The Jin dynasty was a Jurchen-led dynasty of China that ruled over northern China and Manchuria from 1115 until 1234. [1] After the Jurchens defeated the Liao dynasty and the Northern Song dynasty, they would continue to use their coins for day to day usage in the conquered territories. In 1234, they were conquered by the Mongol Empire (which later evolved into the Yuan dynasty; further reading: Yuan dynasty coinage).
Although the Jin dynasty had started issuing paper Jiaochao (交 鈔) in 1154, they didn't produce coins until the year 1158, prior to that coins from the preceding Liao and Song dynasties continued to circulate within Jurchen territory, [2] as well as a continuing large inflow of coins produced by the Song, this was because the territory of the Jin didn't have enough copper to meet the demand. [3] [4] Jin era coins circulated alongside paper money and silver sycees, and were the main medium of exchange for the general population.
In the beginning iron coins continued to circulate but this had become to be perceived as an inconvenience so the Jin government ordered the immediate ban on melting down copper for usage other than currency, and was quick to open more copper mines to manage the production of copper coinage. 3 mints were opened that together produced 140,000 strings of coins a year (or 140,000,000 cash coins annually), after inflation had become a problem this production became less profitable for the Jin government. [5]
Coins produced by the Jin dynasty compared to earlier Liao dynasty coinage are both of higher quality, and quantity; this is because the Jurchens chose to model their coins more closely after the Song’s both in production as superficially in its calligraphic style. The Taihe Zhongbao (泰和重寶) were cast with a very special and particular style of calligraphy known as jade tendon seal script. [6]
Due to the constant Mongol invasions and high military expenditures, coins cast after 1209 had become a rarity. [7]
Coins produced by the Jurchen Jin dynasty include: [8] [9]
| Inscription | Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Scripts | Years of minting | Emperor | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zheng Long Yuan Bao | 正隆元寶 | 正隆元宝 | Regular script | 1158–1161 | Wanyan Liang |  |
| Da Ding Tong Bao | 大定通寶 | 大定通宝 | Regular script | 1178–1189 | Shizong |  |
| Tai He Tong Bao | 泰和通寶 | 泰和通宝 | Regular script | 1204–1209 | Zhangzong |  |
| Tai He Zhong Bao | 泰和重寶 | 泰和重宝 | Regular script, Seal script | 1204–1209 | Zhangzong | |
| Chong Qing Tong Bao | 崇慶通寶 | 崇庆通宝 | Regular script | 1212–1213 | Wanyan Yongji | |
| Chong Qing Yuan Bao | 崇慶元寶 | 崇庆元宝 | Regular script | 1212–1213 | Wanyan Yongji | |
| Zhi Ning Yuan Bao | 至寧元寶 | 至宁元宝 | Regular script | 1213 | Wanyan Yongji | |
| Zhen You Tong Bao | 貞祐通寶 | 贞佑通宝 | Regular script | 1213–1216 | Xuanzong | |
| Zhen You Yuan Bao | 貞祐元寶 | 贞佑元宝 | Regular script | 1213–1216 | Xuanzong |
In 1130 during the Jin–Song Wars the Jin dynasty had set up a second puppet state called “Da Qi” (after the failed first puppet state, Da Chu), this puppet state briefly produced its own coins until it was defeated by the Song in 1137. [10] [11]
Coins produced by the brief Jurchen vassal state include:
| Inscription | Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Script | Emperor | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fu Chang Tong Bao | 阜昌通寶 | 阜昌通宝 | Regular script, Seal script | Liu Yu | |
| Fu Chang Yuan Bao | 阜昌元寶 | 阜昌元宝 | Regular script, Seal script | Liu Yu | |
| Fu Chang Zhong Bao | 阜昌重寶 | 阜昌重宝 | Regular script, Seal script | Liu Yu |
According to information from an attempted seller, in a small coin hoard in the Russian Far East in 2011 new seven cash coins were discovered, these coins bore the inscription Dongzhen Xingbao (東眞興寶) alluding to a rebel state named Eastern Xia that was founded during the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty. [12] [13]
The Jin dynasty, officially known as the Great Jin, was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 1115 and 1234 founded by Emperor Taizu (first). Because the Wanyan clan that founded the dynasty were of Jurchen descent, it is also sometimes called the Jurchen dynasty or the Jurchen Jin. The empire covered much of Inner Asia and all of present-day North China.
Jurchen is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking people. They lived in northeastern China, also known as Manchuria, before the 18th century. The Jurchens were renamed Manchus in 1635 by Hong Taiji. Different Jurchen groups lived as hunter-gatherers, pastoralist semi-nomads, or sedentary agriculturists. Generally lacking a central authority, and having little communication with each other, many Jurchen groups fell under the influence of neighbouring dynasties, their chiefs paying tribute and holding nominal posts as effectively hereditary commanders of border guards.
Khitan or Kitan, also known as Liao, is an extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people. It was the official language of the Liao Empire (907–1125) and the Qara Khitai (1124–1218).
The Wanyan, alternatively rendered as Wanggiya, was a clan of the Heishui Mohe tribe living in the drainage region of the Heilong River during the time of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Of the Heishui Mohe, the clan was counted by the Liao dynasty among the "uncivilized Jurchens" (生女真), indicating that the clan was not subject to the direct rule of the Liao emperors. Those Heishui Mohe clans ruled by the Liao dynasty were referred to as "civilized Jurchens" (熟女真). The Wanyan clan later founded the Jin dynasty.
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.
The Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) was a dynasty of China ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan. Founded by Kublai Khan, it is considered one of the successors to the Mongol Empire.
Chinese coinage in the Ming dynasty includes many types of coins. During the Ming dynasty of China, the national economy developed and techniques of producing coinage advanced.
