![]() He also divided all currency between gold/silver: 上币 shàng bì and bronze: 下币 xià bì. This shape of coin remained in use up to the 20th century. It had a standard weight in the form of a round disc with a square hole. The Qin dynasty Emperor Shihuangdi standardized money, along with everything else, when he introduced the 半 两 bàn liǎng ‘half tael’ (equivalent to 12 铢 zhū) coin. Image by mc559 ➚ available under a Creative Commons license ➚ ![]() Another form used in the Warring States period was round money: 圆 钱 yuán qián with a round hole, probably modeled on jade 璧 bì rings. Initially bronze replicas of cowrie shells were produced before a change of design to produce castings of small spades ( 布币 bù bì) and knives ( 刀币 dāo bì). The individual coin molds were interconnected in the form of a 'coin tree'. As many as 80 coins were cast at a time using a mold made of clay, stone, brass or sand. Advanced Chinese bronze workmanship provided the technology for the accurate casting of coins. It was back in the Western Zhou dynasty that China started using metal coins. Image by Zhou Yi, Dser available under a Creative Commons license ➚ Cash coins Bu coins (spade money) of the Zhou Dynasty, China. Cowrie shells continued to be used in remote south western areas up to the Ming dynasty. As they are rare, cannot be forged and do not occur in China the amount of money was tightly controlled. The shells probably came from either the South China Sea or the Indian Ocean. The character is used as a radical in the Chinese words for jiàn 贱 (cheap worthless) 贵 guì (precious expensive honorable) 买 mǎi (buy) 卖 mài (sell) sì 赐 (bestow) and cái 财 (riches valuables). The cowrie can still seen in characters for precious things Bèi 贝 means shells or valuables. The provinces in China's far north-west are very dry and receive very little rainfall.Ĭowrie shells were used as currency as far back as the Shang dynasty.
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