Chinese coinage in the Ming dynasty includes many types of coins. During the Ming dynasty of China (1368 to 1644), the national economy developed and techniques of producing coinage advanced.
The Ming dynasty cast comparatively few coins when compared with earlier dynasties in Chinese history, and the cash coins they did produce were not regarded to be as beautifully made as those of earlier times.Peng, Xinwei: A Monetary History of China. vol I. and II. (Translated from the Chinese original Zhongguo Huobi Shi 1965 by Kaplan, Edward H.) 1994 (Western Washington University). Page: 553. The majority of cash coins in circulation at the time of the Ming were actually from the Tang (618 to 907) and Song dynasty (960 to 1279) eras. This all indicates that the emperors of the Ming dynasty did not regard coins with the same importance as those who ruled before them.
Background
Zhu Yuanzhang, better known as the Hongwu Emperor, proclaimed the Great Ming in 1368. From the founding of the Ming until 1450, the emperors attempted to use paper currency, but this caused the Ming to experience the same hyperinflation as its predecessors. For the most part, the country was starved for silver in the early part of the dynasty and much trade occurred via barter; in later years, silver mostly came in through trade with either Manila in the Philippines as part of the Spanish East Indies within the Spanish colonial empire and Japan. The flow of Chinese trade goods like chinaware were exported towards the rest of the Spanish colonial empire in Spanish America and Europe through the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade between Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco in Mexico and Spanish treasure fleets from Veracruz in Mexico to Seville in Spain. Meanwhile, the return route also ensured constant supply of the Spanish silver dollar coins which were minted in New Spain (Mexico), and mined from Potosí in Bolivia or Peru. The Spanish dollar coins were often stamped with Chinese characters known as "chop marks" which indicated that the particular coin had been assayed by a well-known merchant and determined to be genuine. The widespread circulation of the Spanish silver dollar not only affected the Ming but also became widespread across many countries in the Far East as a standard for trade. It remained embedded even until the Qing dynasty when banknotes started to be printed labeled as "Mexican Dollars" and even later when Western powers also later issued trade dollars, and colonial currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar, to the same specifications. This silver flowed into the country and was also melted down and traded as bullion now known as sycee. However, the emperors also periodically minted coins. Alongside copper coins cowrie shells continued to circulate during this period as well.
Coinage in the Ming era
After the Chinese became independent following the retreat of the Mongols back north and a bloody civil war culminating with the victory of Zhu Yuanzhang the Ming dynasty rose to power and under it a long period of stability and growth came. Until 1505 cash coins circulated alongside the Da Ming Baochao banknotes,Google Arts & Culture – Chinese Ming Banknote from the collection of the British Museum. Retrieved: September 14, 2018.The British Museum – Ming dynasty paper money: scientific analysis -The inclusion of a fourteenth-century Ming note in “A History of the World in 100 Objects” has brought unprecedented attention to these objects by Dr. Helen Wang. Retrieved: September 14, 2018. but as more silver currency entered the Chinese market, currencies such as Spanish silver dollars started supplanting the cash coins. Privately minted cash coins of inferior quality became predominant in the south of China and 4 types of official cash coins were minted of varying quality of which one time with a weight of 1 qián was cast for payment to the imperial government, a second type of 0.9 qián for the salaries of officials, and the two types of lowest quality were mostly used by the commoners and circulated the most. Coins known as gold reverse coins were cast that were smelted four times as opposed to two and these were regarded as being more valuable, ironically because of this these gold reverse coins were being hoarded which prevented them from circulating causing even cheap and low quality counterfeit cash coins to circulate in larger numbers, after the government of the Ming dynasty started producing "milled rim" cash coins these were universally accepted so fast that at one point merchants accepted only these coins, but as the reputation of the gold reverse cash coins was so strong the "milled rim" coins were eventually viewed as worthless and deprecated.
The amount of copper-alloy cash coins produced by the Ming dynasty was higher than under the preceding Yuan dynasty (which had used paper notes, or zhibi (紙幣), extensively instead of metal coinages), but never reached the annual production outputs of the Song dynasty period.
The term "Zhiqian" (制錢) was used to discern full-valued cash coins produced by the imperial government from older ones from the Song dynasty period, which were known as jiuqian (舊錢), and privately produced forgeries of non-standard weights and alloys that were referred to as siqian (私錢) or sizhuqian (私鑄錢). Other terms used during the Ming dynasty for various types of cash coins include yangqian (样錢, "Model coin"), also known as Beiqian (北錢, "Northern coin"), which referred to full weight (1 qián) and fine quality cash coins had were delivered to Beijing as seigniorage revenue. Fengqian (俸錢, "Stipend coin") which referred to second rate cash coins that had a weight of 0.9 qián and were distributed through the salaries of government officials and emoluments. and Shangqian (賞錢, "Tip money") which is a term used to refer to cash coins that were small, thin, and very fragile (comparable to Sizhuqian) that were used to pay the wages of employees of the imperial government (including the mint workers themselves) and was one of the most commonly circulating types of cash coins during the Ming dynasty among the general population.
