In 976, Song Taizu died, and Taizu's younger brother Zhao Kuangyi ascended the throne in the name of the "Golden Chamber Alliance" and became Song Taizong. Taizong changed the Yuan Dynasty to bring peace and prosperity to the country, and cast Taiping Tongbao. According to the "History of Song Dynasty·Shihuo Zhi": "At the beginning, Taizong changed the Yuan Dynasty to Taiping and rejuvenated the country, and cast Taiping Tongbao. He recast it in Chunhua, and personally wrote Chunhua Yuanbao, making it Zhen, Xing, and Cao. Later, he changed the Yuan Dynasty and cast it again. They are all called Yuanbao, and they are given the title of the year. "
Taiping Tongbao was cast during the Taiping Xingguo period (976-984) of Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. Its shape is similar to that of Song and Yuan Tongbao. Points, bare back or with star and moon patterns, mainly made of copper small flat coins, and iron coins and iron mother coins. The formats include small flat, two-fold, five-fold and ten-fold. At that time, in Jianzhou, Fujian, Taiping Tongbao was also short-cast, with a star pattern on the back and a ten-shaped iron coin. Because of its short casting time, small casting quantity, and because it was made of iron, it is rare to survive. Taizong also cast gold and silver coins from the Taiping Tongbao Palace, both in genuine and official scripts, specifically for rewards. The gold Taiping Tongbao is in the collection of the National Museum of China; the silver Taiping Tongbao is occasionally seen by a famous collector in China.
Taiping Tongbao
After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, in the first year of Jianlong (960), Taizu cast "Song and Yuan Tongbao" coins. Because the country name "Song" was directly used on the coins, it was called "country name money". The fourth emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Renzong (reigned from March 23, 1022 to April 30, 1063), minted many types of "Huang Song Tong Bao", etc., which were also national coins. In 1979, a scrap material recycling station in Miyun County, Beijing, found a nine-fold seal script "Emperor Song Tong Bao" from the recycled scrap copper. Extremely strong, it is a national treasure-level coin treasure. The nine-fold seal script "Tong Bao of the Song Dynasty" is also collected by the China Numismatic Museum.
The Northern Song Dynasty was the peak of coin casting in Chinese history, with large quantities, various varieties, exquisite craftsmanship, and magnificent calligraphy. In 960, Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao mutinied to replace the Later Zhou Dynasty. He was Song Taizu, established the capital in Kaifeng, founded the Yuan Dynasty and Jianlong, and cast Song and Yuan Tongbao country coins. Tongbao from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, imitating Tongbao from the Kaiyuan period in shape, is profound and simple. In 976, Taizu passed away and Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, changed the Yuan Dynasty to Taiping and rejuvenated the country, and cast Taiping Tongbao coins. Since Taiping Tongbao, the casting of year-name coins and pairs of coins has become the system and tradition of the Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, year name coins were minted almost every time the year name was changed. Correct money originated in the Southern Tang Dynasty and developed in the Song Dynasty. Correct coins were minted in almost every year. According to statistics, during the reign of the Nine Emperors in the Northern Song Dynasty, the reign names were changed 35 times, and 27 kinds of year-name coins were minted. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty pioneered the practice of imperial writings on money in China, and personally inscribed the writings on money such as Taiping, Chunhua, and Zhidao. In the 21st year of his reign, Mao Zedong used five year names, and the year name money was cast in three year names, namely Taiping, Chunhua and Zhidao. Body money. In addition, Tiansheng Yuanbao, Mingdao Yuanbao, Jingyou Yuanbao and Huangsong Tongbao were cast in the Renzong Dynasty, and they are all in seal and regular script. Zhihe and Jiayou coins, as well as later Zhiping, Xining, Yuanfeng, Yuanyou and other year coins, are all in seal and regular script (Xing and Li).
