The cash or ''qian'' was a type of

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

of China and the

Sinosphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...

, used from the 4th century BCE until the 20th century, characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole ( zh, c=方穿, poj=hong-chhoan, j=fong1 cyun1, p=fāng chuān). Originally cast during the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of

Imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

. The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

alloys, with iron, lead, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced. During most of their production, cash coins were

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

, but during the late Qing dynasty, machine-struck cash coins began to be made. As the cash coins produced over Chinese history were similar, thousand year old cash coins produced during the

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century. In the modern era, these coins are considered to be Chinese "good luck coins"; they are hung on strings and round the necks of children, or over the beds of sick people. They hold a place in various traditional Chinese techniques, such as

Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

divination, as well as

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

, and ''

feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

''. Currencies based on the Chinese cash coins include the Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn.

Terminology

The English term ''cash'', referring to the coin, comes from the Portuguese ''caixa'' which was derived from the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

''kāsu,'' a

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

n monetary unit derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

silver and gold weight unit ''karsa''. The English name was used for small copper coins issued in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, and also came to be used for the similarly small value copper coins of China. The English word ''

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

'' meaning "tangible currency" is an older, unrelated word, derived from the

Middle French Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...

''caisse,'' meaning "money box." There are a variety of Chinese terms for cash coins, usually descriptive and most commonly including the character ''qián'' ( zh , c=錢, hp=qián) meaning "money". Chinese ''qián'' is also a weight-derived currency denomination in China; it is called '' mace'' in English.

History

Ancient China

Chinese cash coins originated from the

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...

of farming tools and agricultural surpluses. Around 1200 BCE, smaller token

spade A spade is a tool primarily for digging consisting of a long handle and blade, typically with the blade narrower and flatter than the common shovel. Early spades were made of riven wood or of animal bones (often shoulder blades). After the a ...

s, hoes, and

knives A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

began to be used to conduct smaller exchanges with the tokens later melted down to produce real farm implements. These tokens came to be used as media of exchange themselves and were known as

spade money Spade money () was an early form of coin and commodity money used during the Zhou dynasty of China (1045 to 256 BCE). Spade money was shaped like a spade or weeding tool, but the thin blade and small sizes of spade money indicate that it had n ...

and

knife money Knife money is the name of large, casting, cast, bronze, knife-shaped commodity money produced by various governments and kingdoms in what is now China, approximately 2500 years ago. Knife money circulated in China between 600 and 200 B.C. duri ...

.Fredrik Schöth. ''Chinese Currency''. Revised and edited by Virgil Hancock. Iola, WI, USA: Krause, 1965.

Imperial China

Qin to Sui dynasties

As standard circular coins were developed following the unification of China by

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

, the most common formation was the round-shaped copper coin with a square or circular hole in the center, the prototypical cash. The early Ban Liang cash coins were said to have been made in the shape of wheels, similar to other Ancient Chinese forms of coinage resembling agricultural tools. It is commonly believed that the early round coins of the

resembled the ancient jade circles () which symbolised the supposed round shape of the sky, while the centre hole in this analogy is said to represent the planet earth (). The body of these early round coins was called their "flesh" () and the central hole was known as "the good" (). The hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coin's low value. The number of coins in a ''string of cash'' ( zh , t=一貫錢, s= 一贯钱, hp=yīguànqián, links=yes) varied over time and place but was nominally 1000. A

tael Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

sycee A sycee (;.. from Cantonese , zh, j=Sai3 Si1, y=sai-sī, ). or yuanbao ( zh, t= 元寶, s= 元宝, poj=Goân-pó, j=jyun4 bou2, p=yuánbǎo, l=primary treasure, first=t) was a type of gold and silver ingot currency used in imperial China from ...

form traded for a fluctuating price of approximately 1000 cash. A string of cash was divided into ten sections of 100 cash each. Local custom allowed the person who put the string together to take a cash or a few from each hundred for his effort (one, two, three or even four in some places). Thus a string of cash could contain 970 coins in one city and 990 in the next. In some places in the North of China short of currency the custom counted one cash as two and fewer than 500 cash would be exchanged for an ounce of silver. A string of cash weighed over ten pounds and was generally carried over the shoulder. (See Hosea Morse's "Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire" p. 130 ff.) Paper money equivalents known as flying cash sometimes showed pictures of the appropriate number of cash coins strung together. Following the Ban Liang cash coins the Han dynasty introduced the San Zhu cash coins which in the year 118 BCE were replaced by the Wu Zhu cash coins. The production of Wu Zhu cash coins was briefly suspended by

Wang Mang Wang Mang (45 BCE6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun, officially known as the Shijianguo Emperor (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the ...

during the

Xin dynasty The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped th ...

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 The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. Wu Zhu cash coins were cast from 118 BCE to 618 CE having a span of 736 years, which is the longest for any coin in

human history Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...

Tang to Qing dynasties

The Tang dynasty introduced the Kaiyuan Tongbao, which would influence the inscriptions of cash coins, both inside and outside of China, minted from this period onwards. The Koreans, Japanese,

Ryukyuans The are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. With Japan, most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. They sp ...

, and Vietnamese all cast their own copper cash in the latter part of the second millennium similar to those used by China. Chinese cash coins were usually made from copper-alloys throughout most of Chinese history, before 1505 they were typically made from

and from 1505 onwards they were mostly made from

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

. Chinese historian Peng Xinwei stated that in the year 1900 traditional cast copper-alloy cash coins only made up 17.78% of the total Chinese currency stock, privately-produced banknotes made up only 3%, and foreign trade dollars circulating in China (which mostly included the silver

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...

) made up 25% of the total Chinese currency stock by the 1900s. The context of traditional Chinese cash coins in the Chinese economy during the 1900s and its late stage in the monetary history of China is comparable to that of Western Europe's tiered currency systems used prior to the steam-powered mints, struck coinage, and territorial nation-state currencies between the 13th and 18th century. Helen Dunstan argues that the late-Imperial Chinese polity was much more preoccupied with maintaining national grain reserves and making the price of grain affordable to the Chinese people and the attention of the government of the Qing dynasty to the exchange rate of copper and silver would have to be viewed in this light. The last Chinese cash coins were struck, not cast, during the reigns of the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Guangxu and Xuantong Emperors shortly before the fall of the Empire in 1911, though even after the fall of the Qing dynasty production briefly continued under the Republic of China.

Cash coins after the fall of the empire

After the fall of the Qing empire, local production of cash coins continued, including the "" () coins in 1912, but were phased out in favour of the new Yuan-based coins. During

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

's brief attempt at monarchy as the Empire of China, trial cash coins are reported to have been minted as part of the series in 1916 but not circulated. During the Republican period cash coins with the inscription were produced in

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

, these had the denominations of 1 and 2 . Trial coins with , , and a ''Fujian Tong Bao'' with a reverse inscribed with were also cast, but never circulated. The coin continued to be used unofficially in China until the mid-20th century. Vietnamese cash coins continued to be cast up until the early 1940s. The last Chinese

cash coins in Indonesia The cash coins of Indonesia (; ; , , or ) was a historical currency in Indonesia based on Chinese imperial coinage during the Tang dynasty era (dynasty based in Mainland China). It was introduced by the Chinese traders, but did not become popula ...

circulated in

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

until 1970 and are still used for most Hindu rituals today.

