Zhouyuan Tongbao

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Guo Wei, a native of Yaoshan, Xingzhou, founded the Later Zhou state in Dongjing (東京, present-day Kaifeng, Henan Province) in 951.[5] In 954, Guo Wei's adopted son Chai Rong succeeded to the throne, in Chinese historiography he is referred to Emperor Zhou Shizong, and adopted reign era to Xiande (顯德).[5] During this period, there was a shortage of bronze cash coins in circulation in Later Zhou making private transactions were very difficult.[5]

The Zhouyuan Tongbao commenced production in the year Xiande 2 (顯德二年), February 955 AD (using the Gregorian calendar), during the reign of Emperor Shizong and was the first cash coin produced by the Later Zhou dynasty.[6] It is said that Emperor Shizong himself would supervise their casting at the many large furnaces at the back of the palace.[7]

The Later Zhou dynasty was heavily in debt and in order to try to pay off the government's debts, Emperor Shizong started a campaign to procure enough copper for the production of cash coins.[8] As copper was scarce during the Later Zhou period, the government tried confiscate enough bronze to cash coins to be able to pay for government expenditures and a number of policies were enacted, initially Emperor Shizong prohibited households from holding bronze utensils and later the Later Zhou would confiscate the assets of Buddhist temples to produce bronze cash coins.[9][10]

The imperial government of the Later Zhou dynasty re-melted Buddhist bronze statues from 3356 temples to produce bronze coins.[9] This decision was not just opposed by the Buddhists but also by his advisors, including both civil and military mandarins.[11] When reproached for this, the emperor claimed that Gautama Buddha himself would not mind this sacrifice.[7]

Generally speaking, cash coins produced from the Warring States period until the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty were made of bronze, but because the Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins were cast from melted Buddhist statues, which are typically brass, they contain higher levels of zinc that other coinages from this period.[9] Though zinc was present in these coins, the quantity remains quite low overal with values of zinc up to 2–4%.[9]

Because they were believed to have spiritual powers inherited from the Buddhist statues, these coins were subsequently much-copied throughout Chinese history, these copies are popularly known as "folk coins" (民俗錢) and are believed to have the same spiritual powers as the original coins.[12][9]

The design and calligraphy of the Zhouyuan Tongbao very closely resembles those of the Kaiyuan Tongbao series of cash coins produced during the Tang dynasty period.[6] It is a typical bronze Xiaoping Qian (小平錢) in size and weight, and its inscription is written using clerical script.[6] The second stroke of the "Yuan" (元) character is written "picked from the left" ("元"字第二筆左挑).[lower-alpha 2][6]

The reverse side of the Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins sometimes have moon (crescent), star (dot), or star-moon (crescent and dot) patterns.[6] The star (dot) patterns are either left, right, up or down, and the moon patterns are not always in the same place, they are either up or down, left or right, or near a corner.[6] According to Chinese economic historian Zhao Dexin (赵德馨), the moon (crescent) on the back of every coin seems to represent one of the eight trigrams.[6] Therefore, it is said that the moon (crescent) patterns found on Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins are closely related to the five elements, yin and yang, new life, and the beginning of the day (further reading: "Han dynasty coinage § "Yin Yang" and the "Five Elements" as the basis for Star, Moon, Cloud, and Dragon symbols on ancient Chinese coins and charms").[6]

Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins generally have a diameter of about 24 mm to 25 mm, with the largest recorded one being 25.8 mm, and the smallest one being only 22.6 mm.[13] They typically weigh between 3 and 4 grams, with the heaviest recorded one being 4.6 grams, and the lightest one being only 2.9 grams.[13]

Type and description	Catalogue numbers	Image
Reverse: Plain.[7]	Hartill #15.12, Schjøth #414
Reverse: Crescent located above.[7]	Hartill #15.13
Reverse: Crescent located at the upper right side.[7]	Hartill #15.14, FD #767&c, Schjøth #419&c
Reverse: Crescent located right of the square central hole.[7]	Hartill #15.15
Reverse: Crescent located at the lower right side.[7]	Hartill #15.16
Reverse: Crescent located at the bottom.[7]	Hartill #15.17
Reverse: Crescent located at the lower left side.[7]	Hartill #15.18
Reverse: Crescent located left of the square central hole.[7]	Hartill #15.19
Reverse: Crescent located at the upper left side.[7]	Hartill #15.20
Reverse: Crescent below, dot left.[7]	Hartill #15.21, FD #768
Reverse: Crescent above, dot below.[7]	Hartill #15.22, Schjøth #427
Reverse: Dot above.[7]	Hartill #15.23, FD #764
Reverse: Dot below.[7]	Hartill #15.24
Reverse: Dot right.[7]	Hartill #15.25, Schjøth #426
Obverse: Dot below tong (通).[7]	Hartill #15.26
Inscription repeated upside down on the reverse side.[7]	Hartill #15.27, FD #769

Catalogue numbers

• Hartill = Cast Chinese Coins by David Hartill. Trafford, United Kingdom: Trafford Publishing. September 22, 2005. ISBN 978-1412054669.
• FD = Fisher's Ding (丁), George A. Fisher's copy of Ding Fubao's (丁福保) original work catalogue, 1980, 251 pages.
• Schjøth = "Chinese Currency, Currency of the Far East - A Comprehensive Text Chou Dynasty, 1122 B.C.–255 B.C. Through Ch'ing Dynasty 1644 A.D.–1911 A.D." by Fredrik Schjøth and Virgil Hancock, Oslow, Norway, 1929.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period the method employed to produce cash coins was known as the "sand casting method" (翻砂法), which was a technique where cash coins were cast using vertically arranged two-piece moulds.[29] This technique allowed a large number of cash coins to be produced in batches.[29]

In the sand casting method the preparation of moulds was done with fine sand which was reinforced using an organic binder, and placed inside of a wooden box.[29] Consistency of the designs was maintained through the creation of "mother coins" (母錢).[29][30] Around 50 to 100 "mother coins" were pressed lightly into the surface of the mould box and was followed by the placing down of a second mould box on top of the first one.[29] This allowed for an impression to be taken of both sides of the pattern of the mother coin.[29] After the impression was taken the mould boxes would be turned over and separated, which would allow the mother coin to stay placed on the surface or the lower mould.[29] A new fresh mould box would subsequently be laid on top and this allowed the pair to be turned and separated again. Using this methodology, the mint workers obtained a series of two-piece moulds.[29] Afterwards, the casting channels between the cash coin imprints and a central tunnel were cleared out, allowing the boxes to be fixed together in pairs of two. The final step involved the pouring in of molten metal.[29]

When the process was done and the metal was allowed to cool down a "coin tree" was formed, from this "coin tree" the cash coins could be separated and cleaned up.[29][31]

• In March 1997, on the bank of the Hun river in Qingshuihe County, Inner Mongolia, a jar of cash coins weighing 7 kilograms was unearthed.[32] The jar contained over 30 Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins among other coins, with the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty period Dading Tongbao (大定通寶) being the latest.[32] The cash coins stored in the jar are well preserved because they were buried in an arid and less rainy area.[33]

• Kangxi Tongbao, also known as "Arhat money".

• Hartill, David (2005). Cast Chinese Coins. Trafford, UK.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Hartill, David (2020). Cast Chinese Amulets.

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