The "Taiping Tongbao" seal script and official script coins cast in the first year of Taiping's Xingguo reign (976) were the first year-name coins in the Song Dynasty. Later, Taizong also cast "Chunhua Yuanbao" and "Chunhua Yuanbao". "Zhidao Yuanbao" two kinds of three-script year-name coins. Since then, throughout the Song Dynasty, almost every time a new emperor ascended the throne or the Yuan Dynasty was changed, coins with year titles were minted, which became the basic system and tradition of coin minting. What is particularly outstanding is that during the Renzong and Huizong periods, almost every era name was minted with era name coins. In the 41st year of Renzong's reign (1022-1063), he changed the Yuan Dynasty nine times, casting "Tian Sheng Yuan Bao", "Ming Dao Yuan Bao", "Jingyou Yuan Bao", "Kangding Yuan Bao", "Qingli Chong Bao", " There are ten kinds of year-name coins, including "Zhihe Yuanbao, Tongbao, Chongbao", "Jiayou Yuanbao, Tongbao".
Huizong Zhao Ji was the emperor who minted the most money for his reign in the Song Dynasty. During his twenty-five years in office, he successively minted "Jianguo Tongbao", "Jingguo Yuanbao", "Chongning Yuanbao, Tongbao and Chongbao". , "Daguan Tongbao", "Zhenghe Tongbao, Chongbao", "Chonghe Tongbao", "Xuanhe Yuanbao, Tongbao" and other eleven kinds of year name coins.
The longest period coin in the Northern Song Dynasty is the Tiansheng Yuanbao cast during the reign of Renzong Tiansheng and the "Xining Yuanbao, Tongbao, "Chongbao", the casting period is as long as ten years. The longest reign coin in the Southern Song Dynasty was Shaoxing Tongbao, which was cast during the Shaoxing reign of Emperor Gaozong (1131-1162), with a casting period of thirty-two years. The coins with the shortest casting period are "Jianguo Tongbao" (cast in 1101 by Huizong), "Jingguo Yuanbao" (cast in 1101 by Huizong), "Chonghe Tongbao" (cast in 1118 by Huizong) and "Kaiqing Tongbao" (cast in 1118 by Emperor Huizong). (cast in 1259 AD), because the reign name existed for a short time, the casting period was less than one year.
The reign name coins of the Song Dynasty profoundly influenced China's coin minting for more than a thousand years. After the Song Dynasty, almost all the money used by the mints of all dynasties were year-name money, and the year-name money became the mainstream currency circulation type in Chinese history. This is especially true for the coins of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Almost all emperors of the dynasty used coins with the same year number to circulate throughout the dynasty, such as Hongwu Tongbao and Wanli Tongbao in the Ming Dynasty, Kangxi Tongbao and Guangxu Tongbao in the Qing Dynasty, until the last emperor of China. The last square-hole coin "Xuantong Tongbao" cast during the Xuantong period (1909-1912) of Emperor Puyi was also the year coin.
In the Song Dynasty, there were many coins with non-year titles, including the "Song Yuan Tong Bao" from the Jianlong period, the "Huang Song Tong Bao" from the Baoyuan period, and the "Sheng Song Yuan Bao" from the Jingguo period in Jianzhong.
The Song Taizong seal script and the official script Taiping Tongbao have an irreplaceable position in the history of Chinese currency. Their casting and existence created a new era of coin development and had an impact on the coin casting of later generations. Profound. Without the shapes and facts of Taiping Tongbao seals, official script coins, and year name coins from the Taiping Xingguo period, there would be no Yushu coins in regular script, Xing, and Cao from Taizong's later Chunhua and Zhidao periods, and there would be no Zhenzong and Renzong coins. The coin shapes of Xiangfu Yuan, Tongbao, Tianxi Tongbao and Tiansheng Yuanbao of the dynasty. Because of the origin of the Taiping Tongbao Seal Script and Official Script coin forms, we now know that the entire Song Dynasty and even later dynasties have a gorgeous and magnificent chapter in the coinage.