The History of Jin is a Chinese historical text, one of the Twenty Four Histories, which details the history of the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens in northern China. It was compiled by the Yuan dynasty historian and minister Toqto'a.
The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han-led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125), and declared the formation of the Jin. Allying with the Song against their common enemy the Liao dynasty, the Jin promised to cede to the Song the Sixteen Prefectures that had fallen under Liao control since 938. The Song agreed but the Jin's quick defeat of the Liao combined with Song military failures made the Jin reluctant to cede territory. After a series of negotiations that embittered both sides, the Jurchens attacked the Song in 1125, dispatching one army to Taiyuan and the other to Bianjing, the Song capital.
In the Mongol siege of Kaifeng from 1232 to 1233, the Mongol Empire captured Kaifeng, the capital of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. The Mongol Empire and the Jin dynasty had been at war for nearly two decades, beginning in 1211 after the Jin dynasty refused the Mongol offer to submit as a vassal. Ögedei Khan sent two armies to besiege Kaifeng, one led by himself, and the other by his brother Tolui. Command of the forces, once they converged into a single army, was given to Subutai who led the siege. The Mongols arrived at the walls of Kaifeng on April 8, 1232.
The siege of Caizhou in 1233 and 1234 was fought between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty and the allied forces of the Mongol Empire and Southern Song dynasty. It was the last major battle in the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty.
The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol-ruled Chinese dynasty which existed from 1271 to 1368. After the conquest of the Western Xia, Western Liao, and Jin dynasties they allowed for the continuation of locally minted copper currency, as well as allowing for the continued use of previously created and older forms of currency, while they immediately abolished the Jin dynasty's paper money as it suffered heavily from inflation due to the wars with the Mongols. After the conquest of the Song dynasty was completed, the Yuan dynasty started issuing their own copper coins largely based on older Jin dynasty models, though eventually the preferred Yuan currency became the Jiaochao and silver sycees, as coins would eventually fall largely into disuse. Although the Mongols at first preferred to have every banknote backed up by gold and silver, high government expenditures forced the Yuan to create fiat money in order to sustain government spending.
The Liao dynasty was a Khitan-led dynasty of China that ruled over parts of Northern China, Manchuria, the Mongolian Plateau, northern Korean Peninsula, and what is modern-day Russian Far East from 916 until 1125 when it was conquered by the Jin dynasty. Remnants of the Liao court fled westward and created the Western Liao dynasty which in turn was annexed by the Mongol Empire in 1218.
The Southern Song dynasty refers to an era of the Song dynasty after Kaifeng was captured by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1127. The government of the Song was forced to establish a new capital city at Lin'an which wasn't near any sources of copper so the quality of the cash coins produced under the Southern Song significantly deteriorated compared to the cast copper-alloy cash coins of the Northern Song dynasty. The Southern Song government preferred to invest in their defenses while trying to remain passive towards the Jin dynasty establishing a long peace until the Mongols eventually annexed the Jin before marching down to the Song establishing the Yuan dynasty.
The Western Xia was a Tangut-led Chinese dynasty which ruled over what are now the northwestern Chinese subdivisions of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and southernmost Outer Mongolia from 1032 until 1227 when they were destroyed by the Mongols. The country was established by the Tangut people; likewise its earliest coins were escribed with Tangut characters, while later they would be written in Chinese. Opposed to Song dynasty coins that often read top-bottom-right-left, Western Xia coins exclusively read clockwise. Despite the fact that coins had been cast for over a century and a half, very little were actually produced and coins from Western Xia are a rarity today. Although the Western Xia cast their own coins barter remained widely used.
The Kaiyuan Tongbao, sometimes romanised as Kai Yuan Tong Bao or using the archaic Wade-Giles spelling K'ai Yuan T'ung Pao, was a Tang dynasty cash coin that was produced from 621 under the reign of Emperor Gaozu and remained in production for most of the Tang dynasty until 907. The Kaiyuan Tongbao was notably the first cash coin to use the inscription tōng bǎo (通寶) and an era title as opposed to have an inscription based on the weight of the coin as was the case with Ban Liang, Wu Zhu and many other earlier types of Chinese cash coins. The Kaiyuan Tongbao's calligraphy and inscription inspired subsequent Central Asian, Japanese, Korean, Ryūkyūan, and Vietnamese cash coins and became the standard until the last cash coin to use the inscription "通寶" was cast until the early 1940s in French Indochina.
The Hongwu Tongbao was the first cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coins officially replaced the earlier Dazhong Tongbao coins, however the production of the latter did not cease after the Hongwu Tongbao was introduced. The government of the Ming dynasty placed a greater reliance on copper cash coins than the Yuan dynasty ever did, but despite this reliance a nationwide copper shortage caused the production of Hongwu Tongbao cash coins to cease several times eventually leading to their discontinuation in 1393 when they were completely phased out in favour of paper money. In the year 1393 there were a total of 325 furnaces in operation in all provincial mints of China which had an annual output of 189,000 strings of cash coins which was merely 3% of the average annual production during the Northern Song dynasty.
Iron cash coins are a type of Chinese cash coin that were produced at various times during the monetary history of imperial China as well as in Japan and Vietnam. Iron cash coins were often produced in regions where the supply of copper was insufficient, or as a method of paying for high military expenditures at times of war, as well as for exports at times of trade deficits.
The military of the Jin dynasty, officially known as the Great Jin, was the military force of an imperial dynasty of China, founded by rulers of Jurchen origin, that ruled over northern China between 1115 and 1234.
Media related to Coins of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by: Liao dynasty coinage Reason: Jurchen victory over the Khitan Liao dynasty. | Currency of Northern China 1115 – 1234 | Succeeded by: Yuan dynasty coinage Reason: Mongol conquest |