Manufacture

Traditionally, Chinese cash coins were

in copper,

or iron. In the mid-19th century, the coins were made of 3 parts copper and 2 parts lead.Roberts, Edmund. (1837) ''Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat: In the U.S. Sloop-of-war Peacock'', Harper & Brothers. Harvard University archive. No ISBN Digitized. Cast silver coins were periodically produced but considerably more rare. Cast gold coins are also known to exist but are extremely rare.

Early methods of casting

During the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

period, the method for casting coins consisted of first carving the individual characters of a coin together with its general outline into a mould made of either soapstone or clay. The casting process in these early moulds worked in a way that two mould-sections were placed together, then the core of the mould was placed into the top area, then the bronze smiths would pour molten metal into an opening that was formed by a cavity that was located in its centre. As this was done without using a prior model, early Chinese coinage tends to look very diverse, even from the same series of coins as these all were cast from different (and unrelated) moulds bearing the same inscriptions. During the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, to gain consistency in the circulating coinage, master bronze moulds were manufactured to be used as the basis for other cash moulds.

Later methods of manufacture

Chinese coin tree in the Etnografiska Museet 01

From the 6th century CE and later, new "mother coins" () were cast as the basis for coin production. These were engraved in generally easily manipulated metals such as tin. Coins were cast in sand moulds. Fine wet sand was placed in rectangles made from pear wood, and small amounts of coal and charcoal dust were added to refine the process, acting as a

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...

. The mother coins were placed on the sand, and another pear wood frame would be placed upon the mother coin. The molten metal was poured in through a separate entrance formed by placing a rod in the mould. This process would be repeated 15 times and then molten metal would be poured in. After the metal had cooled down, the "coin tree" () was extracted from the mould (which would be destroyed due to the process). The coins would be taken off the tree and placed on long square rods to have their edges rounded off, often for hundreds of coins simultaneously. After this process, the coins were strung together and brought into circulation. In

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

cash coins are known as '' yeopjeon'' ( "leaf coins") because of the way that they resemble leaves on a branch when they were being cast in the mould. From 1730 during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, the mother coins were no longer carved separately but derived from "ancestor coins" (). Eventually this resulted in greater uniformity among cast Chinese coinage from that period onwards. A single ancestor coin would be used to produce tens of thousands of mother coins; each of these in turn was used to manufacture tens of thousands of cash coins.

Machine-struck coinage

During the late Qing dynasty under the reign of the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...

in the mid 19th century the first machine-struck cash coins were produced, from 1889 a machine operated

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, Guangdong opened where the majority of the machine-struck cash would be produced. Machine-made cash coins tend to be made from

rather than from more pure copper as cast coins often were, and later the copper content of the alloy decreased while cheaper metals like lead and tin were used in larger quantities giving the coins a yellowish tint. Another effect of the contemporary copper shortages was that the Qing government started importing Korean 5 fun coins and overstruck them with "10 cash". The production of machine-struck cash coins in Qing China ran contemporary with the production of machine-struck French Indochinese Nguyễn cash coins, but unlike in China milled cash coinage would eventually become popular in French Indochina with the .

Inscriptions and denominations

3 different types of Northern Song dynasty coins

The earliest standard denominations of cash coins were theoretically based on the weight of the coin and were as follows: *100 grains of

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

= 1 ''zhu'' () *24 ''zhū'' = 1 tael () The most common denominations were the ½ tael () and the 5 zhū () coins, the latter being the most common coin denomination in Chinese history. From the Zhou to the

the word was commonly used to refer to cash coins however this was not a real monetary unit but did appear in the inscriptions of several cash coins, in the

State of Yan Yan (; Old Chinese pronunciation: ''*'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Its capital was Ji (later known as Yanjing and now Beijing). During the Warring States period, the court was also moved to another capital at Xia ...

their cash coins were denominated in either or with the Chinese character being a simplified form of without the "". This character was often mistaken for due to the fact that this early version of the character resembles it and

was used in Yan, however the origin of the term ''huò'' as a currency unit is because it means "to exchange" and could be interpreted as exchanging money for

goods and services Goods are items that are usually (but not always) tangible, such as pens or Apple, apples. Services are activities provided by other people, such as teachers or barbers. Taken together, it is the Production (economics), production, distributio ...

. From the Jin until the Tang dynasty the term , however the term wén which is often translated into English as ''

'' kept being used as an accounting unit for banknotes and later on larger copper coins to measure how many cash coins it was worth. In 666 CE, a new system of weights came into effect with the ''zhū'' being replaced by the mace () with 10 mace equal to one tael. The mace denominations were so ubiquitous that the Chinese word came to be used as the generic word for money. Other traditional

Chinese units of measurement Chinese units of measurement, known in Chinese as the ''shìzhì'' ("market system"), are the traditional units of measurement of the Han Chinese. Although Chinese numerals have been decimal (base-10) since the Shang dynasty, Shang, several Chine ...

, smaller subdivisions of the tael, were also used as currency denominations for cash coins. A great majority of cash coins had no denomination specifically designated but instead carried the issuing emperor's

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of rule, a t ...

and a phrases such as or . Coins of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

(1644–1911) generally carried the

of the emperor and on the obverse and the mint location where the coins were cast in

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

and Chinese on the reverse.

Styles of calligraphy on cash coins

List of calligraphic styles and scripts on Chinese cash coins:

Cash coins and superstitions

In imperial China cash coins were used for

fortune telling Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of for ...

, or

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

, this would be done by first lighting incense to the effigy of a Chinese deity, and then casting three cash coins into a tortoise shell. The Chinese fortune telling process using cash coins involved the fortune teller counted the number of coins lying on their obverse or reverse sides, and how these coins scratched the shell, this process was repeated three or six times. After this a very intricate system based on the position of the coins with

Bagua The ''bagua'' ( zh, c=八卦, p=bāguà, l=eight trigrams) is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. ''Bagua'' is a group of trigrams—co ...

