“Yuan dynasty coinage”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol khanate that ruled over China from 1271 to 1368, after the Mongols conquered 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 (from previous Chinese dynasties), 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 Mongols started issuing their own copper coins largely based on older Jin dynasty models, though eventually the preferred Mongol currency became the Chāo and silver sycees, as coins would eventually fall largely into disuse.^[1]^[2] 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.^[3]

Inscriptions on the obverses of the coins appeared both in Traditional Chinese characters and 'Phags-pa script, and coins appeared in denominations of 2, 3, 5, and even 10 wén, the larger denominations led to a debasement of the currency which caused inflation.^[4]

Background

After the Mongol Empire began their campaigns against the Tanguts, Khitans, and Jurchens they started to cast their own copper cash coins with the inscription "Da Chao Tong Bao" ({{zh|t=大朝通寶}}), it is currently unknown if these coins were already cast under Genghis Khan or if production started under Kublai Khan during the Yuan dynasty as these coins are undocumented and rare. Production of Yuan dynasty copper coins with the "Zhong Tong Yuan Bao" (中統元寶) coins commissioned by Kublai Khan started concurrently with the issuance of paper money which was backed up by silver sycees.^[5]

Prior to the establishment of the Yuan dynasty, Möngke Khan created the Department of Monetary Affairs in 1253 to oversee the issuing and creation of paper money, this was to ensure that the nobility wouldn't cause more inflation by overprinting money.^[6] The Yuan dynasty would see the introduction of the bimetallic standard, copper would be used for short distance, and silver for long distance transactions.

History

Kublai Khan asked his advisor Liu Bingzhong about the usage of coinage and with a Yin and Yang metaphor Bingzhong claimed that no peace could exist within the Yuan empire if coins continued to be used and advised for the exclusive circulation of mulberry bark paper money.

The "Zhong Tong Yuan Bao" coins were only cast for 3 years (1260 to 1263), later coins would again be issued under Kublai Khan, but for the entire duration of Temür Khan coins were only symbolically cast for religious institutions. Under Külüg Khan the Yuan dynasty’s treasury was almost completely depleted which eventually led to Külüg Khan issuing a new banknote called the "Zhi Da Yin Chao" ({{linktext|至|大|銀|鈔}}) which coincided with the minting of "Zhi Da Tong Bao" (至大通寶) coins, which are the most commonly cast Yuan era coins. Under Külüg Khan the levels of inflation rose to 80% as the government kept printing more banknotes due, and in order to ensure the government’s control on the currency Külüg Khan banned the usage of silver and gold coins, and stopped the circulation of silver certificates in favour of fiat banknotes.^[7]

For 40 years the production of coins would not continue until the reign of Toghon Temür who started casting coins again in 1350 alongside his new series of banknotes. In 1350 chancellor Toqto'a attempted to reform the Yuan dynasty currency by printing out more paper money and creating large "Zhi Zheng Zhi Bao" (至正之寶) copper coins which were inscribed with the promise that these coins were backed in paper money, and that these would be in equal value. As the paper money was made out of inferior material it would often be easily damaged making it hard for the people to redeem, this led to rebellions in the southern regions which in turn caused the Yuan government to quickly print more money in order to finance its military expenditures, leading to a decreasing confidence in paper money causing hyperinflation. Eventually entire carts filled with banknotes were needed for simple transactions leading to the people disregarding paper money as currency and eventually barter had become the norm as coinage had already become a rarity.

After the rise of the Ming dynasty the Northern Yuan dynasty didn't continue to produce cash coins. The usage of paper currency under the Yuan further inspired other countries such as Korea, Japan, and various states of India to develop their own paper currencies.^[9]

List of coins issued

Coins issued by the Mongols before the creation of the Yuan include the "Da Chao Tong Bao" ({{linktext|大|朝|通|寶}}), "Da Guan Tong Bao" ({{linktext|大|觀|通|寶}}), "Tai He Tong Bao" ({{linktext|泰和重寶}}), and "Da Ding Tong Bao" ({{linktext|大|定|通|寶}}), these coins were all issued in the conquered lands of the former Jin dynasty and are subsequently known as frontier or border area coins. After the Song dynasty fell to the Mongols new coins started being issued.

