Zhou Yuan

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.

Types of coins range. The things people used as coins vary. Bone cowrie money was used in China starting in the 14th century BC during the during the Shang and Western Zhou eras. The shells were used and substitutes were made of carved bone. They were outlawed in 221 BC.

Other types of coins were used during the Spring-Autumn and Warring States. One of these was the hollow-shaft spade. Some other types of coins resembled knives. They were large and had a hole at the top so they could be stringed up. These types of coins were called “The Ming” after the city not the dynasty. Another type of coin was the “Bu” spade coin. This era also produced 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.

Over 220,000 strings of 1000 coins each were made during the first century of the Han dynasty. This is because minting coins was turned into a state monopoly. Casting coins in bronze started in the Western Han. This made it easy to standardize coins.

A coin much like the Pan Liang was introduced under Emperor Yuan-shou. This was called the Wu-Ch’u. The only difference between the two coins was really that the Wu-Ch’u had a rim to protect it from wear. For hundreds of years this coin was duplicated.

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.

Judy Zhou – Yuan Zai Shen Bian