The History of Ancient Chinese Coins
Ancient Chinese coins date back to 2000 BC which was effectively the Chinese Xia dynasty. The size, shape, design, and color were all different with progression in time. Each dynasty had different regulations regarding coins.
The Western Zhou and Shang eras brought us several ancient Chinese coins. In the beginning, the first coins were known as cowry money. When they first came out, the were only made of shells, but eventually they were made from bone. In 221 BC, the cowry was made illegal.
When the Warring States and Spring-Autumn dynasties came into effect, we were introduced to many new coins. Hollow-shaft spade coins are one example of this. One of the other coins that was unusually interesting looked somewhat like a knife. These very large “coins” had a hole at one end for the purposes of stringing them together. These specific coins, “The Ming”, are the namesake of the famous city. The “Bu” spade coin also came from this era also. Some of the very first circular coins came from this rime frame as well.
From 221 to 207 BC the Qin dynasty ruled. Gold and bronze coins were used during this time. The first metal coins were made long before this time, however. They first started sometime around 600 to 300 BC during the Pre-Chou and Chou dynasties.
“Pan Liang” style coins were in service for an extremely long period of time. It is very possible that they were in use up to 2000 years. In some areas they were in use all the way until 1911 AD. The coins were made in the later years of the BC era, somewhere between 140 and 118 BC. These round coins have a square hole in the middle.
During the Han dynasty, which was between 206BC to 220AD, minting coins was made into a state monopoly. In the first century, 220,000 strings of 1000 coins each were made. Coins of the western Han used a casting mould of bronze to make the coins easy to standardize. They used artists to incise the mold since it only had to be done once.
Emperor Yuan-shou introduced the Wu-Ch’U coin during his reign. Much like the Pan Liang this coin was also round with a square middle. The only difference is that this coin has a raised rim to help prevent so much wearing. For 600 years this coin was used in several forms.
One coin used during the Mongol period between 1280-1368 was a round coin with a square in the middle. It had many intricate designs. This coin was stopped from use very quickly due to people hoarding them. They were given a time period to return them or be punished.
The coins of the ancient Chinese varied widely to begin with. After a while, though, they all tended to be round with a square center. Most were eventually made with some kind of metal, usually bronze. The history of each coin is long and belongs to one of the many dynasties China has had over the centuries.
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