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Five baht in the Western Han Dynasty
In view of the serious consequences such as the chaos of the currency system and the rebellion in Wu Chu caused by the loss of control of coinage, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty carried out six monetary reforms during his reign, which completely solved the currency problem that had not been solved since the beginning of the Han Dynasty.
in the first year of jianyuan (14 BC), emperor Wu of the Han dynasty paid three baht, which was as heavy as his words. This is a measure to restore the nominal value of copper coins to the legal weight. However, due to the equivalent use of three baht money and half a penny of four dollars, it led to the prevalence of stolen casting, so in the spring of the fifth year of Jianyuan, "three baht money was wasted and half a penny was used." In the fourth year of the inaugural ceremony of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (119 BC), three baht coins were minted again, leather coins and platinum (silver) coins were made, and the death penalty order for stealing coins was also issued.
the fourth monetary reform began in the fifth year of the inaugural ceremony of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (118 BC). This reform is just "wasting three baht and casting five baht instead". The form of five baht money has certain regulations, and the "five baht" in Qian Wen has been put into use since then. Five baht money is moderate in weight, which meets the requirements of ancient social and economic development and price level for monetary units. Therefore, it was cast in the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shu, Wei, Jin, Nanqi, Liang, Chen, Northern Wei and Sui after Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, which lasted for 739 years. It is the longest and most successful longevity money in Chinese history. In the Western Han Dynasty, there were five baht in the county, five baht in the red (side), five baht in the three officials, five baht in Xuan Di, five baht in small, five baht in gold and so on.
On the eve of the birth of five baht coins, the market was in chaos because half a penny was on the verge of collapse, and governments at all levels competed with businessmen for profits, all of them desperately minted money, which led to excessive inflation, rapid decline in the purchasing power of coins and soaring prices. People can't survive, give up production one after another, go into exile, and make a living by selling labor; Or take risks, join the ranks of private casting, and hope to earn huge profits. In the early years of Emperor Wudi, nearly 1, people died because of private casting, while those who died in private struggle and committed suicide for fear of sin could not be counted, which shows that the problem is very serious.
in the fifth year of yuan inaugural, emperor Wu of the Han dynasty ordered all counties and countries to cast five baht, which was called five baht of county, also called five baht of yuan inaugural. Qian Wen is a "five baht" with a small seal script and a bare back, with wheels on the front and no Guo on the back. Money is about 2.5 cm in diameter and weighs about 3.5-4 grams. The "five" character is oblique and straight or curved; The "Zhu" prefix of the word "Zhu" is square-folded, and the "Jin" prefix is small, like an arrow. There is a horizontal line on a small amount of money. Its material is changed to red copper, so it is known as purple money. However, the technical level is different in different places, the composition of copper mines is different, and the degree of officials' understanding of orders is difficult to be consistent with their attitude, so the money cast is very different. Some of them are the same as the old Han Dynasty, with flat backs and no wheels, some with large perforations, thin meat and thick meat. Generally speaking, all of them have the phenomenon that cutting corners is not enough to weigh five baht, and the more they are cast, the lighter they are, and the worse they are, and they have the phenomenon of repeating the mistakes of half two or three baht. The main purpose of the government's change to five baht is to establish credibility, stabilize finance, make private casting unprofitable and give up illegal activities on their own, so as to completely solve the problem of private casting. Officials in various counties and countries, because old habits are hard to change, still join hands to enrich themselves. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted the suggestions of ministers and ministers, and in the second year of Yuan Ding (115 BC), he recovered the right to coin coins from all counties and countries, which were uniformly minted and issued by the central government, thus preventing another flood of bad coins.
after emperor Wu of the Han dynasty recovered the right to coin money, the central government of emperor Wu of the Han dynasty unified the casting of money. Three officials and five baht were cast at this time. The money is beautifully made, with neat edges, accurate weight and beautiful Qian Wen, which is a model for money. The "three officials" refer to Zhong Guan, copper discrimination and both lose (skills), and collectively refer to the government's institutions that cast money. In order to promote the law of equal loss, the central government has set up a new official, a captain of Shuiya, to work in Shanglinyuan, Chang 'an. Shanglin Garden, a government-funded institution, is a royal garden expanded from the old garden in the Qin Dynasty in the early Han Dynasty. It has 7 detached palaces with a surrounding area of more than 3 miles, including Xi 'an, Zhouzhi and Huxian today.
