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The cash or qian was a type of coin of China and the Sinosphere, used from the 4th century BCE until the 20th century, characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole (Chinese: 方穿; pinyin: fāng chuān; Jyutping: fong1 cyun1; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hong-chhoan).
Chinese coins were usually made from mixtures of metals such copper, tin and lead, from bronze, brass or iron: precious metals like gold and silver were uncommonly used. The ratios and purity of the coin metals varied considerably. Most Chinese coins were produced with a square hole in the middle.
These cash coins have the character Fu (Chinese: 福; pinyin: fú) on the reverse in reference to Fuzhou. They are made of lead. Wang Shenzhi: Yonglong Tongbao: 永隆通寶: yǒnglóng tōng bǎo: These iron cash coins have the character Min (Chinese: 閩; pinyin: mǐn) on the reverse and comes from the Fujian region. There is a crescent below.
However, the most distinctive feature or characteristic of this Wu Zhu cash coin is the center hole which is not square in shape unlike the far majority of other Chinese cash coins. Most non-square center holes are actually the result of insufficient molten bronze flowing to certain parts of the coin mould. The borders of the holes, in these ...
A notable characteristic is that the outer rim on Kangxi Tongbao cash coins on both sides of the coin tend to be quite wide, in contrast to that of the square center hole (方穿, fāng chuān). Apart from the two mints in the capital city of Beijing operated by the central government, many provincial mints operated intermittently.
Historically, Chinese coins were round with a square hole in the center. On the obverse side, there are usually words indicating the emperor's reign name or era name. On the reverse side, there are words or graphic patterns often indicating denomination or a mint mark. It is also possible that there is nothing on the reverse side.
From 350 BC onwards, round coins started to be used. The round coins from the areas that previously used spade money, had round holes in their center. The round coins from the knife money areas typically had square holes. There are only two coins known to be exceptions to this general rule. [citation needed]
The hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coin's low value. The number of coins in a string of cash (simplified Chinese: 一贯钱; traditional Chinese: 一貫錢; pinyin: yīguàn qián) varied over time and place but was nominally 1000. [4]