The monetary economy of the Song Dynasty developed comprehensively, creating a new historical period in which copper coins were the main currency and copper, silver, and banknotes were used in parallel. The coins of the Song Dynasty are very unique and can serve as a link between the past and the future. They play an important role in the history of Chinese coins. The establishment, development and formation of the system of money, royal book money and reign name money have made great achievements in the past and opened up the future, and played a leading and exemplary role in the coin minting of subsequent dynasties.
The coin casting industry in the Song Dynasty has obvious characteristics. It is common to cast royal book coins, fashionable coin coins and three-body coins, and popular coin coins with country names and era names. There are also coins personally produced by the emperors and literary giants of the dynasty. It is a cultural event to write the Qianwen of the year name. In the more than 300 years from Taizu of the Northern Song Dynasty to Du Zong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Nine Emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty used thirty-five year names and minted twenty-seven kinds of year-name coins in one hundred and sixty-seven years. Thousands of editions and varieties. They are Taiping, Chunhua, Zhidao, Xianping, Jingde, Dazhong Xiangfu, Tianxi, Tiansheng, Mingdao, Jingyou, Kangding, Qingli, Zhihe, Jiayou, Zhiping, Xining, Yuanfeng, Yuanyou, Shaosheng, Yuanfu, Jianzhong Jingguo, Chongning, Daguan, Zhenghe, Chonghe, Xuanhe, Jingkang. The Southern Song Dynasty also had nine emperors. In the 152nd year, the year name was changed twenty times, and nineteen types of year name coins were minted, namely Jianyan, Shaoxing, Longxing, Qiandao, Chunxi, Chunxi, and Shaoxi. , Qingyuan, Jiatai, Kaixi, Jiading, Baoqing, Shaoding, Duanping, Jiaxi, Chunyou, Kaiqing, Jingding and Xianchun. During the 317 years of the Song Dynasty's rule (960-1276), forty-six types of year-name coins were minted, almost throughout the entire dynasty. The Xianchun Yuanbao cast during the Xianchun period of Duzong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1263-1274) was the last era name coin of the Song Dynasty. After that, the Yuan army invaded the Southern Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty was destroyed. The other three short-lived emperor's era names were not He died young when he couldn't make money.
Characteristics of coins in the Song Dynasty. Qian inscriptions mostly use the word "宝". In addition to following the "Baowen coins" of the Tang Dynasty, Yuanbao, Tongbao and Chongbao, there are also "Tianbao", "Zhenbao", "Zhenbao" and "Chongbao". Coin inscriptions on coins such as "Yongbao", "Wanbao", "Xingbao" and "Zhibao". The coins and inscriptions on coins of the Song Dynasty include not only the personal letters of elegant emperors, but also the contributions of cultural masters. They can be colorful.
Starting from Taizong Taiping Tongbao and Chunhua Yuanbao, with the participation of emperors Zhenzong, Huizong, and Gaozong, as well as literary greats such as Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, and Sima Guang, seal script, running script, cursive script, regular script, and official script were all available, as well as ancient seal script. Competing with the most beautiful calligraphy styles such as Nine-fold Seal Script, it formed the mainstream calligraphy art of the Song Dynasty. It condensed and fixed the development stage of Chinese calligraphy art and characters, penetrated into thousands of households, and has continued to influence today.
Taizong Taiping Tongbao Li and seal script coins of Song Dynasty ushered in an era of coin development in China. Its importance in the history of currency is like the Baowen coin Kaiyuan Tongbao in the fourth year of Tang Wude (621), which replaced the baht and liang coin era in which weight was the name of the coin. After the Song Dynasty, China minted coins, three-body coins, imperial books coins and year-name coins for the first time, and formed traditions and systems, which together became the outline coins of an important period in China's monetary history. If there were no Taiping Tongbao official and seal script coins, the coins of China's Song Dynasty and the coins of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties after the Song Dynasty would not be what they are now, but another form of evolution and development.