The characteristics of the five-baht money of Shanglin Sanguan are as follows:
First, Qian Wen is strict in rules. The word "five baht" is slender and beautiful, and its style is relatively consistent. The word "five" is slowly curved, and the junction of the upper and lower strokes and the two horizontal strokes is slightly inward. The "gold" head of the word "baht" has two types: triangle and arrowhead, and the square with four points is shorter. The prefix of "Zhu" is square, the drooping pen is basically round, the head and tail are flush with the word "Jin", and the stroke thickness is the same.
second, the money is neat, with a diameter of 25-25.5 mm, a wearing diameter of about .97 cm, a Guo thickness of .15-.2 cm and a width of .1-.14 cm, which is slightly wider than the Guo with five baht in the county, deep and flat, and the side connecting the money and meat is vertical. There are inner and outer Guo on the back, and the corners of some inner Guo are slightly convex.
3. Most people weigh 3.5-4 grams, and a few people weigh more than 4 grams.
fourth, the casting worker is fine, the surface and back are relatively flat, the width of the inner and outer Guo is uniform, and the rules are neat.
five, there are two kinds of marks: the upper horizontal and the lower half star.
The color of the six-and three-official five-baht coins is red, and the copper content is over 7%, and the lead content is about 2%, which is slightly lower than that of the five-baht coins in the county, but the proportion is reasonable and the physical properties are good.
The casting technology of Shanglin Sanguan Wuzhu coins is advanced, and most of them are made of copper molds or extremely fine clay molds. The characteristics of the shape of the three official coins and the square folding of the word "Zhu" were inherited from the three baht coins, and then became the basic characteristics of the five baht coins in the Western Han Dynasty. Three officials and five baht in Shanglin is one of the five baht coins in the Western Han Dynasty. In the 195s and 196s, the Institute of Archaeology of China Academy of Sciences and other units successively excavated han group in Shaogou and Xijiao of Luoyang, and unearthed a large number of coins of the Han Dynasty. Shanglin Sanguan Wuzhu was unearthed in two Han tombs.
The unified handling of coin business by the three government offices has many advantages: first, it makes coins standardized and regular; Second, improve the technical level of casting money; Third, the production capacity is increased; Fourth, effectively prevent private casting; Fifth, it is easy to control distribution.
The initial weight of the three official coins exceeded five baht, and the production was exquisite as never before. Moreover, the coin casting technology adopted the copper model method, and the weight of the coins cast was consistent and absolutely up to standard. The edges of the coins cast were polished and very neat, so it was called "red money". After the new money was cast, the government used it to exchange the county money, one against five bad money. By the fourth year of Yuanding (117 BC), most of the bad money had been recovered, and then it was explicitly forbidden to circulate the county money forever.
Thirty-one years after the release of the five baht, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty collapsed. During this period, a lot of money was cast, and the paradigm of money also changed. For example, there are differences in the size of the characters and the structure of calligraphy. As for wearing the first half moon, the second half star, the upper and lower horizontal, the star and the moon, and the four decisive texts, they may be the signs of the furnace.
During the reign of Emperor Zhao of the Western Han Dynasty (86 BC-74 BC), everything was cautious and prudent, and the foreign war was almost over, while domestic production was encouraged, and the economic situation was even better than that of the last year of Emperor Wu. The size of Zhaodi's five baht is the same as that of Wudi's three officials and five baht, but its weight is lighter than that of the three officials and five baht, and generally it is slightly heavier than that of Xuan Di. From the point of calligraphy, Qian Wen's "five" character has changed greatly, and the general shape is slender. The intersection of the two sides of the "five" character has become curved, and the ends of the two strands have obvious convergence, and the upper and lower ones are longer and connected to the outer Guo; The word "Zhu" in "Zhu" has a square prefix and a triangle beside the word "Jin", which is obviously lower than the word "Zhu". The outside of the face is higher and narrower, but slightly lower than the five baht of the county and the five baht of the three officials, and there are signs of wearing a horizontal or wearing a half star. The copper color is deep red, and the casting technology is slightly rougher than the three official coins.
