Jin dynasty coinage (1115–1234)

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A Da Ding Tong Bao (Chinese:
Da Ding Tong Bao ) coin cast under Emperor Shizong. S430 Jin ShiZong DaDing 1178 1189 (6966384718).jpg
A Da Ding Tong Bao (Chinese :大定通寶) coin cast under Emperor Shizong.

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).

Contents

History

Bronze plate for printing the Xingding era paper currency. Jin Dynasty, 2nd year if the Xingding era (1218). Bronze printing plate for Xingding paper currency.jpg
Bronze plate for printing the Xingding era paper currency. Jin Dynasty, 2nd year if the Xingding era (1218).

Although the Jin dynasty had started issuing paper Jiaochao ( ) 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]

List of coins produced by the Jin dynasty

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 S431 Jin (8000211405).jpg
Da Ding Tong Bao大定通寶大定通宝Regular script1178–1189 Shizong S430 Jin ShiZong DaDing 1178 1189 (6966384718).jpg
Tai He Tong Bao泰和通寶泰和通宝Regular script1204–1209 Zhangzong Tai He Tong Bao (Tai He Tong Bao ) - Scott Semans.jpg
Tai He Zhong Bao泰和重寶泰和重宝Regular script, Seal script 1204–1209Zhangzong
Chong Qing Tong Bao崇慶通寶崇庆通宝Regular script1212–1213 Wanyan Yongji
Chong Qing Yuan Bao崇慶元寶崇庆元宝Regular script1212–1213Wanyan Yongji
Zhi Ning Yuan Bao至寧元寶至宁元宝Regular script1213Wanyan Yongji
Zhen You Tong Bao貞祐通寶贞佑通宝Regular script1213–1216 Xuanzong
Zhen You Yuan Bao貞祐元寶贞佑元宝Regular script1213–1216Xuanzong

Da Qi coinage

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 EmperorImage
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 scriptLiu Yu
Fu Chang Zhong Bao阜昌重寶阜昌重宝Regular script, Seal scriptLiu Yu

Eastern Xia coinage

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]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jin dynasty (1115–1234)</span> Jurchen-led imperial dynasty of China

The Jin dynasty or Jin State, officially known as the Great Jin, was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 1115 and 1234. Its name is sometimes written as Kin, Jinn, or Chin in English to differentiate it from an earlier Jìn dynasty whose name is rendered identically in Hanyu Pinyin without the tone marking. It is also sometimes called the "Jurchen dynasty" or the "Jurchen Jin", because members of the ruling Wanyan clan were of Jurchen descent.

Khitan or Kitan, also known as Liao, is a now-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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Chinese coinage</span> Coin production and deployment of ancient China

Ancient Chinese coinage includes some of the earliest known coins. These coins, used as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), took the form of imitations of the cowrie shells that were used in ceremonial exchanges. The same period also saw the introduction of the first metal coins; however, they were not initially round, instead being either knife shaped or spade shaped. Round metal coins with a round, and then later square hole in the center were first introduced around 350 BCE. The beginning of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), the first dynasty to unify China, saw the introduction of a standardised coinage for the whole Empire. Subsequent dynasties produced variations on these round coins throughout the imperial period. At first the distribution of the coinage was limited to use around the capital city district, but by the beginning of the Han dynasty, coins were widely used for such things as paying taxes, salaries and fines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cash (Chinese coin)</span> Chinese coin

The cash or qian was a type of coin of China and the Sinosphere, used from the 4th century BC until the 20th century AD, characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole. Originally cast during the Warring States period, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of Imperial China. The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys, with iron, lead, and zinc 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, 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 continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jiaochao</span> Banknote in Jin China and Yuan China

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ming dynasty coinage</span> Historical coinage of China

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jin–Song Wars</span> 1125–1234 Jurchen campaigns in China

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongol siege of Kaifeng</span> 1232–33 battle of the Mongol-Jin War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuan dynasty coinage</span> Historical coinage of China

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liao dynasty coinage</span> Historical coinage of China

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Song dynasty coinage</span> Coinage of the Chinese dynasty

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Xia coinage</span> Historical coinage of China

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qing dynasty coinage</span> Historical coinage of China

Qing dynasty coinage was based on a bimetallic standard of copper and silver coinage. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty was established in 1636 and ruled over China proper from 1644 until it was overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution in 1912. The Qing dynasty saw the transformation of a traditional cash coin based cast coinage monetary system into a modern currency system with machine-struck coins, while the old traditional silver ingots would slowly be replaced by silver coins based on those of the Mexican peso. After the Qing dynasty was abolished its currency was replaced by the Chinese yuan of the Republic of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaiyuan Tongbao</span>

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.

<i>Hongwu Tongbao</i> First cash coin to bear the name of a Ming Emperor

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhaona Xinbao</span> Chinese cash coin-like trust token

The Zhaona Xinbao is a special type of Southern Song dynasty cash coin developed as a propaganda and psychological warfare tool for recruiting defectors from the army of the Jurchen Jin dynasty around the year Shaoxing 1 under the reign of Emperor Gaozong. These special coins superficially resemble traditional Chinese cash coins but contain an inscription alluding to their intent, generally these Zhaona Xinbao tokens were made from bronze but in very rare cases they were also made from silver or gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhiqian</span>

Standard cash, or regulation cash coins, is a term used during the Ming and Qing dynasties of China to refer to standard issue copper-alloy cash coins produced in imperial Chinese mints according to weight and composition standards that were fixed by the imperial government. The term was first used for Hongwu Tongbao cash coins following the abolition of large denomination versions of this cash coin series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tieqian</span> Ancient coins of China, Japan and Vietnam

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.

References

Citations

  1. Alexander Kim Historical Studies of the Jurchen in Russia. Retrieved: 20 June 2017.
  2. Chinaknowledge.de An overview of the economic history of the Jurchen Jin dynasty. ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art About [Location: HOME > History > Jin > Economy] Retrieved: 18 June 2017.
  3. .pdf Silver and the Transition to a Paper Money Standard in Song Dynasty (960-1276) China. Archived October 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Richard von Glahn (UCLA) (For presentation at the Von Gremp Workshop in Economic and Entrepreneurial History.) University of California, Los Angeles, 26 May 2010 Retrieved: 17 June 2017.
  4. Robert M. Hartwell, “The Imperial Treasuries: Finance and Power in Sung China,” Bulletin of Sung-Yuan Studies 20 (1988).
  5. Hartill, 218. Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
  6. Jen, David: Chinese Cash, Identification and Price Guide. - Krause Publications, US. 2000. Page: 91.
  7. "Chinese coins – 中國錢幣 (Jurched/Jurchen Jin Dynasty)". Gary Ashkenazy / גארי אשכנזי (Primaltrek – a journey through Chinese culture). November 16, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  8. Numis' Numismatic Encyclopedia. A reference list of 5000 years of Chinese coinage. (Numista) Written on December 9, 2012 • Last edit: June 13, 2013 Retrieved: 17 June 2017
  9. Charms.ru Coincidences of Vietnam and China cash coins legends. Francis Ng, People’s Republic of China, Thuan D. Luc, United States, and Vladimir A. Belyaev, Russia March–June, 1999 Retrieved: 17 June 2017.
  10. Hartill, 221. State of Qi
  11. Franke & Twitchett 1994, p. 232.
  12. 东北儒生 (April 20, 2012). "东真兴宝 首次发现---龙泉公子" (in Chinese (China)). Sina Corp . Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  13. 星夜kan开原 (December 27, 2015). "东夏国钱币新发现(刘兴晔原创)" (in Chinese (China)). Sina Corp . Retrieved September 6, 2018.

Sources

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