The Coins of Ancient China
By Simon Chen and Translated by Lee May

Some of the earliest forms of currency in China were made of shell, animal hide, jade, or satin, and were part of a barter economy built around the exchange of goods. By the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, somewhere between 1,000 and 400B.C., a more standardized form of metal currency was developed. In this new system, copper was used to mint the first coins, which fell into two major categories: knife and spade-shaped money.

Knife money is the oldest form of hard currency in China, and was appropriately blade-like in shape. About 7" in length, knife money always had a hole in the middle bladet, as well as hand-carved inscriptions that detailed the coin's origin and trading value. These oldest examples of copper coinage are not to be confused with the stylistic imitations of the Mang Wang era, which are considerably smaller (3" long) and have square holes in them.

Like knife money, the term "spade moneyt is also derrived from the shape of the coin. The prominent role agriculture was to eventually play during the Warring States Period (c. 400 B.C.) is reflected in the choice of the spade to represent the civilization's currency.

With the unification of China under Qin Shi Huang Di also came a more standardized monetary system. The knife and spade coins were replaced with the Emperor's half-liangs. One half-liang weighs about 25 grams, and is round in shape with a square hole in the middle. Each coin is further identified by the word "half liang" inscribed upon one side. It is from this coin's shape that the nickname "Square Hole Brother" was taken.

The classical shape of the Chinese coin continued through the Tang Dynasty with the birth of zhi coins. Though still round in shape with a square hole in the middle, these coins differed from their more ancient ancestors in that they bore the title of an Emperor's reign upon them. The Japanese adopted this style for their own coins, and only an expert on Chinese coins can tell the difference between the foreign copies and the Tang Dynasty originals. This evolving personalization of coins on the part of the ruling Emperors of the time was further developed by the Song Dynasty Emperor Hu Zong, who had the title of his reign placed upon his coins in his famous slim-style of writing. It was also during the Song Dynasty that an entirely new form of currency emerged on the scene: paper money.

China was home to the first civilization in world history to develop paper money system, which was developed by merchants in response to the increasingly difficult task of trasporting large sums of metal coins. They agreed to accept specially prepared paper slips from one another, and to replace the paper "vouchers" with hard currency within three years for the convenience of being able to travel light. In the beginning, this paper money system was run by ten of the more successful merchants of the day, but in 100 A.D., the printing of paper money became a government-run operation.

The presence of paper money did not spell the end of the coin in ancient China. The zhi coins originating in the Tang Dynasty continued through to the Qing Dynasty, which sw the addition of the character man to the reverse side of the coin. But the Qing Dynasty's most radical addition to the history of coins in China was the Silver Dragon, an imitation of the Western coin. With its image of a dragon on one side, this coin was altered with the birth of the Republic under Yuan Shi Kai to display his image upon one side. The Chinese monetary system of antiquity was a very unique one, in the sense that it was totally devoid of Western influence right up until the end of the 19th century, with its earliest examples dating over 2,000 years prior.

Ancient Chinese coins are becoming more and more popular among collectors, with examples from certain periods commanding large sums of money. We advise anyone interested in starting a collection of their own to consult with an expert before buying.