following emperor Zhao, Xuan Di reigned for twenty-four years (73-49 BC), which was the golden age of the western Han dynasty, with a clean administration, peaceful country and people, and a prosperous year. At the same time, international trade is also very developed, and it is also the highest peak of the Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, every year, money is cast, which is quickly issued and quickly returned to the state treasury. At the end of Xuan Di, there were more than 8 billion yuan in the treasury. Xuan Di five baht was cast during the reign of Emperor Xuandi of Han Dynasty. The copper, shape, calligraphy and casting of the money have reached perfection. Qian Wen's strokes are tall and straight, giving people a sense of comeliness and detachment. The Chinese character "Wu" crosses the pen and bends, and the vertical horizontal drawing exceeds the end of the pen. The head of "Zhu" is mostly isosceles triangle and lower than the word "Zhu". In addition, there is another feature, that is, the outer part of the money slopes from the outside to the inside. There are two kinds of money: 2.5 mm and 2.6 mm in diameter. The most common one is 1.5 cm thick, 1 cm wide and weighs about 3.5 grams, and the face is about 1.5-2 cm thick. This kind of money is the widest among the five baht in the Han Dynasty. Its shape is neat, the meat surface is smooth, the inside and outside of the money is slightly higher than that of the money meat, and the thickness is consistent. Xuan Di's coin casting is famous for its neatness and honesty, and it occupies a very high position in the Western Han Dynasty.
The small five baht was first cast in the fourth year of Yuan Ding, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (113 BC). It is commonly known as "chicken-eye money" and "goose-eye money", hence its name. Among the coins unearthed in the Western Han Dynasty, there are small five-baht coins recorded in the documents of the Han Dynasty, which are from tombs or sites in the Western Han Dynasty. Among them, the one unearthed in the No.1 burial pit of Du Ling, Emperor Xuandi of the Han Dynasty, is an example with an exact date.
the small five-baht facial writing "five baht" is exquisitely cast, with Zhou Guo on the surface, but no good Guo, good meat on the back, and clear characters. Money has a diameter of 1.15-1.2cm and weighs about .62-.65g.. Qian Wen's calligraphy style is also different from that of Emperor Wudi, Emperor Zhaodi and Emperor Xuandi. Some of the "five" characters are straight, some are slightly curved, and some are very curved. In shape, some of them wear horizontal paintings like three official money styles, and they are also like the most common type of five baht without Guo in the face. This shows that the small five baht was not cast in one time, but was also cast in various periods of the Western Han Dynasty after Emperor Wu, just like the ordinary five baht. As far as the unearthed situation is concerned, especially from the burial pit of Emperor Xuandi of Han Dynasty, the small five baht are scattered among ten large pottery figurines in a string, which shows that this is money for money, not money for use.
Five baht money for cutting wheels is also called "grinding five baht" and "cutting five baht". When Emperor Wu first cast five baht, he "made the state of Zhou its quality" to prevent the traitors from grinding copper from the back of the money and melting it. However, in the late Western Han Dynasty, there appeared another kind of shearing wheel with five baht for edging, which was a kind of coin that lost weight by grinding ordinary five baht. In fact, this kind of five baht is the most appropriate one.
In the late Western Han Dynasty, when he became an emperor and mourned for the emperor, the social contradictions were sharp, famine followed, and the monetary system was also chaotic, so it was time to cut the five baht.
Shearing five baht is a product of the chaotic era of currency system, which has been unearthed in Shaogou of Luoyang and the Western Han tombs excavated in the west of Luoyang.
In p>198, a gold five-baht coin was found under Tuyuan in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. The coin was 2.6 cm in diameter, .2 mm in thickness and 9 grams in weight. The front and back were covered with Guo, and the front outer Guo was slightly wider than the back, with a square face and horizontal paintings on it. The script of "Five baht" is neat and neat, the intersection of "Five" is curved, the upper and lower horizontal lines are longer, the prefix of "Zhu" of "Zhu" is square folded, and the prefix of "Gold" is triangular, beautifully made and golden in color, which is a rare and rare treasure.
Five baht coins in the Western Han Dynasty have been used for more than 7 years, starting from the fifth year of the inaugural ceremony of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and ending in the Sui Dynasty.
(2) Five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty
(Five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty)
In 25 AD, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, with Luoyang as the capital, which was the first year of Yanwu. The Eastern Han Dynasty has just been established, with weak economic foundation and social unrest. Half a tael of money, five baht in the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang's Huoquan and Daquan's 5 were mixed in folk circulation. It was not until the sixteenth year of Yanwu (AD 4) that the five baht money was recast. Since then, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty have cast five baht. However, for a long time from Guangwudi to Ming Di and Zhangdi, the five baht money did not change significantly, and ancient money experts called the five baht money cast in the early Eastern Han Dynasty "Yan Di Wu Ba". With the passage of time, the political and economic situation is constantly changing. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, especially in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, inflation was serious and people lived in poverty. In order to save the economic crisis, the ruling class changed the "four essays" to five baht in the third year of Lingdi Zhongping (AD 186). What's more, when he was in Xian Di, Dong Zhuozhu was penniless, which made the originally chaotic currency system even more out of control.