, and the five elements was used for divination, the

Kai Yuan Tong Bao () coin was the most preferred for this usage. (in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

). Contemporary Chinese

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

found the usage of cash coins for fortune-telling to be superior to any other methods. Cash coins were also believed to hold "curing powers" in

, one method of using cash coins for "medicine" was boiling them in water and letting the patient consume that water. Other than that they were also used as "medical tools" particularly in the '' guāshā'' () method, which was used against diseases like

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

; this required the healer to scrape the patient's skin with cash coins in a process called "coining" as they believed that the pathogen remained stagnant underneath the patient's skin. Though in general any cash coin could be used in traditional Chinese medicine, the ''Kai Yuan Tong Bao'' was most preferred, and preferences were given for some specific coins for certain ailments E.g. the Zhou Yuan Tong Bao () was used against

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...

s. In traditional Chinese medicine, several medicinal teas incorporate cash coins as ingredients.CHING, DANIEL K. E. (1987) ''Chinese Cash Coins: A Follow-Up on the Riverside, California Find.'' World Coin News 14(14):24–26. Iola, Wisconsin. This usage of cash coins has been documented as early as the Eastern Jin dynasty, in China's first emergency medicine manual. Bronze cash coins are typically used to treat a person's '' auris externa'', brass cash coins are often desired for their high zinc contents. And Vietnamese cash coins, which have the highest levels of zinc of any cash coins, were ground up into zinc powder that was mixed into either an

aqueous solution An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is mostly shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), in water ...

or a type of ointment. The "tea" produced from these zinc cash coins would then for the treatment of the eyes, ears, and haemorrhoids or for topical use. In modern times though no longer issued by any government, cash coins are believed to be symbols of good fortune and are considered

good luck charm "Good Luck Charm" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company, that reached number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 list in the week ending April 21, 1962. It remained at the top of the lis ...

s, for this reason some businesses hang Chinese cash coins as store signs for good luck and to allegedly avoid misfortune similar to how images of Caishen (the Chinese god of wealth) are used. Cash coins also hold a central place in ''

'' where they are associated with an abundance of resources, personal wealth, money, and prosperity. Cash coins are featured on the logos of the

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Banco da China'') is a state-owned Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, Beijing, China. It is one of ...

, and the

China Construction Bank The China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) is a Chinese partially state-owned Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, Beijing, China. It is one of the "Big four banks, big ...

. A common superstitious belief involving Chinese cash coins specifically based on their inscriptions are "the five emperor coins" ( zh , first=t , t= 五帝錢 , s= 五帝钱 , hp= wǔ dì qián , links=no), this refers to a set of Chinese cash coins issued by the first five emperors of the Qing dynasty (following their conquest of China in 1644). These cash coins are believed to have the power to ensure prosperity and to give protection from evil spirits because during the reign of these five emperors China was powerful and prosperous. Furthermore, the term "five emperors" () also alludes to the "

Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroes, but they wer ...

". A full set of " five emperor coins" consists of Chinese cash coins with the inscriptions , , , , and . These inscriptions are further seen as auspicious because translates as "to rule smoothly", means "Healthy and prosperous", "Yongzheng" () translates into "harmony and upright", the first Chinese character from is a Mandarin Chinese homophonic pun with meaning "money", and means "good and celebrate". Because of an archeological hoard of where Song dynasty cash coins were found in a Ming dynasty period tomb, it has been speculated by some archeologists that people during the Ming dynasty might have held similar beliefs with Song dynasty cash coins. Another type of supernatural belief involving cash coins is to have them buried with a corpse for good luck as well as to provide protection to the grave or tomb from evil spirits, although this tradition doesn't exclusively involve cash coins as early 20th century silver coins bearing the face of

, known outside of China as "Fatman" dollars (), have also been used for this purpose. In

it is believed that dolls made from cash coins (or ) strung together by cotton threads would guarantee that all the organs and body parts of the deceased will be in the right place during their

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...

. In North America, the

Tlingit people The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

of the Pacific Northwest (present-day Alaska and Canada) used Chinese cash coins for their body armour, which they believed would protect them from knife attacks and bullets. One contemporary Russian account from a battle with the Tlingits in 1792 states "bullets were useless against the Tlingit armour" - however this may speak to the inaccuracy of contemporary Russian smoothbore muskets than to the body armour and the Chinese cash coins sewn into the Tlingit armour. Other than for military purposes the Tlingit used Chinese cash coins on ceremonial robes.

Stringing of cash coins

The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings of 1000 cash coins and valued at 1 tael of silver (but variants of regional standards as low as 500 cash coins per string also existed), 1000 coins strung together were referred to as a or and were accepted by traders and merchants per string because counting the individual coins would cost too much time. Because the strings were often accepted without being checked for damaged coins and coins of inferior quality and copper-alloys these strings would eventually be accepted based on their nominal value rather than their weight, this system is comparable to that of a

fiat currency Fiat money is a type of government-issued currency that is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver, nor by any other tangible asset or commodity. Fiat currency is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, ...

. Because the counting and stringing together of cash coins was such a time consuming task people known as would string cash coins together in strings of 100 coins of which ten would form a single . The would receive payment for their services in the form of taking a few cash coins from every string they composed, because of this a was more likely to consist of 990 coins rather than 1000 coins and because the profession of had become a universally accepted practice these were often still nominally valued at 1000 cash coins. The number of coins in a single string was locally determined as in one district a string could consist of 980 cash coins, while in another district this could only be 965 cash coins, these numbers were based on the local salaries of the . During the Qing dynasty the would often search for older and rarer coins to sell these to coin collectors at a higher price. Prior to the Song dynasty strings of cash coins were called , , or , while during the Ming and Qing dynasties they were called or .

Cash coins with flower (rosette) holes

Chinese cash coins with flower (rosette) holes ( zh , first=t , t= 花穿錢 , s= 花穿钱 , hp= huā chuān qián, links=yes) are a type of Chinese cash coin with an octagonal hole as opposed to a square one, they have a very long history possibly dating back to the first Ban Liang cash coins cast under the

State of Qin Qin (, , or ''Ch'in'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. It is traditionally dated to 897 BC. The state of Qin originated from a reconquest of western lands that had previously been lost to the Xirong. Its location at ...

or the Han dynasty. Although Chinese cash coins kept their round shape with a square hole from the Warring States period until the early years of the Republic of China, under the various regimes that ruled during the long

history of China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the ...

the square hole in the middle experienced only minor modifications such as being slightly bigger, smaller, more elongated, shaped incorrectly, or sometimes being filled with a bit of excess metal left over from the casting process. However, for over 2000 years Chinese cash coins mostly kept their distinctive shape. During this period a relatively small number of Chinese cash coins were minted with what are termed "flower holes", "chestnut holes" or "rosette holes", these holes were octagonal but resembled the shape of flowers. If the shape of these holes were only hexagonal then they were referred to as "turtle shell hole coins" , in some occidental sources they may be called "star holes" because they resemble

