Category: Uncategorized

For several years, Chinese museums have been offering archaeological blind boxes (考古盲盒) in an effort to promote and popularize archaeology to the general public. These boxes are sold in museum gift shops and are especially popular with the younger generation.

A blind box is a box in which a replica of an ancient cultural artifact is buried. The object is encased in soil or clay. To discover the artifact, one needs to carefully remove the clay in a manner similar to that of an archaeologist unearthing objects in the field.

The outside of the box does not indicate what cultural artifact is “buried” inside. Much of the fun and excitement of these boxes is the surprise of discovery similar to what an archaeologist would experience.

To enhance the reality of the experience, the clay/soil in the box is sometimes the same as that in which the original artifact was found. Also, many blind boxes include a small brush and a digging tool.

A very interesting video shows a Henan Museum staff member “excavating” treasure from a blind box.

The blind boxes from the Henan Museum (河南博物院) in Zhengzhou (郑州) include a small chopstick-sized version of a digging tool known as a “Luoyang shovel” (洛阳铲) which is the traditional tool used in actual archaeological excavations.

The Luoyang shovel, shown at the left, was invented in 1923 by a grave robber from Luoyang.

Mr. Song Hua (宋华), the Director of the Cultural and Creative office (河南博物院文创办主任) of the museum, says that the blind boxes have been offered since 2019 and a brochure introducing items which may be “excavated” is included in each box.

Mr. Song also says that the soil in the Henan Museum blind boxes is mixed with clay from the Mangshan Mountains (阳北邙山) in Luoyang which is where royal mausoleums from many dynasties have been unearthed.

There are a variety of archaeological blind boxes available including ones with replicas of ancient coins, silver ingots (元宝 sycee), seals (图章) of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac (生肖), and miniature bronze cooking vessels (gong 觥) from 3,500 years ago.

Other boxes may include replicas of a tiger-shaped tally (虎符) issued to army generals in ancient times, a silver medal (银牌), a bronze mirror (铜鉴), jade ware (玉器) or a small bronze Buddha statue (铜佛).

These blind boxes are extremely popular and can be difficult to buy because they are frequently sold out. Prices start at about $6.15 (40 yuan).

Mr. Song mentions that 600 blind boxes were offered for sale online on December 8, 2020. Even though there was a limit of 3 boxes to a customer, the boxes sold out in 35 seconds. A total of 14,000 boxes were sold in that month alone.

Other Chinese museums also offer blind boxes for sale.

The Shaanxi History Museum (陕西历史博物馆) in Xi’an (西安), where the world renowned terracotta warriors (兵马俑) were discovered, offers blind boxes with a series of bronzeware from the Shang (商朝) and Zhou (周朝) dynasties.

The Sanxingdui Museum (三星堆博物馆), where the ruins of an ancient Bronze Age culture are located, has blind boxes with replica dolls based on its collection of bronze face masks and figurines.

Other museums which sell their own blind boxes are the National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆), the Palace Museum (故宫博物院), the Hebei Museum (河北博物院), the Suzhou Museum (苏州博物馆) and the Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆).

For the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year 春节) in 2021, the Henan Museum offered a special archaeological blind box with replica ancient Chinese coins.

Upon lifting the cover of this blind box, however, one realizes that the replica coins are not encased in clay or require any digging. The coins are already visible.

These ancient coins are made of chocolate (古钱币巧克力) as can be seen in the photo.

Although made of chocolate, these are replicas of actual coins unearthed by archaeologists and now on display at the museum.

There are 10 ‘coins’ in the box representing coinage from the Spring and Autumn period (春秋 770-476 BC), Warring States period (战国 475-221 BC), Western Han (西汉 202 BC – 8 AD), Xin dynasty (新莽 9-23), Northern Qi (北齐 550-577), and Northern Song (北宋 960-1127).

To see specimens of the real coins upon which the chocolate coins are modeled, please see six character knife, gold inlaid knife, three hole spade, spade money, Wang Mang spade money, ant nose money, wuzhu coins, chang ping wu zhu, and Northern Song dynasty coins.

If you enjoy learning about “edible” cultural relics, please also see Chinese Chess Mooncakes.

A recent newspaper article tells the story of a Chinese villager who decided to move his family’s ancestral graves to a place with better feng shui (风水).

While digging, he accidentally uncovered an ancient coin.

He had heard stories of people becoming rich by digging up ancient Chinese coins and selling them. Now this was happening to him. He was thrilled with his good luck and anticipated that he would reap a large fortune.