The History of Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han Dynasty says: "After the initial Wang Mang rebellion, money was mixed with cloth, silk, gold and millet." Yanwu began to pay five baht in the sixteenth year. The five baht money recovered at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, also known as "Yanwu Five baht", was cast by Ma Yuan during Yanwu period.
After Jianwu, the five-baht money of each dynasty was thinner than that of each dynasty in the Western Han Dynasty. The diameter of the money was mostly 2.5 cm, weighing 3.4-3.4 grams, and the thickness was about .1 cm, which was generally 3 grams, and the outer border was narrow. The word "five baht" is wide, round and soft, with thick and shallow strokes. The middle of the word "five" is curved, and the upper and lower parts can't be crossed. The prefix "gold" of the word "five baht" is triangular, which is larger than that of the Western Han Dynasty, and the word "gold" is longer at four points. The prefix "Zhu" is round, straight in the middle and thin at both ends; Exquisite production, standardized writing style. Copper is light red, and there are various marks, such as stars, horizontal paintings and vertical paintings. "Star" has the difference between one star and many stars, or semi-circular points, or triangular points. According to its position, there are stars, stars and stars, and there are also horizontal stars and stars. Many stars line up in rows. Generally speaking, these marked five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty are lighter and thinner than those without marks, and the casting process is relatively rough, with shallow words and yellow copper. Many of them may have been cast in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.
The five-baht cast during the Jianwu period has been handed down from generation to generation as a proof. Since then, the five-baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty has been folded horizontally and roundly. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, except for the "Jianwu Five-baht", there is a bronze model box handed down from ancient times to judge it. After Ming Di, it is difficult to distinguish the specific age. Fortunately, through the staging of the five baht unearthed from the Han tomb in Shaogou, Luoyang, it can be concluded that wearing or wearing the five baht with the word "Ping" (called "Ping Dang Five baht") should also belong to this period. But its period is late, and the lower limit may have entered the Three Kingdoms. "Five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty" is one of the five baht coins left over.
"four out of five baht" is also called "four out of money". The so-called "four exits" means that the money curtain leads a straight line from the four corners of the square hole to the outside, which may be a preventive technology to prevent the money from stealing copper. In the third year of Zhongping, the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 186), the "four out of five baht" was better than the general "five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty", and the weight of money was heavier. It is 2.5 cm in diameter, about 8 mm in diameter, .15 cm in thickness and weighs 3.6-4 grams. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was extremely greedy. "The Emperor was originally a Hou family, and he stayed in poverty. Every time he sighed that Emperor Huan could not make a home, he gathered for private possession" (The Biography of Zhang Rang in the Later Han Dynasty). It is not enough to be the king of a country, and the whole world belongs to him. It is also necessary to sell officials and collect money to fill the treasury. Under the rule of such a bad king, there is no good day for ordinary people.
The poor people who were slaughtered by Emperor Han Ling complained bitterly. After the "four out of five baht" was cast, people cursed and said that "the capital will be broken, and the emperor will go to the hall and scatter."
at the end of the eastern Han dynasty, dong Zhuo was in power. Dong Zhuoben was a Liangzhou strongman, and served as a state shepherd when Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty. In the Yellow Scarf Uprising, he took the opportunity of recruiting and led troops into Luoyang. He first abolished the younger emperor, established Xian Di, and arbitrarily ruled the state affairs; After burning Luoyang, he held the son of heaven and called himself a surname. Dong Zhuo was greedy by nature. In order to plunder the people's wealth, he destroyed the "golden man" in the first year of Chuping (AD 19), and nine of the twelve golden men (bronze men) cast by Qin Shihuang made small money. This kind of money is only 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter and weighs about .5-1 g, and it has neither an inner profile nor an outer profile. The word "five baht" is vague and difficult to identify. The world satirizes it as "penniless money". Dong Zhuo's penniless money is light and small, and its manufacture is poor. Calculated by the weight of a "golden man" of 12, Jin, Dong Zhuo can get seven or eight dollars if he says little.