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s. The exact origin and purpose of these variant holes is currently unknown but several hypotheses have been proposed by Chinese scholars. The traditional explanation for why these "flower holes" started appearing was accidental shifts of two halves of a prototype cash coin in clay, bronze, and stone moulds, these shifts would then produce the shape of the square hole to resemble multiple square holes placed on top of each other when the metal was poured in. A common criticism of this hypothesis is that if this were to happen then the inscription on the coin would also have to appear distorted, as well as any other marks that appeared on these cash coins, however this was not the case and the "flower holes" are equally distinctive as the square ones. Under

other than cash coins with "flower holes" also

with "flower holes" were cast. Under the reign of the

the number of Chinese cash coins with "flower holes" started to increase and circulated throughout the entire empire, concurrently the casting of Chinese cash coins was switched from using clay moulds to using bronze ones, however the earliest Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins were still cast with clay moulds so the mould type alone cannot explain why these "flower holes" became increasingly common. As mother coins (母錢) were used to cast these coins which were always exact it indicates that these "flower holes" were added post-casting, the largest amount of known cash coins with "flower holes" have very prominent octagonal holes in the middle on both sides of the coin, comparatively their legends are usually as defined as they appear on "normal cash coins", for this reason the hypothesis that they were accidentally added is disproven. All sides of these coins (either octagonal with "flower holes" or hexagonal with "turtle shell holes") are clearly contained inside of the cash coin's central rim. After the casting of cash coins had shifted to using bronze moulds these coins would appear as if they were branches of a "coin tree" (錢樹) where they had to be broken off, all excess copper-alloy had to be manually chiseled or filed off from the central holes. It is suspected that the "flower holes" and "turtle shell holes" were produced during chiseling process, presumably while the employee of the manufacturing mint was doing the final details of the cash coins. As manually filing and chiseling cash coins was both an additional expense as well as time-consuming it is likely that the creation of "flower holes" and "turtle shell holes" was ordered by the manufacturer. However, as the quality of Tang and Song dynasty coinages was quite high it's unlikely that the supervisors would have allowed for a large number of these variant coins to be produced, pass quality control or be allowed to enter circulation. Cash coins with "flower holes" were produced in significant numbers by the

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

, and Khitan Liao dynasty. Until 1180 the Northern Song dynasty produced "matched cash coins" () which were cash coins with identical inscriptions written in different styles of

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely Visual arts, visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held ...

, after these coins were superseded by cash coins that included the year of production on their reverse sides the practice of casting cash coins with "flower holes" also seems to have drastically decreased. Due to this one hypothesis states that "flower holes" were added to Chinese cash coins to signify a year or period of the year or possibly a location where a cash coin was produced. Only a few cash coins produced by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty are known to have "flower holes". During the Ming dynasty period "flower holes" were still (rarely) recoded in Hongwu Tongbao () and Yongle Tongbao () cash coins, with the Chongzhen Tongbao () series being the last recorded known cash coins to have "flower holes". It is also possible that these "flower holes" and "turtle shell holes" functioned as Chinese numismatic charms, this is because the number 8 () is a homophonic pun in Mandarin Chinese with "to prosper" or "wealth" (), while the number 6 () is a Mandarin Chinese homophonic pun with "prosperity" (). Concurrently the Mandarin Chinese word for as "chestnut" () as in the term "chestnut holes" could be a homophonic pun in Mandarin Chinese with the phrase "establishing sons" (), which expresses a desire to produce male offspring. The practice of creating cash coins with "flower holes" and "turtle shell holes" was also adopted by Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, however cash coins with these features are extremely rare in these countries despite using the same production techniques which further indicates that their addition was wholly intentional.

Red cash coins

"Red cash coins" () are the cash coins produced in Xinjiang under Qing rule following the conquest of the

Dzungar Khanate The Dzungar Khanate ( Mongolian: ), also known as the Zunghar Khanate or Junggar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyz ...

by the Manchus in 1757. While in Northern Xinjiang the monetary system of

China proper China proper, also called Inner China, are terms used primarily in the West in reference to the traditional "core" regions of China centered in the southeast. The term was first used by Westerners during the Manchu people, Manchu-led Qing dyn ...

was adopted in Southern Xinjiang where the '' pūl'' (ﭘول) coins of Dzungaria circulated earlier the pūl-system was continued but some of the old Dzungar pūl coins were melted down to make Qianlong Tongbao () cash coins, as pūl coins were usually around 98% copper they tended to be very red in colour which gave the cash coins based on the pūl coins the nickname "red cash coins". In July 1759 General Zhao Hui petitioned to the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

to reclaim the old pūl coins and using them as scrap for the production of new cash coins, these "red cash coins" had an official exchange rate with the pūl coins that remained in circulation of 1 "red cash" for 2 pūl coins. As Zhao Hui wanted the new can coins to have the same weight as pūl coins they weighed 2 ''qián'' and had both a higher width and thickness than regular cash coins. Red cash coins are also generally marked by their rather crude craftsmanship when compared to the cash coins of China proper. The edges of these coins are often not filed completely and the casting technique is often inaccurate or the inscriptions on them seemed deformed. At the introduction of red cash system in Southern Xinjiang in 1760, the exchange rate of standard cash (or "yellow cash") and "red cash" was set at 10 standard cash coins were worth 1 "red cash coin". During two or three subsequent years this exchange rate was decreased to 5:1. When used in the Northern or Eastern circuits of Xinjiang, the "red cash coins" were considered equal in value as the standard cash coins that circulated there. The areas where the Dzungar pūls had most circulated such as Yarkant,

Hotan Hotan (also known by other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an administrative area in its own right i ...

, and

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

were the sites of mints operated by the Qing government, as the official mint of the Dzungar Khanate was in the city of Yarkent the Qing used this mint to cast the new "red cash coins" and new mints were established in Aksu and Ili. As the

Jiaqing Emperor The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, personal name Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He was ...

ordered that 10% of all cash coins cast in Xinjiang should bear the inscription "Qianlong Tongbao" the majority of "red cash coins" with this inscription were actually produced after the Qianlong era as their production lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 making many of them hard to attribute.

Non-copper-alloy cash coins

During most of their history the cast cash coins of China were predominantly made from

or other copper-alloys such as

. However, other materials had at different times in Chinese history also been used for the manufacture of cash coins such as iron (see Tieqian), lead, silver, and gold. While silver and gold were also used for other currencies in Chinese history, as it has in most other cultures around the world, but also

cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used wo ...

shells,

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

jade Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is often referred to by either of two different silicate mineral names: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in t ...

, iron, lead,

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

, and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

(see Bamboo tally) were also materials that have been used for money at various points in Chinese history. Iron cash coins and lead cash coins were often used in cases when there was an insufficient supply of copper. 2 iron cash coins were usually worth only a single bronze cash coin. Because of

oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

, iron cash coins are rarely in very good condition today, especially if they were excavated. In some cases the usage of certain types of materials to produce cash coins are only more recently discovered due to the lack of historical records mentioning them. For example, it has only been since more recent times that the fact that the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

had attempted to produce lead cash coins been discovered. Because of this almost no Chinese coin catalogues list their existence while they have mentioned in works such as the ''Meng Guohua: Guilin Faxian Qian Xi Hejin Qian. Zhongguo Qianbi No. 3. 1994 (Vol. 46.)'' which deal with the topic. Lead cash coins have only been produced at a few times in the monetary history of china, mainly during the Five dynasties and Ten kingdoms period. Because of how soft lead is, most lead cash coins that are found today tend to be very worn.

Non-copper-alloy metals used by time period

This table reflects current knowledge, but future archaeological research might reveal that other materials were used for cash coins in other periods of Chinese history.

