Most of the empty first coins have words on the front, some indicate weight, some indicate dry branches or place names, and some have no words. In the Warring States period, the currency changed suddenly, from the first empty coin to a flat entity, and its shape became smaller and smaller. Coins are mostly fabricated place names, and calligraphy has developed from inscriptions on bronze to seal script, which is called "Pingshou Coin". Shou Ping's currency has exquisite modeling, beautiful and changeable characters and convenient use, which has made great progress compared with the currency before the Spring and Autumn Period.
The Origin of Ancient Currency Square Hole
Copper coins were used in ancient China. Copper coins, big or small, have a square hole. It turned out that the shape of copper coins was mainly determined by the production method of copper coins at that time. Previous copper coins were all melted, and the outline of copper coins was always irregular. In order to make the circumference of copper coins neat, it is necessary to file them flat. However, it takes a lot of time to file a copper coin at a time. So I made a hole in the copper coin, put 100 copper coins on a stick and filed them at a time. But if the hole is round, the copper coin will turn back and forth, which is not easy to file. So, the craftsmen made holes in the middle square and put them in the square stick to file, so that the copper coins would not turn.
The Origin of the Alias of Currency "Obstacle"
"Adu" is the common language of the Six Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, which is equivalent to "this" in modern Chinese. "Jin Shu Wang Yan Chuan" contains: Wang Yan is extremely lofty and hates money, and never says a word "money". His wife Guo tried many times to force him to say the word "money", but all failed. One night, while Wang Yan was asleep, the Guo family had a whim and asked the maid to quietly fill the bed with strings of copper coins, so that Wang Yan could not get out of bed after waking up, in an attempt to force him to say the word "money". Unexpectedly, Rebecca woke up the next morning. Seeing this, he called the maid, pointed to the money in front of the bed and said, "Take the blockage away." "A plug (this thing)" has therefore become another name for "money" and has a contemptuous meaning.
The origin of "Yuanbao"
Yuanbao has two meanings. An ancient coin in China. More castings were cast in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The word "Yuanbao" is often preceded by the year number, dynasty and so on. , and on the face of money. It was named after the Tang Dynasty misread "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" as "Kaiyuanbao". Later generations gradually called coins ingots. The name of Yuanbao was first used by Tang Suzong in the sixth year of Gan Yuan (AD 758), and "Deyi Yuanbao" and "Shuntian Yuanbao" were cast by Shi Siming in Luoyang. Later, when the clan changed, there was the "Dali Yuanbao". After the Tang Dynasty, the coins minted in past dynasties were not called Bao Tong, but called Yuanbao. The second kind refers to the gold and silver ingots cast into horseshoes in the old society of China. Silver ingots are called "Yin Bao" and "horseshoe silver" and circulate as money. Dayuanbao weighs about 50 taels each, and most of them are cast by local silver furnaces. The name of the silversmith and the date and place of casting are cast on the ingot. In terms of color, there are Zuyin, Ersibao, Erwubao, Erliubao and Erqibao. Gold ingots are generally preserved and rarely circulated.
China's currency has a history of four or five thousand years. Due to the different texture and shape of money, the units and names of measurement are also different. The use of "yuan" as a currency bit began in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the most popular currency "Silver Circle" in Europe and America began to be introduced to China, and the most popular one was Mexican Silver Circle, which was also called Eagle Ocean because of its eagle pattern. Named for its texture "silver" and shape, one of them is called round. The word "circle" is not only the name of currency, but also the name of unit. For the convenience of writing, people later borrowed the homophonic "yuan" to replace it. Since then, although a variety of currencies have been used, the monetary unit "yuan" has been used.