Ads
related to: chinese coin with square hole
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The cash or qian was a type of coin of China and the Sinosphere, used from the 4th century BCE until the 20th century CE, 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).
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.
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.
The Chinese word for "bat" sounds similar to that of "happiness", the square hole in the center of a cash coin is referred to as an "eye" (眼, yǎn), and the Chinese word for "coin" (錢, qián) has almost the same pronunciation as "before" (前, qián). This combination can be interpreted as "happiness is before your eyes".
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.
Bronze mold for minting banliang coins, Warring States period (c. 475 – 221 BC), state of Qin, from an excavation in Qishan County, Baoji, Shaanxi. The banliang (Chinese: 半兩; pinyin: bànliǎng) was the first unified currency of in imperial Chinese history, first minted as early as 378 BC and introduced by the first emperor Qin Shi Huang as China's first unified currency around 210 BC [1 ...
However, this "Spade coin" is actually a traditional Chinese cash coin (having a round shape with a square centre hole). [4] The Bu Quan cash coins were known later as the Nan Qian (Chinese: 男錢; pinyin: nán qián; lit. 'Male Cash'), from the belief that if a woman wore this on her sash, she would give birth to a boy. [2]
The design of the standard Chinese cash coin was round, while it had a square centre hole that allowed them to be strung together. [1] The inner rim as well as the outer rim of the cash coin was slightly elevated, and on the obverse side of the coin was the era name (or reign motto) of the reigning emperor, during the Ming dynasty the reverse side of their cash coins tended to be blank, while ...