Usage among overseas Chinese

It is generally thought that cash coins among the early

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

communities around the globe have primarily been used as ornaments, gaming pieces,

talisman A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...

s, and gifts to children, but their potential role as a type of alternative currency in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

s and areas with concentrations of Chinese people has been proposed and disputed by multiple archeologists over the years. With modern scholars generally agreeing that they exclusively served non-currency functions and had gaming, religious, and cultural roles among the overseas Chinese. Archeologists have also used Chinese cash coins found outside China to date various historical Chinese settlements. However, the cash coins recovered from these sites aren't exclusively Chinese, and archaeologists don't always recommend this method for dating. The cash coins recovered at archeological sites commonly include Song dynasty coins, Ming dynasty coins, and Qing dynasty coins. Not all Chinese cash coins found overseas were brought there by Chinese people, as they were inexpensive to purchase; before 1820, a foreign merchant could buy 1000 cash coins in China for one tael (36 grams) of silver; after 1845, this amount of silver could purchase 2200 or more cash coins. European merchants started purchasing cash coins in large quantities following the currency reforms enacted by the Ming dynasty between 1570 and 1580. During the many centuries of trade between Europe and China, cash coins would find their way to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

and were occasionally used by Native American populations in adornments and clothing. According to a 1979 article by Glenn J. Farris published in the journal of the

Society for Historical Archaeology The Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) is a professional organization of scholars concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (15th century-present). Founded in 1967, the SHA promotes scholarly research and the dissemination of knowledg ...

, the early overseas Chinese community in the United States used Chinese and Vietnamese cash coins as money among themselves while living in the United States. Farris noted this possibility has been suggested by a number of scholars who have analysed coins that were found in the western United States and western Canada. Farris claims that this hypothesis was validated by the finding of 141 Chinese cash coins, Vietnamese cash coins Hong Kong coins, and United States coins and tokens that were found at excavations in the Chinatown of Yreka, California, United States. Other scholars dispute these claims and have used a large number of both historical and contemporary evidence to debunk this. Scholar Marjorie Kleiger Akin notes that it would have been impossible for Chinese cash coins to be used as money by overseas Chinese communities because "No object can circulate as money if it has a substantially greater value when removed from circulation and used for other purposes. The variety of uses for ''wen'' in North America and the numbers of the coins needed for some purposes have been underestimated in the past." Akin warned that archeologists should be more careful to describe unearthed cash coins in the United States as not underestimate how many cash coins were needed in the creation of various objects and that more attention should be given to determine whether cash coins were used as buttons, as basket decorations, as talismans, or joined together in red threads as misinterpreting their usage as pocket change may cause them to overlook other potential uses. She also notes that not all uses are identifiable and that careful examination of a pharmacy site might evidence their usage in traditional forms of medicine. Akin further cited a number of interviews with elderly Chinese residents of Locke who all claimed that they have never heard of anyone using cash coins as a type of currency there. In a 1987 article entitled ''Chinese Coins Down Under: Their Role on the New Zealand Goldfields'' published in the ''Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology'', researchers Neville A. Ritchie (regional archaeologist,

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

, Department of Conservation) and Graham Stuart Park (director of the Auckland Institute and Museum) disputed the role of Chinese cash coins as money objects in any overseas Chinese community in the world. Ritchie and Park stated that their usage as a currency is "highly improbable" after analysing both archaeological and historical sources. They noted that Chinese cash coins among overseas communities were principally imported for gambling purposes, most notably as gaming counters. Scholar Marjorie Kleiger Akin noted that Chinese cash coins are "a dramatic example of artifacts whose primary function changed completely when they changed cultural context", noting that rather than being used as currency, they started to fulfil a large number of non-monetary functions among the Chinese people living in the western regions of the North American continent. A large number of cash coins were transferred to the United States and Canada for a variety of talismanic and religious purposes. Akin states that a common talisman used by Chinese people living in the United States and Canada was the " coin-sword" which were commonly given to newlyweds to hang over the marriage bed as a means to insure bliss and harmony. These coin-swords are typically an approximate length of 35 cm to 50 cm and require a minimum of 50 coins to make, while the older, larger, and more elaborately decorated coin-swords would typically contain around 150 cash coins. Other ritualistic uses of cash coins include being used as funerary money, as their usage in Chinese funerals in the western United States has been reported as early as 1849. Chinese cash coins were also commonly reported to be used by Chinese Americans in a number of gambling games, such as Fan-Tan.CULIN, STUART (1891) ''The Gambling and Games of the Chinese in America.''

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Series in Philology, Literature and Archaeology 1(4). Philadelphia. While the cash coins were being used as counters or markers, all bets were exclusively made using American money. Though their usage as markers or counters wasn't exclusively done so in betting games, as children used them in a similar manner in a variety of the game

hopscotch Hopscotch is a playground game in which players toss a small object, called a lagger, into numbered triangles or a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces and retrieve the object. It is a children's ...

, played in San Francisco as late as 1935. Cash coins were also reported to have been used in decorative manners, for example 19th and early 20th century Chinese American mineworkers often strung them as

keychain A keychain () (also keyring) is a small ring or chain of metal to which several keys, or fobs can be attached. The terms keyring and keychain are often used interchangeably to mean both the individual ring, or a combined unit of a ring and fob ...

s for either talismanic or sentimental reasons. While there's no evidence for historical medicinal uses of Chinese cash coins among the overseas Chinese communities living in the United States, today their usage in the TCM practice of ''coining'' is well documented by both the Chinese American and Chinese

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth largest Asian Ame ...

communities. The continued usage or cash coins in this practice is because suitably large US coins are not considered to be appropriate, as the edges of the coin must be smooth to avoid skin abrasion. Scholar Julia G. Costello notes in the 2008 article ''The Luck of Third Street: Archaeology of Chinatown, San Bernardino, California'' that Asian cash coins are associated with one of 5 different uses: for gaming, as medicine, as talismans, as decorations, and in trade with Native Americans. She also notes that Vietnamese cash coins were unlikely to be traded or used as decorative items because the Chinese regarded them as "dirt money" due to their dark colour, which they perceived as unattractive.

General glossary of Chinese cash coins

Casting process

* Mother coins (), are model cash coins used in the casting process from which other cash coins were produced. * Ancestor coins (), are model cash coins introduced in the

used in the casting process from which other mother coins were produced. * Coin trees (), are the "tree-shaped" result of the casting process off of which the cash coins were taken to later be strung together. * Mao (), a casting period, a pre-determined batch of cash coins to be cast.

Counterfeit and privately-issued cash coins

* Counterfeit cash coins () refers to illegally produced cash coins, often of inferior quality. Coin counterfeiting has been recorded as early as the Qin dynasty period and has negatively affected social stability and caused economic problems that would continue in later

dynasties in Chinese history For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great , and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in A ...

. The introduction and circulation of counterfeit cash coins onto the market caused inflation, which hindered economic development and caused a series of social problems throughout history. These illegally produced cash coins typically had reduced weights or were adulterated with lower-cost metals (such as iron, lead, etc.), reducing the copper content in the alloys relative to genuine cash coins. * Siqian () or Sizhuqian (), refers to cash coins produced by private mints or forgers.