He calmed down and began to dig more slowly and carefully. Just as he was about to dig the coin out, the coin moved and frightened him.

Once the coin was uncovered, he could “see its true face”. He did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He was stunned that the object was not a coin at all but rather a living thing. He described it as a “scary and extremely ugly-looking spider”.

Searching the internet, he discovered that this was an extremely rare trapdoor spider known as a Chinese Hourglass Spider (Cyclocosmia ricketti 里氏盤腹蛛).

In China, however, it is better known as a “Money Trapdoor Spider” (金钱活板门蛛) or “Money Living-Door Spider” (金钱活门蛛). Another common name is the “Severed Abdomen Spider” (截腹蛛).

Nevertheless, the villager was saddened that he would not be making a fortune from his “coin”.

As can be seen in the image at the left from Baidu Baike (百度百科), the spider has a very distinctive plate or disk on its abdomen which resembles an ancient coin, seal or grinding disc.

These money trapdoor spiders are found in Fujian (福建), Zhejiang (浙江), Sichuan (四川) and Yunnan (云南) provinces in China as well as the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia.

Sichuan is the farthest north this species has been recorded. There is still much to learn about these spiders since it was previously believed that the species could not survive in areas where temperatures could drop below 13 degrees Celsius. Winters in Sichuan can get even colder.

The males are about 2.5 cm in length and the females are slightly larger at about 2.7 cm. The largest can exceed 3 cm. The disk has a radius of about 1.6 cm.

Mr. Zhao Li (赵力), the Director and Senior Biological Engineer at the Insect Museum of West China (华希昆虫博物馆) located in Chengdu (成都), says in another article that the money trapdoor spider fits the description of a type of arachnid mentioned in an ancient Chinese text known as the Erya 《尔雅》. The Erya is believed to be the oldest extant Chinese dictionary and dates to the fifth century BC.

References to what is likely the trapdoor spider can also be found in ancient texts on Chinese medicine. For example, the “Supplement to the Materia Medica” (Bencao Shiyi 《本草拾遗》) by Tang dynasty pharmacologist Chen Cangqi (陈藏器) written in 739 AD states that “the diedang (螲蟷 a species of spider living in underground burrows) is found everywhere……it resembles a spider….a hole in the ground is the nest and on top of the hole is a cover.” The diedang can be used to treat “boils, gangrene and other sores, sarcoma (malignant tumor), …”.

Mr. Zhao says money trapdoor spiders are very rare and there have been only eight sightings in China since the year 2000.

Because of their rarity, these spiders bring a high price as pets. Most of the “money trapdoor spiders”, as they are called in the pet market, are artificially bred in Thailand. One spider can sell for as much as $3,860 (RMB 25,000).

Mr. Zhao explained that the spider rests during the day and comes out at night.

Money trapdoor spiders do not build webs. They dig burrows in the ground and line it with silk threads and mud.

Mr. Zhao is seen holding such a silk-lined burrow in the image at left.

The spider can protect itself by blocking the entrance to the burrow using its hard “coin” as a shield.

Another article explains that “the money trapdoor spider is not good at spinning silk and weaving webs in the air so it uses its weird butt to plug the opening of the burrow. Because its ‘copper coin’ is relatively hard, it can protect itself well. When a small insect steps on its ‘copper coin’, the spider will shrink its abdomen allowing the small insect to fall into the burrow and be eaten. The ‘coin’ makes it difficult for the insect to escape. When faced with a non-threatening insect, the spider can just get out of the hole and grab it”.

Even though the villager was frightened and disappointed that he was not lucky enough to find buried treasure, the spider is nevertheless considered an auspicious symbol in China.

The reason is that one of the Chinese words for “spider” is chongxizi (虫喜子). The chong (虫) means “insect”, the xi (喜) means “happy” and the zi (子) means “son”. The Chinese like puns. If you say “spider” (chong xi zi) you are at the same time saying the word “happy” (xi) as well as “happy son” (xizi).

According to Chinese law, the government owns everything of value in the ground, in the rivers and within the country’s territorial waters. This means that even if the villager had discovered an ancient coin or other buried treasure, all could have been legally confiscated by the state.

However, these laws would not apply to an insect and the villager could probably have sold the spider for more money than many rare Chinese coins.

The newspaper article, unfortunately, does not say what the villager decided to do with his “scary and extremely ugly-looking spider”.

