰通宝), many coins of larger denominations were also cast.
The bronze coins cast during Emperor Wen Zong's reign thus ranged from "One Wen" to "Value One Thousand". But, the size and weight of Xian Feng coins were in no way standardized. For example, a "Value Fifty" coin would be larger than a "Value One Hundred" coin. A "Value One Hundred" coin would be heavier than a "Value One Thousand" coin.
Coins with the inscription xian feng zhong bao (咸丰重宝) include the denominations "Value Four", "Value Five", "Value Ten", and "Value Fifty".
Coins with the inscription xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) have the denominations "Value One Hundred", "Value Five Hundred" and "Value One Thousand".
Emperor Mu Zong (1862-1874) only lived to the age of nineteen but coins cast during his short reign include tong zhi tong bao (同治通宝) and tong zhi zhong bao (同治重宝).
Emperor De Zong (1875-1908) had coins cast with the inscription guang xu tong bao (光绪通宝) and guang xu zhong bao (光绪重宝).
Emperor Puyi (1909-1912) was the last emperor of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty, as well as last emperor of imperial China. Cash coins cast during his reign have the inscription xuan tong tong bao (宣统通宝).
Described below are examples of Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty coins.
Emperor Gao Zong ruled under the reign title Qian Long from 1736 to 1795. He abdicated the throne after sixty years in favor of his son Jia Qing as a sign of respect to not reign longer that his grandfather Kang Xi.
The well made coin at
the left is typical of the cash coins cast during
the early part of his reign.A very large quantity of qian long cash coins were cast but their size and quality, in comparison to that of the Kang Xi and Yong Zheng era, gradually deteriorated during his reign.
The inscription on the obverse side reads qian long tong bao (乾隆通宝).
A special characteristic of some qian long coins, and which can be seen here, is that the bottom character long (隆) is sometimes written with a fou (缶) instead of a sheng (生).
All qian long cash coins have the mint name written in Manchu only. The reverse side of this coin has the Manchu character boo, meaning "building" on the left, and the Manchu character yuwan meaning Board of Works on the right.
The coin, cast at the Board of Works mint in Peking (Beijing), has a diameter of 26 mm and a weight of 5.3 grams.
Emperor Xuan Zong reigned during the years 1821-1850 and cash coins were cast with the reign title Dao Guang (道 光).
The number of mints producing cash coins was almost the same as that during the reign of Jia Qing. However, two new mints marks appeared, namely xin (新) for Xinjiang Province and kuche (库车) for Kucha, Xinjiang Province.
In general, however, the overall quality of the dao guang coins is inferior to that of the predecessors. The price of silver rose precipitously at the time as a consequence of the opium trade and, as a result, it cost more to cast cash coins than they were worth.
The mint in Fujian Province was closed in 1824 and gradually those in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Zhili Provinces were also shutdown.
The inscription of this coin reads dao quang tong bao (道光通宝).
The Manchu character on the reverse side to the right of the square hole is jyi indicating that the coin was cast during the years 1821-1823 at the mint in Baoding, Zhili.
The diameter is 25 mm and the weight is 3.6 grams.
This is another dao
quang tong bao (道光通宝) cash coin.The Manchu character at the right of the square hole on the reverse side is kiyan which refers to the mints in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.
There is a character above the hole which is either da (大) or liu (六). There is no consensus on which character this is. Da could stand for the city of Da Ding (Dading). The character may be liu, however, in which case it would be the number "six".
The coin has a diameter of 25 mm and a weight of 4.4 grams.
Emperor Wen Zong
(1851-1861) ruled under the reign title Xian Feng and was on the throne
during a very difficult time when the country suffered wars,
rebellions, famines, etc.The Taiping rebellion (1850-1864) in the south cut off the supply of copper from Yunnan Province needed for coinage. As a result, Emperor Wen Zong's reign was characterized by large coins of high denominations as well as iron coins.
The coin at the left is an example of an iron coin from the 1854-1859 period.
The inscription reads xian feng tong bao (咸丰通宝) and the Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse side indicates that the coin was cast at the Board of Revenue mint in Peking (Beijing).
The diameter is 22.5 mm and the weight is 4.7 grams.
This is an example of
the large denomination token coinage from the Xian Feng era.The inscriptions on these coins used yuan bao (元宝) or zhong bao (重宝) instead of the tong bao (通 宝) used on the smaller cash coins.
The inscription on this coin is xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) and the Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse side indicates that it was cast at the Board of Revenue mint in Peking (Beijing).
The Chinese characters above and below the square hole on the reverse are dang shi (当十) which means the coin is a Value Ten (10) or a denomination equal to ten cash coins.
The diameter of the coin is 37.5 mm and the weight is 22 grams.
This is another xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) coin.
The reverse side also has the Chinese characters dang shi (当十) meaning it has Value Ten (10) or a denomination equal to ten cash coins.
The Manchu character to the right of the hole is jyi which means the coin was cast at Baoding, Zhili.
The diameter is 34.5 mm and the weight is 12.6 grams.
This xian feng zhong bao (咸丰通宝) coin is a Value Fifty (50) as evidenced by the Chinese characters dang wu shi (当五十) above and below the hole on the reverse side.
The Manchu character to the right of the hole on the reverse is su indicating that the coin was cast at the Suzhou, Jiangsu mint.
This coin was cast during the years 1854-1855.
The diameter of the coin is 49 mm.
The inscription on this large coin is xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) and it is a Value One Hundred (100) as indicated by the Chinese characters dang bai (当百) above and below the square hole on the reverse side.
The Manchu character shan on the reverse shows that the coin was cast at the mint in Xian, Shaanxi Province.
The coin has a diameter of 52 mm.
Large denomination coins were cast at the Kuche mint in Xinjiang Province during the years 1853-1856.
Xinjiang coins are characterized by a red appearance as is the case with this xian feng yuan bao (咸丰元宝) coin.
The denomination stated on the reverse side is Value One Hundred (100) according to the Chinese characters dang bai (当百).
The diameter is 40.5 mm and the weight is 21.2 grams.
During the reign of Emperor Mu Zong (1862-1874) coins were also cast at the Kuche mint in Xinjiang Province.
Emperor Mu Zong used the title Tong Zhi and the inscription on the coin at the left reads tong zhi tong bao (同治通宝).
The Chinese characters dang wu (当五) on the reverse side states that this coin is a Value Five (5).
The diameter is 24.2 mm and the weight is 4.2 grams.
This cash coin was cast during the reign of Emperor De Zong (1875-1908) who adopted the reign title of Guang Xu.
The inscription is guang xu tong bao (光绪通宝) and the Manchu character dung on the reverse side indicates that the coin was cast at the Yantai (Chefoo) mint in Shandong Province.
The diameter of the coin is 24 mm and the weight is 3.4 grams.
Please visit the following links to view other Qing Dynasty coins.
| Inscription | Pinyin | Years Cast | Emperor |
| 康熙通宝 | kang xi tong bao | 1713 | Sheng Zu |
| 雍正通宝 | yong
zheng
tong
bao |
1727-1729 | Shi Zong |
| 嘉庆通宝 | jia qing tong bao | 1796-1820 | Ren Zong |
| 祺祥重宝 | qi xiang zhong bao | 1861 |
Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
A coin cast during the Taiping
Rebellion is displayed at the following link.
| Inscription | Pinyin | Years Cast |
| 太 平天国 | tai ping tian guo |
1861-1864?? |
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