Design elements

* Crescent, a curved mark often found on the reverse side of cash coins, these are referred to as "moons" (), further reading: " Han dynasty coinage § Dots, crescents, circles, numbers, counting rods, Chinese characters, and other symbols appearing on coins". * Dot, a round mark often found on the reverse side of cash coins, these are referred to as "stars" (). * Dot and crescent, a combination of the above, these are known as a "pregnant star" (). * Huachuanqian (), cash coins with octagonal holes, known as "flower (rosette) hole coins".Zhang Xianzhong () – ''Analysis of flower hole money'' () – "Anhui Numismatics" 2009 No. 2 (). * Guijiachuan qian (), cash coins with hexagonal holes, known as "turtle shell hole coins". * Gongshi Nuqian (), or "female coins", is a term used to refer to Wu Zhu cash coins without an outer rim. * Jiaoqian (), or "corner coins", is a term used to refer to Wu Zhu cash coins with four oblique lines that extend outward from each corner of the square centre hole to the rim of the reverse side of the cash coin. In

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, these cash coins are often referred to as ''si chu'' (). The word ''si'' () translates as "four" and the word ''chu'' () means "going out". * Yushu Qian (), or "royally inscribed currency", is a term used to describe Song dynasty era cash coins which, according to legend, were inscribed by the

Emperor of China Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" () was the superlative title held by the monarchs of imperial China's various dynasties. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was the " Son of Heaven", an autocrat with the divine mandat ...

himself. For example the Chunhua Yuanbao () is said to have been inscribed by

Emperor Taizong of Song Zhao Jiong (20 November 939 – 8 May 997), known as Zhao Guangyi from 960 to 977 and Zhao Kuangyi before 960, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Song, was the second emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 9 ...

. * Si jue (), four lines radiating outward from the four corners of the square centre hole which may or may not extend entirely to the rim of the reverse of a cash coin, these lines were exclusively included on some Song dynasty cash coins.

Inscriptions

* Liang () and Zhu (), weight measures used as the main obverse inscriptions on ancient Chinese cash coins until the introduction of the Bao (), meaning "precious" or "treasure", inscription in the year 621. * Tongbao (), literally "circulating treasure", is an inscription first introduced with the Kaiyuan Tongbao () series of cash coins during the

period in 621 and was used as the most common inscription on cash coins for more than 1300 years and occupies a dominant position in the monetary history of China.Lin Xuda () and Dan Keimei () ．''Dictionary of ancient Chinese cultural knowledge'' ()．-

Nanchang Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi, China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake. Because of its strate ...

()：Jiangxi Education Press ()，2001：872-872. (in

). Prior to the introduction of the Kaiyuan Tongbao, cash coins typically featured the weight of the coin as (a part of) their inscription, but as cash coins were now valued based on government regulation rather than their weight as a form of

commodity money Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects having value or use in themselves ( intrinsic value) as well as their value in buying goods. This is in contrast to representa ...

this Inscription superseded the prior Wu Zhu () weight-based Inscription. * Yuanbao (), literally "inaugural treasure", "first treasure", "primal treasure", "original treasure", or "round treasure", originated as a misreading of the Inscription Kaiyuan Tongbao where the inscription was read

clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

as "Kaitong Yuanbao" (). Due to a

naming taboo A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly ...

the term "Yuanbao" was phased out from cash coin inscriptions due to a

as the founder of the Ming dynasty,

Zhu Yuanzhang The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328– 24 June 1398), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398. In ...

had the word "Yuan" () in his name. The term "Yuanbao" is also an alternative name for boat-shaped

s. * Zhongbao (), literally "heavy treasure", an inscription typically used on high denomination cash coins, initially introduced in 758 with the Qianyuan Zhongbao () nominally valued at 10 ordinary cash coins. * Nianhao (), sometimes translated as "reign title" or "reign era", refers to the period title used by Chinese monarchs, these period titles typically consisted of an auspicious phrase (such as Immeasurable Splendour, Heavenly Favour, Abundant Happiness, or United Government) and was used to describe some or all years of the reign of an individual emperor. After the year 621, cash coins typically had 4 character obverse Inscriptions consisting of " eign era(Tong/Yuan/Zhong)bao", reading as ". Not all era names were considered to be useable for cash coin Inscriptions, causing them to substitute the ''nianhao'' with a dynastic title, consisting of the name of the dynasty in conjunction with a honorific adjective, for example Hanyuan Tongbao () by the Southern Han dynasty, Tangguo Tongbao () by the Southern Tang dynasty, and Huangsong Tongbao () during the

. From the Ming dynasty onwards, there was only a single ''nianhao'' used per reign, so the ''nianhao'' is often used synonymously as the name of the Emperor, for example

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (16September 150723January 1567), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizong of Ming, personal name Zhu Houcong, art name, art names Yaozhai, Leixuan, and Tianchi Diaosou, was the 12th List of emperors of the Ming ...

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

, Etc. Hence, only a single inscription was typically used during their reigns ( Yongle Tongbao, Jiajing Tongbao, Kangxi Tongbao, Jiaqing Tongbao, Etc.). * Matched cash coins (, ''duì qián'', , ''duì pǐn'', , ''hé hé qián''), is a term introduced during the

Southern Tang Southern Tang ( zh, c=南唐, p=Nán Táng) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Located in southern China, the Southern Tang proclaimed itself to be the successor ...

and started being extensively used during the

where cash coins with the same weight, inscription, and denomination was simultaneously cast in different scripts such as

regular script The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period , and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the t ...

and

seal script Seal script or sigillary script () is a Chinese script styles, style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of bronze script during the Zhou dynasty (1 ...

while all having the same legend. * Shiqian (), a poem coin. * Coastal province type, a common calligraphic style found on the locally produced cash coins of the

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, Jiangxi,

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, and

from the Qianlong period onwards.

Materials and metals

Metal cash coins

* , gold cash coins (can also refer to other gold coins). * , lead cash coins. * , copper-alloy cash coins, the most common type. * refers to cash coins made from iron.Peng Zeyi (). ‘1853–1868 nian de Zhongguo tonghuo pengzhang 1853–1868 ()’, in Peng Zeyi () (ed.), Shijiu shiji houbanqi Zhongguo de caizheng yu jingji () (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1983). Page 88. (in

). * , or Baiqian qian (), refers to zinc cash coins. * , silver cash coins (can also refer to other silver coins).

Non-metal cash coins

* Niqian ( zh, first=t, t= 泥錢, s= 泥钱, hp= ní qián, l= , links=no) refers to cash coins made out of

, when the government of the You Zhou Autonomous Region (900–914) confiscated all bronze cash coins and buried them in a cave. Because of this the people had to rely on cash coins made out of clay while later poor-quality iron cash coins were issued. (in

). * Tuqian (), a name given to clay cash coins commonly found in tombs that were used as burial coins for the afterlife.

