page_title: List of Chinese cash coins by inscription
hierarchical_section_title: List of Chinese cash coins by inscription
caption_attribution_description: English: Kingdom of Yān (11th century B.C. – 222 B.C.) 🎑 燕 1) An Yī Huà (一化) coin produced by the Kingdom of Yān between 300 B.C. and 220 B.C. to circulate alongside Knife Money🔪. This coin actually predates the Chinese Empire. Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) 🀄 漢朝 2) A Bàn Liǎng (半兩) from the Han Dynasty, these were earlier minted by the Kingdom of Qin, and later by the Empire of Qin. Han Dynasty Bàn Liǎng coins generally tend to be diminutive compared to Qin era Bàn Liǎng coins. The inscription “Bàn Liǎng” means ½ Tael, though at the time of the Han Dynasty these coins were minted at varying weights. In 119 B.C. these were replaced by the Sān Zhū (三銖) coins. 3) An Wǔ Zhū (五銖) coin, these replaced the Sān Zhū (三銖) coins in 118 B.C. Wǔ Zhū coins continued to be produced by varying countries for the next 700 years. 🕯 Xin Dynasty (9 - 23) 😵💴😵 新朝 4) A Huò Quán (貨泉) coin issued by Wáng Mǎng (王莽), these coins were introduced alongside a chaotic system of round coins, cowrie shells 🐚, turtle shells 🐢, knife money 🔪, and spade money. As the people preferred this coin it would be continued to be made even after the fall of the Xin Dynasty with a mould from the year 50 (fifty) being found. Tang Dynasty (618 – 690&#160;; 705 – 907) 📚 唐朝 5) a Kāi-Yuán Tōng-Bǎo (開元通寶) coin, fist issued in August 621 under the reign of Emperor Gāozǔ (高祖), these coins would be produced for around 300 years during most of the Tang Dynasty. 🏮 Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) 🎖 宋朝 6) A Dà Guān Tōng Bǎo (大觀通寶) coin from the (Northern-)Song Dynasty cast under the reign of Emperor Huīzōng (徽宗) from 1107 until 1110. The inscription is written in what David Hartill describes as "Slender-gold script", and it is said that the inscription was stylised by the Emperor himself. ✍🏻🤴🏻 A Dà Guān Tōng Bǎo coin appears as the cover of David Hartill’s 2005 classic “Cast Chinese coins”. 📖 Mongol Empire (1206 – 1368) / Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368) 🏇🏻 元朝 / ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠦᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ / Их Юань Улс 7) A Mongol Zhì-Dà Tōng-Bǎo (至大通寶) coin cast under the reign of Külüg Khan (武宗) from 1307 until 1311, under the Mongol Empire paper banknotes would become a more common medium of exchange than metallic currencies. 💸 Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) 🌞 明朝 8 A Yǒng-Lè Tōng-Bǎo (永樂通寶) cash coin cast under the Yǒng-Lè Emperor (永樂帝), these were cast in great quantities for export to neighbouring countries like Japan (the Ashikaga Shogunate), and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, as well as further countries like the Majapahit Empire (an island realm ruled from Java) where these coins are still commonly dug up today (as of 2017). Domestically the Chinese preferred to use paper money (left over from Mongol rule) and in the preceding years copper coinage had remained a rarity on the domestic market. Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912) 👲🏻 清朝 / ᡩᠠᡳᠴᡳᠩ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ 9) A Manchu Qián-Lóng Tōng-Bǎo (乾隆通寶) 1 wén coin produced under the Qián Lóng Emperor (乾隆帝), despite reigning from 1735 until 1796 these coins continued to be cast in Xinjiang (East-Turkestan) until the Wuchang Uprising &amp; Xinhai Revolution restored Chinese independence in 1912. Republic of China* (1912 – Present) 🌇 中華民國 / 臺灣 / 台灣 10) A Mín-Guó Tōng-Bǎo (民國通寶) cash coin of 1 wén produced in Dongchuan, Yunnan. These were among the last series of cash coins to be cast in China being cast in the denominations of 1 wén, and 10 wén (當十). The Province of Fujian also produced cash coins during the early Republican era but these would later be succeeded by machine-struck non-holed coins. 🔚 = Commonly referred to as “Taiwan” from 1971 as the Nanjing regime moved to Taibei in 1949, and became the “Taipei regime”. (as of 2017 the Republic of China still exists, please look at the upload date if this is no longer the case.) 🚤 Uploaded from my Microsoft Lumia 950 XL with Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile 📱.
context_page_description: Chinese cash coins were first produced during the Warring States period, and they became standardised as the Ban Liang coinage during the Qin dynasty which followed. Over the years, cash coins have had many different inscriptions, and the Wu Zhu inscription, which first appeared under the Han dynasty, became the most commonly used inscription and was often used by succeeding dynasties for 700 years until the introduction of the Kaiyuan Tongbao during the Tang dynasty. This was also the first time regular script was used as all earlier cash coins exclusively used seal script. During the Song dynasty a large number of different inscriptions was used, and several different styles of Chinese calligraphy were used, even on coins with the same inscriptions produced during the same period. These cash coins are known as matched coins. This was originally pioneered by the Southern Tang.
  After the Mongols conquered China the Yuan dynasty largely deprecated copper coinage in favour of paper money. This trend continued under the Ming dynasty. After the Chinese became independent again, during the Ming dynasty, cash coins only contained the reign titles of the emperor.
context_section_description: Chinese cash coins were first produced during the Warring States period, and they became standardised as the Ban Liang (半兩) coinage during the Qin dynasty which followed. Over the years, cash coins have had many different inscriptions, and the Wu Zhu (五銖) inscription, which first appeared under the Han dynasty, became the most commonly used inscription and was often used by succeeding dynasties for 700 years until the introduction of the Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寳) during the Tang dynasty. This was also the first time regular script was used as all earlier cash coins exclusively used seal script. During the Song dynasty a large number of different inscriptions was used, and several different styles of Chinese calligraphy were used, even on coins with the same inscriptions produced during the same period. These cash coins are known as matched coins (對錢). This was originally pioneered by the Southern Tang.
  After the Mongols conquered China the Yuan dynasty largely deprecated copper coinage in favour of paper money. This trend continued under the Ming dynasty. After the Chinese became independent again, during the Ming dynasty, cash coins only contained the reign titles of the emperor. Due to a naming taboo the term "Yuanbao" (元寶) was phased out from cash coin inscriptions as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had the word "Yuan" (元) in his name.
  Under the Manchu Qing dynasty the trend of exclusively using the reign title of the Emperor continued, and all cash coins issued during this period were written in regular script.
  Below is a list of obverse inscriptions that were used on Chinese cash coins organized by period and/or dynasty.
caption: Chinese cash coins from every major dynasty in Chinese history and the Republic of China.
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