The History of Ancient Chinese Coins

By: fongsuimy

Ancient Chinese coins have a long history dating as far back as 2000 BC when China was ruled by the Xia dynasty. These coins had many different variations. From size, shape, to design. These coins were unique with each passing dynasty.

During the Shang and Western Zhou eras there were numerous types of coins that came into use. The very first of these coins were cowry money. These were originally made of shells, but substitutes became used later that were made from carved bone. The cowry was outlawed in 221 BC.

During the Spring-Autumn and Warring States era hollow-shaft spade coins were used. Also, some of the first coins resembled knives. They were large and made with a hole at the top for stringing. One kind was called "The Ming" after the city. It was around from 400BC to 225 BC. They, also, had a coin called the "Bu" spade coin. This era also had some of the first round coins.

Between 221 BC and 207 BC was the Qin dynasty. This was the first time they used precious metals such as bronze and gold to make coins. These were not the first metal coins by any means, however. Metal coins existed between 600 BC and 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.

Minting coins were first made into a state monopoly during the Han dynasty which roughly lasted around 400 years, between 206 BC to 220 AD. In the first century alone over 220,000 strings were made. Each contained 1000 coins. In the Western Han, casting mould in bronze became used. This was done in order to easily standardize the coins.

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.

Ancient Chinese coins very old, very detailed history. There have been so many unique unusually shaped coins. The coins have had many different materials. Many of the coins eventually became formed metal. The coins details all came from the current dynasty's rulers.

Article Source: https://www.collectibles-articles.com

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