Sample and pattern coins

* Yang qian (), A sample or

pattern coin A pattern coin is a coin which has not been approved for release, but produced to evaluate a proposed coin design. They are often off-metal strike (using metals of lower value to test out the dies), to proof standard or piedforts. Many coin co ...

. * Banbu yang qian (), an official pattern coin. * Jincheng yang qian (), "Present to the Emperor" sample coin.

Special and commemorative cash coins

* Jiyuan qian (), a cash coin cast to commemorate a new period title. * Kai Lu Qian (), or "commemorative cash coins", were a special type of cash coin produced to commemorate the opening of a mint or a new furnace. The largest ever recorded of these cash coins, and also the largest and heaviest ancient Chinese coin ever found, was a giant Jiajing Tongbao () cash coin produced for the opening of a mint in Dongchuan, Sichuan. This Kai Lu cash coin has a diameter of 57.8 centimeters (or 22.8 inches), a thickness of 3.7 centimeters (or 1.5 inches), and it has a weight of 41.5 kilograms (or 91.5 pounds). On June 27, 1990, the Quality Inspection Section of the Huize County Lead and Zinc Mine Archives (), where the cash coin is on display, conducted a sampling and analysis of the coin, conducted an assay and concluded that the coin had a composition of 90. 81% copper, 0. 584% aluminum, 0. 532% zinc, and 3% iron. In the year 2002 it was added to the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the largest coin. * Five Metal Value Ten coins are Chinese cash coins that were issued by the Ministry of Revenue made from an alloy of tin, iron, copper, silver, and gold. They contain the obverse inscriptions Tongzhi Zhongbao () or Guangxu Zhongbao () and are all based on 10 ''wén'' Daqian. These special cash coins notably contain the mint marks of

, Guangdong,

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

, Guizhou, Ili, Jiangsu,

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

, Hubei,

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

, Shanxi,

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, Sichuan,

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, Zhejiang, and

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

despite no Daqian from these periods being produced at any of these mints. These special cash coins were created to serve as a new year's present. * Tianxia Taiping coins () are Chinese cash coins that were used for presentation at the Palace of Ancestral Worship. They were primarily used during the holidays, such as the birthdays of the reigning emperor or empress as well during as the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

. These coins contain the reign titles Qianlong,

Jiaqing The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, personal name Yongyan, was the sixth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over Chin ...

, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, or Xuantong with "Tongbao" (), or rarely "Zhongbao" (), in their obverse inscription and the reverse inscription "Tianxia Taiping" (). These special cash coins were wrapped inside of a piece of rectangular cloth and every time that an Emperor died (or "ascended to his ancestors") the coins were replaced with new reign titles. Some Tianxia Taiping cash coins were manufactured by the Ministry of Revenue while others were produced by private mints. Palace issues tend to be larger than circulation cash coins with the same inscriptions. * Neiting qian (), a palace cash coin.

Types of cash coins

; Pre-Ming * Huanqian (), or Huanjin (), refers to the round coins issued during the

and the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

. This term was used to differentiate these coins from other shapes of coins, such as the spade coins and knife coins. * Xiaoping Qian () refers to the smallest and most common cash coins, they usually had a diameter of about 2.4–2.5 cm and weights between 3–4 grams. * Huaqian (, "Flower coin"), charms, amulets, and talismans that often resemble cash coins. * Cinnabar money ( zh, t= 硃砂銅錢, s= 朱砂铜钱, hp= Zhūshā tóngqián, first=t, links=no) refers to cash coins and cash coin amulets that have been artificially made to resemble ''cinnabar rust money'' through the application of

cinnabar Cinnabar (; ), or cinnabarite (), also known as ''mercurblende'' is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and is t ...

dye. Ancient Chinese people believed that making cash coins into a bright red colour played a role in warding off evil spirits by hanging it on a beam in the house or wearing such coins around their waist. ''Cinnabar rust money'' refers to old cash coins which had oxidated in an alkaline environment (PH7-10) and appeared red in colour, this is because the soil reduced substances such as organic sugars to produce cuprous oxide (Cu2O) which is dark red, and also lead red (Pb3O4). This occurs when local corrosion and electrochemical corrosion will also occur, producing red and green rust forming small pinholes (referred to as "bone rust"). Cash coins typically first rust green before they turn red into ''cinnabar rust money''. This is because cash coins until the mid-Ming dynasty period onwards most cash coins were made from bronze, though later cash coins were mostly made from brass causing them to oxidise differently, but because the old superstitions still applied people would manually apply cinnabar dye to make them appear red. * Bingqian (, "biscuit coins" or "cake coins"), is a term used by modern Chinese and Taiwanese coin collectors to refer to cash coins that have extremely broad outer rims and are extremely thick and heavy. These cash coins were produced under

Emperor Zhenzong Emperor Zhenzong of Song (23 December 968 – 23 March 1022), personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was change ...

during the Song dynasty and bear the inscriptions Xianping Yuanbao () and Xiangfu Yuanbao (), respectively. Bingqian can range from being 26.5 millimeters in diameter and weighing 10.68 grams to being 66 millimeters in diameter. * Gong Yang Qian ( zh, first=t, t= 供養錢, s=供养钱, hp= gōng yǎng qián, l= , links=no), variously translated as " temple coins" or "offering coins", were a type of alternative currency that resembled Chinese cash coins that circulated during the

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

period. The Yuan dynasty emperors (or ''

khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

s'') were supporters of Buddhism, which meant that the Buddhist temples tended to receive official government support. During this period the larger Buddhist temples in China were able to cast bronze Buddha statues and make other religious artifacts which also meant that it was easy for them to also cast these special kind of cash coins which could then be used by faithful adherents of Buddhism as offerings to Buddha. In general, these temple coins tend to be much smaller and crudely made compared to earlier and later Chinese cash coins. However, because these temple coins, due to their copper content, still had intrinsic value, they would sometimes serve as an alternative currency in China, this would particularly happen during difficult economic times when the

Jiaochao Jiaochao () is a Chinese word for banknote first used for the currency of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty and later by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. Jin dynasty The Jurchens swept control over northern China, conquering the Liao dynasty ...

paper money issued by the Mongol government was no longer considered to be of any value. * Guqian ( , "ancient cash") or Guquan ( ), refers to cash coins (real or fake) produced by previous dynasties, these at certain times were considered to be legal tender if the current Chinese government didn't produce enough cash coins to meet market demand. ; Ming dynasty * Zhiqian (, "Standard cash coins"), a term used the Ming and