Now there is a restaurant in Beijing where you can spend ancient Chinese money to buy “donkey burgers” (lurou huoshao 驴肉火烧).

An article in the November 26, 2012 edition of the Beijing Evening News (beijing wanbao 北京晚报) describes a restaurant that sells donkey burgers with the prices denominated in ancient Chinese money.  Donkey burgers are a specialty of Baoding (保定) and Hejian (河间) and consist of chopped donkey meat and vegetables placed between two buns.

A sign hanging in the restaurant states “Money from the last 500 years may be used to buy donkey burgers here”.

This means that old Chinese coins dating back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties can be used to pay for the sandwiches.

Donkey burgers actually originated during the Ming Dynasty when soldiers had nothing to eat and so killed their horses and put the meat between two buns.

“Little Yan” (小闫), the owner of the restaurant, has a “new” menu hanging on the wall (see photo).  The menu has various old coins and paper money attached and beside each is written how many donkey burgers each will buy.

For example, three common Ming or Qing dynasty “cash coins” (small bronze coins with a square hole in the middle) will buy one donkey burger.

A “one dollar” banknote (一元钞票) with the portrait of Sun Yat-sen (孙中山) issued during the Republic of China (1912-1949) will purchase 10 donkey burgers.

However, a silver dollar minted during the Republic of China era will buy 80 donkey burgers.

“Little Yan” explained that he was poor growing up but still liked to collect old things.  While working for wages in Beijing, he would go to the antique market at the Baoguo Temple (报国寺) to learn the prices of ancient Chinese coins and how to tell authentic coins from the fakes and reproductions.

Even though his “new menu” with ancient money prices has been hanging on the wall for more than a week, “Little Yan” concedes that no one as yet has come in to buy his “authentic” Hejian donkey burgers with old money.

He is not bothered, though.  He admits that he did this for fun because people find it interesting that they can come and buy food with ancient money.  He says that even when people come in but do not want to eat, he is still happy just to discuss ancient Chinese coins with them.

“Little Yan” also has a confession to make.  Although he has genuine ancient Chinese coins in his collection, the specimens he has attached to the price list on the wall are all fakes.

The ruins of an ancient city wall dating from the Tang Dynasty were recently discovered in Fuzhou (福州), the capital city of China’s southeastern province of Fujian (福建), according to a local newspaper article.

The city wall dates back 1,100 years and is unusual because some of the bricks display the design of an ancient Chinese cash coin.  Cash coins were distinctive because of their round shape with a square hole in the center.

The coin design can be clearly seen on the bottom brick in the picture at the left.  The coin design is also on the upper brick just to the right of center.

The discovery of the bricks with the coin design allowed archeologists to identify the site as the ruins of a city wall from the time of the Kingdom of Min (909-945 AD).

Construction of the wall began in the year 901 under the direction of Wang Shenzhi (王审知) who was the military commissioner for the area under the Tang Dynasty.

However, the great Tang Dynasty collapsed in 907, and in the year 909 Wang Shenzhi named himself the Prince of Min (閩忠懿王; Emperor Taizu of Min 闽太祖) and the ruler of the Kingdom of Min.

Historical records specifically mention the unusual coin design on the bricks used to build the “Luo city wall” (罗城).

Confirmation that the archaeological find is indeed the famous “Luo wall” of the Kingdom of Min was obtained when other bricks were discovered to have the Chinese characters 威武军 (wei wu jun) which translates as the “Powerful Army”.  Wei Wu Jun was the name of the army Wang Shenzhi commanded.

The newly unearthed ancient wall can be seen in the image at the left. The wall thus far unearthed measures 74 meters in length and 8 meters in width.

Historical records describe the wall as having been severely damaged in battles during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

In more recent times, the site was used as a garbage dump and later became the location of a transport station.

Wang Shenzhi is well known to collectors of ancient Chinese coins because he predominately issued coins made of lead or iron.  While lead and iron coins had been cast in earlier dynasties, most coins were made of bronze.

However, the coin design on the wall bricks actually has nothing to do coins!

The Chinese character for “cash coin” (qian 钱) also happens to be a Chinese surname or family name.

The surname of the ruling family of the neighboring kingdom of Wuyue was Qian (钱) which is the very same Chinese character used for “coin”.

In 916, Wang Shenzhi arranged for the marriage of his daughter to Qian Chuanxiang (钱传珦) who was the son of Qian Liu (钱鏐) the King of Wuyue (吴越国).