In the year 1393 there were a total of 325 furnaces in the mints all over the provinces which together had an annual production performance of 189,000 strings of cash coins (with a string being 1000 cash coins). This amount was only 3% of the annual mint production under the Northern Song dynasty. The raw material copper that was necessary for the production of Ming dynasty cash coinage came from mines in the provinces of Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. In the province of Jiangxi alone, a total of 115 furnaces were operating. In the other Chinese provinces, where copper ores were not naturally found to be mined, the government of the Ming dynasty had ordered the local people to deliver their copper objects to the provincial government mints for melting down to produce more cash coins.
Despite the government preferring paper money over copper-alloy cash coins, the Chinese market had a high demand for them, this demand would stimulate an overproduction of forgeries that inundated the markets of Ming China, often these forged cash coins were cast in such miserable quality that a single real Zhiqian could buy 300 fake ones. Consequently, this caused inflation in many different places. Under the reign of the Jiajing Emperor the government of the Ming dynasty would alleviate the situation by producing a large amount of Zhiqian with the inscription Jiajing Tongbao (嘉靖通寶) in the year Jiajing 5 (1527). In the year Jiajing 11 (1553) the government of the Ming dynasty cast 10,000,000 additional Jiajing Tongbao cash coins as well as Zhiqian with 9 earlier reign era names. In total, this amount of coinage amounted to 1,000,000 dìng (錠).
Despite reigning only for one month, cash coins were produced that bear the reign title of the Taichang Emperor. These cash coins with the inscription Taichang Tongbao (泰昌通寶) were produced by his son, the Tianqi Emperor, in large quantities as a sign of filial piety.
In the early 17th century an increase in the price of copper caused the government to reduce the amount of copper in the composition of the Zhiqian in favour of lead. Cash coins with the inscriptions Tianqi Tongbao (天啟通寶) and Chongzhen Tongbao (崇禎通寶) were of poorer quality than those producing during preceding periods. These cash coins tended to be both thin and brittle, due to the lowered amount of copper in their compositions. Chinese people at this point started to refrain from using copper-alloy cash coins and the markets preferred the usage of silver ingots instead.
In the year 1621, Wang Xiangjian, the minister of war, had requested the government to cast Tianqi Tongbao cash coins n the denominations of 10 wén, 100 wén, and 1000 wén. The government granted him permission to cast 10 wén cash coins leading to debasement, in 1622 their production had ceased. Initially these cash coins weighed 1 tael but was reduced to 0.5 tael, because of their reduced weight they were only accepted for 6 to 8 standard cash coins.
In 1644 the Manchus captured Beijing from the Shun dynasty,Wakeman Frederic (1981). "The Shun Interregnum of 1644", in Jonathan Spence, et al. eds. From Ming to Ch'ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China. Yale University Press. and then marched south capturing the forces loyal to the Ming. One of the first monetary policies they enacted was accepting Ming dynasty cash coins at only half the value of Qing dynasty cash coins, because of this Ming era coinage was removed from circulation to be melted into Qing dynasty coinage, this is why in modern times even Song dynasty coins are more common than those from the more recent Ming dynasty.
A known variant of the Chongzhen Tongbao cash coins have only mint marks on the reverse side of the coin. An example of these Chongzhen Tongbao cash coins with mint marks the Chinese character "Zhong" (忠) which translates as either "loyal" or "honest" located above the reverse side of the square centre hole. During the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, there were a total of 156 different mint furnaces producing cash coins in operation. It remains currently unclear if the Chinese character "Zhong" (忠) refers to a particular mint or if it doesn't. Cash coins with this character typically have a diameter of 24.8 millimeters and a weight of 3 grams.
List of Ming dynasty cash coins by inscription
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. In the early period of the Ming dynasty, though, there were many different types of coin. Examples include:Numista A reference list of 5000 years of Chinese coinage. Date: December 9, 2012. Updated: June 13, 2013, Retrieved: June 14, 2017.
"Da Zhong Tong Bao" () "Hong Wu Tong Bao" () "Hong Xi Tong Bao" () "Yong Le Tong Bao" () "Zheng De Tong Bao" () "Hong Zhi Tong Bao" () "Jia Jing Tong Bao" () "Jia Jing An Bao" () "Wan Li Nian Zao" () "Wan Li Tong Bao" () "Tian Qi Tong Bao" () "Chong Zhen Tong Bao" ()