Qing dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

to refer to copper-alloy cash coins produced by the imperial mints according to the standards which were fixed by the central government. * Jiuqian (), a term used during the Ming and Qing dynasties to refer to Song dynasty era cash coins that were still in circulation. * Yangqian (, "Model coin"), also known as ''Beiqian'' (北錢, "Northern coin"), is a term used during the Ming dynasty to refer to full weight (1 ''qián'') and fine quality which were delivered to Beijing as seigniorage revenue. * Fengqian (, "Stipend coin"), is a term used during the Ming dynasty to refer to second rate cash coins that had a weight of 0.9 ''qián'' and were distributed through the salaries of government officials and emoluments. * Shangqian (, "Tip money"), is a term used during the Ming dynasty to refer to cash coins that were small, thin, and very fragile (comparable to ''Sizhuqian'') that were used to pay the wages of employees of the imperial government (including the mint workers themselves) and was one of the most commonly circulating types of cash coins during the Ming dynasty among the general population. * Woqian (, "Japanese cash"), refers to Japanese cash coins that entered China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Imperial Chinese court eventually prohibited them. These are sometimes discovered in China among Chinese cash coins. * Xuanbian qian (), literally "lathed-rim cash coins", was a popular name (folk name) used during the Ming dynasty period to refer to cash coins produced in

and in Beijing, at the Baoyuanju Mint (), under the reign of the

that were polished using lathes known as ''xuàn chē'' (). Xu Jie (徐階) ‘Qing tingzhi Baoyuanju zhuqian shu’ () emorial of asking to stop the casting of Baoyuanju mint in ''Ming jingshi wenbian'' (, p. 2551. These cash coins were stable, had a yellowish colour that contemporary sources describe as "beautiful", and round and smooth rims. * Huoqi qian (), literally "fire lacquer coins", refers to a Ming dynasty period type of cash coins that were produced by having a special

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

applied to the coins during finishing aspect of the manufacturing process. The only evidence of their existence is mentioned in the ''

Tiangong Kaiwu The ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' (), or ''The Exploitation of the Works of Nature'' was a Chinese encyclopedia compiled by Song Yingxing. It was published in May 1637 with funding provided by Song's patron Tu Shaokui.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 36.Song, xi ...

''. A number of surviving late Ming dynasty cash coins are found to have certain amounts of black lacquer substance that is found at the lower parts between characters. This lacquer tends to make the design of the coins look a bit cleaner and was possibly only applied to enhance the beauty of the coins and as an anti-counterfeiting measure. As the alloys of ''Huoqi qian'' was different from unlacquered cash coins in circulation at the time, the lacquer may have served as a coating that protected the coin from corrosion. During circulation, the lacquer on the raised parts of the coin would have likely rubbed off.Michael Cowell, Joe Cribb, Sheridan Bowman and Yvonne Shashoua. ''The Chinese Cash: Composition and Production'' in Wang, Helen et al (ed.) (2005), p. 63. ; Qing dynasty * Guangbei qian (), is a Qing dynasty term that refers to Shunzhi Tongbao () cash coins with no reverse inscriptions including mint marks. * Yiliqian (, "one-

coin"), referred to as ''Zheyinqian'' (, "conversion coins") by Chinese numismatists, is a term used to designate Shunzhi Tongbao cash coins produced from the year 1653 that had the inscription "" on the left to the square centre hole on their reverse sides, this inscription indicates that the nominal value of the cash coin corresponded to 0.001 tael of silver (1 li ( or , "cash"), as a weight). This would mean that the official government conversation rate was set as ''zhé yín yì lí qián'' (), which was proof that silver was of continuing importance as a currency of account. Similar cash coins with this reverse inscription were also being produced by some rulers of the

Southern Ming The Southern Ming (), also known in historiography as the Later Ming (), officially the Great Ming (), was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the ...

dynasty. * Xiaoqian (, "small cash") or Qingqian (), is a Qing dynasty era term that refers to lightweight cash coins created from 1702 that had a weight of 0.7 ''qián'', these coins all disappeared from circulation around the middle of the 18th century. * Zhongqian (, "full-weight cash" or "heavy cash"), refers to cash coins produced from 1702 with a weight of 1.4 ''qián'' and were of a

tael Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

* Huangqian (, "yellow cash"), a term used to refer to early Qing dynasty era cash coins that didn't contain any

. * Qingqian (, "green cash"), is a term used to refer to Qing dynasty era cash coins produced from 1740 where 2% tin was added to the

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

, however despite being called "green cash" it looked indistinguishable from "yellow cash". * Daqian (, "Big money"), cash coins with a

nominal value In economics, nominal value refers to value measured in terms of absolute money amounts, whereas real value is considered and measured against the actual goods or services for which it can be exchanged at a given time. Real value takes into acc ...

of 4 wén or higher. This term was used in the Qing dynasty from the Xianfeng period onwards.

Units of account

Cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

(), nominally 1 cash coin. *

Diao Diao is the Standard Chinese, Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname written in Chinese character. It is romanized as Tiao in Wade–Giles. Diao is listed 148th in the Song dynasty Chinese classics, classic text ''Hundred Family Surna ...

(), a string of 100 or 500 cash coins. * Chuan (), a string of 1000 cash coins. * Changqian () refers to the regular cash coin system used across China where 1000 cash coins make up a single string (). * Dongqian (, "Eastern cash"), an

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

used for cash coins in the Fengtian province, where only 160 cash coins make up a string. * Jingqian (, "metropolitan cash") or Zhongqian (),“Silver, Copper, Rice, and Debt: Monetary Policy and Office Selling in China during the Taiping Rebellion,” in Money in Asia (1200–1900): Small Currencies in Social and Political Contexts, ed.
by Jane Kate Leonard and Ulrich Theobald,

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

: Brill, 2015, 343–395. an exchange rate used in the capital city of Beijing, the Jingqian system allowed a nominal debt of 2 '' wén'' () could be paid out using only one physical cash coins instead of two, in this system a string of Beijing cash coins () required only 500 cash coins as opposed to the majority of China which used 1000 cash coins for a string (). * Kuping Qian (), refers to a unit that was part of the official standardisation of the Chinese monetary system during the late Qing period by the imperial treasury to create a decimal system in which 1 Kuping Qian was of a Kuping

tael Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

History of Chinese currency The history of Chinese currency spans more than 3000 years from ancient China to imperial China and modern China. Currency of some type has been used in China since the Neolithic age which can be traced back to between 3000 and 4500 years ...

* Jiaozi (currency), the earliest paper money *

Economic history of China (pre-1911) An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

Economic history of China (1912–1949) An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

Currencies based on the Chinese cash

* Brunei pitis *

Cash coins in Indonesia The cash coins of Indonesia (; ; , , or ) was a historical currency in Indonesia based on Chinese imperial coinage during the Tang dynasty era (dynasty based in Mainland China). It was introduced by the Chinese traders, but did not become popula ...

* Hong Kong one-mil coin * Japanese mon (currency) * Korean mun * Kucha coinage * Ryukyuan mon * Vietnamese văn * Kelantan keping * Terengganu keping

Explanatory notes

References

Sources

* * * The book has been translated into English by Edward 11. Kaplan as A Monetary History of China (Bellingham, WA: Western Washington, 1994).

External links

Images and historical information on Chinese coins

Chinese coinage website

( also hosted on Wikimedia Commons). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cash (Chinese Coin) Cash coins Coins of ancient China Medieval currencies Modern obsolete currencies Chinese numismatics Currencies of Taiwan