It was a common practice for rulers to try to marry their offspring to important family members of neighboring states in order to establish strong diplomatic ties.

The image of the coin on the city wall bricks was intended to symbolize the marriage and the newly established ties to the Qian family of the Kingdom of Wuyue.

The Kingdom of Min would only exist for a short time after Wang Shenzhi’s death in 925.

Li Hongxi (李弘羲) became ruler of Fuzhou in 945 but was forced to surrender to the forces of Wuyue.

The King of Wuyue at the time was Qian Hongzuo (钱弘佐; Qian Zuo 钱佐) who was the nephew of Qian Chuanxiang.

The Qian family of Wuyue thus became the new rulers of Fuzhou.  It is said that the citizens of Fuzhou considered the coin design on the bricks of the Luo Wall to have been an omen predicting that the Qian family would one day rule the country.

As mentioned earlier, Wang Shenzhi is known for having been among the first to use lead for the regular production of cash coins.

An example of a large lead coin cast during Wang Shenzhi’s reign is displayed at the left.

The inscription on the obverse side is kai yuan tong bao (開元通寶) which is the same as that on the coins of the Tang Dynasty.

The reverse side has the Chinese character min (閩) indicating the Kingdom of Min.

These large coins made of lead or iron from the Kingdom of Min are fairly scarce.  Specimens made of bronze are even rarer.

An article in the Suqian Evening News (宿迁晚报) reported an unusual discovery.  Chinese archaeologists excavating a multiple tomb site in Suqian (宿迁), a city in northern Jiangsu Province (江苏), unearthed a coffin with no corpse.  The only thing inside the casket was a coin.

Most of the tombs being excavated at the site date from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).

However, the tomb with the coin, designated the “No. 4 Tomb”, is from the much later Republican era (1912-).

The archaeologists know the tomb is from the Republican period because the coin in the casket is a Yuan Shikai “silver dollar” (yin yuan 银元).  Yuan Shikai (袁世凯) was President of the Republic of China during the years 1912-1916 and coins from that era prominently display his portrait.

The newspaper article did not include an image of the coin found in the casket but a typical example of a Yuan Shikai “silver dollar” is shown at the left.

The archaeologists are a little puzzled as to why the casket contains just a coin but no corpse.

They speculate that the tomb may be a “cenotaph” (衣冠冢) which is an “empty tomb” meant to be a memorial to a person whose remains may be elsewhere.  In lieu of a corpse, personal effects of the deceased are placed in the coffin instead.

A village elder at the scene offered an alternative explanation.  He said Suqian has a local custom of reinterment.  Relatives of the deceased may have exhumed the body and reburied it in another place.

The official opening of the Xian Numismatic Museum (西安钱币博物馆) was announced today in a Chinese newspaper article.

The new money museum is located in the ancient city of Xian (西安), the capital of Shaanxi Province (陕西).  Xian, formerly known as Changan (长安), has a history of more than 3,100 years and was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road.  Xian (Chang’an) became the first capital of China when Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) united the country in 221 BC and is where the famous terracotta army is located.

The coin museum was established by the Xian Branch of the The People’s Bank of China (中国人民银行) and occupies an area of 324 square meters (3,487 square feet).

More than 5,000 coins, paper currency and other forms of ancient and modern money dating back more than 4,000 years are on display.

The museum’s exhibits include some very rare items.  According to Mr. Zhao Xiaoming (赵晓明), the Secretary-General of the Xian Numismatic Society (西安钱币学会), the first “piled” coin mold (叠范) ever discovered for the 4 zhu ban liang (四铢半两), valued at more than “one million yuan” ($156,500), is on display.

Considered among the “greatest treasures” on display are two “money trees” (yao qian shu 摇钱树) from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD).

Ancient Chinese legends spoke of trees from which coins would fall like leaves when shaken.

Museum visitors examining one of the money trees can be seen in the photo at the left.

The money tree is 138 cm (54 inches) in height and has a series of seated Buddhas at the top.  The money tree branches are decorated with wu zhu (五铢) coins, “immortals” and “fairies”, monkey gods and other auspicious animals.

Exquisite examples of money trees, such as the two on display, have been found in Han Dynasty tombs in southwest China.  These burial objects are believed to have been used by the deceased as a “map” or guide leading up to heaven and then used as a means of support while there.

For additional information on the origin and history of “money trees”, please see “Chinese Money Trees“.