List of coins issued by the Mongols during Yuan dynasty:^[10]^[11]^[12]{{efn|Chinese, and 'Phags-pa scripts would generally appear on the obverse of these coins, while Mongol script would appear on the reverse and would serve as a mint mark (and in one instance the Jurchen, Uighur, and Tangut scripts); Kublai Khan's Zhong Tong Yuan Bao (中統元寶) was the only coin that contained Seal script, all other Chinese inscriptions during the Mongol period were written in regular script}}

Rebel coinage

During the Red Turban rebellion organised by the White Lotus society; many of its leaders proclaimed their own kingdoms and empires that ruled over different regions of China, the most successful of these was Zhu Yuanzhang’s Ming dynasty which would unify China. Though the majority of these countries were short-lived some did produce their own coinage.^[14]

See also

Notes

References

1. ^ Dawson, Christopher. Mission to Asia: Narratives and Letter of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. New York (1955).
2. ^{{cite web|url= http://primaltrek.com/chinesecoins.html#yuan_dynasty|title= Chinese coins – 中國錢幣 |date=16 November 2016|accessdate=14 June 2017|work= Gary Ashkenazy / גארי אשכנזי (Primaltrek – a journey through Chinese culture)|language=en}}
3. ^{{cite book|author1=David Miles|author2=Andrew Scott|title=Macroeconomics: Understanding the Wealth of Nations|date=January 14, 2005|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-01243-7|pages=273}}
4. ^{{cite web|url= http://www.coinweek.com/expert-columns/mike-markowitz/coinweek-ancient-coin-series-coinage-mongols/ |title= CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series: Coinage of the Mongols.|date=22 May 2016|accessdate=14 June 2017|work= Mike Markowitz (CoinWeek)|language=en}}
5. ^ History-of-China.com com/yuan-dynasty/economic-of-yuan.html The Economic of Yuan Dynasty (sic) Retrieved: 14 June 2017.
6. ^{{cite web|url= https://www.boundless.com/world-history/textbooks/boundless-world-history-textbook/chinese-dynasties-997/the-yuan-dynasty-1010/trade-and-currency-under-the-yuan-1012-17614/|title= Trade and Currency under the Yuan|date=17 June 2014|accessdate=14 June 2017|work= Boundless|language=en}}
7. ^{{cite web|url= |title= The Yuan Dynasty — First Foreign-Ruled Era in China.|date=4 June 2017|work= China Highlights |language=en}}
8. ^{{Cite book | doi=10.1007/978-981-10-1793-3_8|chapter = Temple Coins of the Yuan Dynasty|title = The Language and Iconography of Chinese Charms| pages=149–161|year = 2016|last1 = Belyaev|first1 = Vladimir A.| last2=Sidorovich| first2=Sergey V.| isbn=978-981-10-1791-9}}
9. ^{{cite web|url= https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/currency4.htm|title= Money in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.|date=3 June 2017|accessdate=14 June 2017|work= Travel China Guide |language=en}}
10. ^ Mongolian Coins Yuan State Retrieved: 14 June 2017.
11. ^{{cite web|url= http://charm.ru/library/yuancoins.htm|title= Yuan Dynasty coins|date=2 August 1998|accessdate=14 June 2017|work= Vladimir A. Belyaev (Charms.ru) |language=en}}
12. ^ [https://en.numista.com/numisdoc/a-reference-list-of-5000-years-of-chinese-coinage-97.html A reference list of 5000 years of Chinese coinage. Numista] Date: 9 December 2012. Updated: 13 June 2013 Retrieved: 14 June 2017.
13. ^BabelStone by Andrew West (魏安) Zhida Tongbao. Wednesday, 10 January 2007. Retrieved: 20 June 2017.
14. ^ Tamar Lan Walker, Class of 2010 Wu Collection of Chinese Coinage. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. Retrieved: 20 June 2017.