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by HENRY FONG

Ancient Chinese coins date back to 2000 BC during the Xia dynasty. There are still coins used today, but then they varied in size and shape and were used for many different things.

The Western Zhou and Shang eras brought us several ancient Chinese coins. In the beginning, the first coins were known as cowry money. When they first came out, the were only made of shells, but eventually they were made from bone. In 221 BC, the cowry was made illegal. When the Warring States and Spring-Autumn dynasties came into effect, we were introduced to many new coins. Hollow-shaft spade coins are one example of this. One of the other coins that was unusually interesting looked somewhat like a knife. These very large "coins" had a hole at one end for the purposes of stringing them together. These specific coins, "The Ming", are the namesake of the famous city. The "Bu" spade coin also came from this era also. Some of the very first circular coins came from this rime frame as well. The Qin dynasty was from 221BC to 207BC. During this time both gold and bronze coins were used. However, The first metal coins were made somewhere during the Pre-Chou dynasty and the Chou dynasty. This was somewhere between 600-300 BC. The Pan Liang coins were around a very long time. Possibly up to 2000 years. They were even still in use around 1911 AD. The coins were most likely made between 140 and 118 BC. These are round coins that have a square in the middle.

Minting coins were first made into a state monopoly during the Han dynasty which roughly lasted around 400 years, between 206 BC to 220 AD. In the first century alone over 220,000 strings were made. Each contained 1000 coins. In the Western Han, casting mould in bronze became used. This was done in order to easily standardize the coins. A coin much like the Pan Liang was introduced under Emperor Yuan-shou. This was called the Wu-Ch’u. The only difference between the two coins was really that the Wu-Ch’u had a rim to protect it from wear. For hundreds of years this coin was duplicated. When the Mongols were ruling China they produced coins, but one coin in particular had to be stopped from being used. This coin was so nice it was being hoarded by the people. The Mongols had to eventually make them trade it out. They promised punishment if this did not happen. Ancient Chinese coins have a very long history dating back thousands of years. The coins have been very diverse. They have been made from many different types of things. Most eventually turned to a form of metal. Each coin type was intricately made to whatever the ruler at the time liked.