page_title: Wu Zhu
section_title: Kingdom of Kucha
hierarchical_section_title: Wu Zhu / Kingdom of Kucha
caption_attribution_description: Une sapèque en cuivre du royaume de Koutcha avec une inscription bilingue koutchéen-chinois. A/ inscription en koutchéen (non déchiffrée actuellement) R/ Wuzhu&#160;; rognure d'ongle en bas Trace de tenon de coulée à 9:00. Comment doit-on lire ces monnaies&#160;? Première hypothèse&#160;: l'avers est la partie chinoise, le koutchéen étant sur le revers. Dans ce cas, le cercle est en haut. C'est l'hypothèse admise dans le Hartill. H10.48 Deuxième hypothèse&#160;: l'inscription koutchéenne est à l'avers et le chinois au revers. C'est la position adoptée par François Thierry dans Monnaies chinoises Tome II. Comment départager ces deux hypothèses&#160;? Il existe des monnaies où les deux inscriptions sont sur la même face, donc l'avers. Pour lire correctement "wuzhu", le cercle doit être placé en bas. Il existe aussi des monnaies où il n'y pas d'inscription chinoise. F. Thierry suggère donc que c'est l'inscription koutchéenne qui a la priorité et doit donc être placée à l'avers, cercle en bas. J'ai suivi cette hypothèse. Comment dater ces monnaies&#160;? Du point de vue typologique, ces monnaies se rapprochent des modules postérieurs aux Han de l'Est, par exemple les Jin où le trou central est assez large. Il existe différents styles graphiques ce qui montre que ces monnaies ont émises sur un temps long. F. Thierry les date du IIIe au VIe siècle. On les trouve principalement sur le territoire du royaume de Koutcha. Dans ce cas, mon exemplaire pourrait dater des IIIe ou IVe siècles.
context_page_description: Wu Zhu is a type of Chinese cash coin produced from the Han dynasty in 118 BC when they replaced the earlier San Zhu cash coins, which had replaced the Ban Liang cash coins a year prior, until they themselves were replaced by the Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins of the Tang dynasty in 621 AD. The name Wu Zhu literally means "five zhu" which is a measuring unit officially weighing 4 grams however in reality the weights and sizes of Wu Zhu cash coins varied over the years. During the Han dynasty a very large quantity of Wu Zhu coins were cast but their production continued under subsequent dynasties until the Sui.
  The production of Wu Zhu cash coins was briefly suspended by Wang Mang during the Xin dynasty but after the reestablishment of the Han dynasty, the production of Wu Zhu cash coins resumed, and continued to be manufactured long after the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty for another 500 years. Minting was definitively ended in 618 with the establishment of the Tang dynasty. Wu Zhu cash coins were cast from 118 BC to 618 AD having a span of 736 years, which is the longest for any coin in the history of the world.
context_section_description: The Kingdom of Kucha was a Buddhist state located in present-day Kucha County, Xinjiang, it was first recorded during the Han dynasty and was later annexed by the Tang, during its time it was a prominent player on the silk road. From around the third or fourth century the Kingdom of Kucha began the manufacture of Wu Zhu cash coins inspired by the diminutive and devalued Wu Zhu's of the post-Han dynasty era in Chinese history.
  There are five known types of Kucha cash coins based on the Chinese Wu Zhu's which are usually characterised by the fact that they’re diminutive in size, very thin, and tend to have both weak and irregular inscriptions while four of these types tend to have no inscriptions at all. One type of Kucha Wu Zhu cash coin is the "Han Gui bilingual Wu Zhu coin" (漢龜二體五銖錢, hàn guī èr tǐ wǔ zhū qián) which are characterised by the fact that the obverse side resembles Chinese Wu Zhu coins while the reverse sides feature a local Kucha script above and below the square center hole. As the language of the Kingdom of Kucha isn't well preserved in the modern era many hypotheses have been suggested about its meaning including that it is simply a translation of "Wu Zhu" or feature the name of the Kingdom of Kucha in the Kuśiññe language. Cash coins without any inscription cast in this region are generally believed to have been produced between the years 265 and 589, the first variant of these cash coins are round in shape and have a rim around the square centre hole on one side while the other side is rimless, they tend to thin on the outside while they’re thick on the inside and weigh between 0.4 grams 1.7 grams, and have a diameter of 9 to 18 millimetres. The second type can be described as similar to the aforementioned type but have no inner rim, these cash coins generally from 8 to 13 millimetres in diameter and have a weight of 0.2 to 0.4 grams. The third type of these cash coins are also completely without rim but are square in shape and have a square centre hole, they tend to be very thin with diameters between 8 and 11 millimetres and weigh between 0.2 and 0.5 grams. The final variant are irregularly shaped, diminutive in size, thin, and are cast of poor workmanship. Some are merely five millimetres in diameter and weigh as little as 0.2 grams.
  The Buddhist monk Xuanzang describes that there are "small bronze coins" in the city of Kucha while he visited there in the year 630 which is mentioned in his work "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" during the Tang dynasty. These cash coins are likely to have been the "Han Gui bilingual Wu Zhu coin".
caption: A "Han Gui bilingual Wu Zhu coin" (漢龜二體五銖錢) produced by the Kingdom of Kucha with both a Chinese and a Kuśiññe inscription.
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