Chapter 4 Section 2 Overview of the Han Currency System

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the Qin currency system was still followed. Gold and half taels were used at the same time, and then five baht coins were used.Therefore, in the nearly 400 years of the Han Dynasty, a parallel currency system of gold, grain silk and copper coins was implemented. The Han inherited the Qin system, and still used gold as the currency.Gold was widely used in transactions in the Western Han Dynasty, and those with high value and large amounts of income and expenditure were calculated in gold. Various activities related to important activities, such as rewards, tributes, assistant sacrifices, Ping Jia, calculation of Fu, buying and selling official titles, foreign exchanges, cellaring, etc. , but also more gold.The amount of gold used for rewards is very large. It was given to heroes and generals many times, ranging from hundreds of catties to thousands of catties.During the reign of Emperor Wu, 300,000 catties of gold were rewarded to soldiers who had made great contributions to the war against the Huns. The "Hanshu" recorded a total of 900,000 catties of gifts.Part of the Han Dynasty records that gold was used 93 times, of which there were four times of large amounts of more than 10,000 gold.In order to strengthen the power of the imperial court and weaken the local power, the Han Dynasty implemented the "Zhou Zhou gold" system, ordering the princes from all over the country to offer gold to the capital every year when offering sacrifices to their ancestors. .For the convenience of circulation, the Han Dynasty once cast "linzhi 褭蹏 [NIAOTI bird mention]", that is, Linzhi gold and horseshoe gold.In 119 BC, Emperor Wu issued "white buckskin coins" similar to banknotes and forced them to use them due to financial difficulties in fighting the Xiongnu.At the same time, the "Three Grades of Platinum" of silver-tin alloy was issued, that is, the round dragon coin, also known as Baixuan and Baiyan, weighs eight taels and is worth three thousand; the square ringgit weighs six taels and is worth five hundred; , weighing four taels, worth three hundred.Due to the high price and the flood of private casting, it was canceled in less than two years.Just from the above few examples, it can be seen that gold and silver coins were widely used in the Western Han Dynasty.Wang Mang also implemented a state-owned policy of gold, and his currency contained "golden wrong knife", and changed the currency system many times in order to search for gold hidden in the private sector.In Xinmang's "treasure goods system", there are first-class gold products and second-class silver products.After his defeat, more than 600,000 catties of gold were found in his palace.The use of gold in the Eastern Han Dynasty was greatly reduced.For example, the gift gold is only 21,740 catties, which is 2% of the total number of gold gifts in the Western Han Dynasty.Gold is widely used in foreign trade.After the mid-Western Han Dynasty, gold and silver decorations became popular, and there are a lot of records in books such as "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes", such as Zhao Feiyan's Jinbuyao, Han Yan's Jindanwan, etc.During Emperor Guangwu’s reign, Guo Kuang, a wealthy businessman, employed more than 400 craftsmen to make goldware.Cao Zhi's poem: "Golden rings on the wrists, and golden nobles on the head (钅义)", which shows the popularity of gold and silver ornaments at that time.After Emperor Ming, Buddhism and Taoism prevailed, and gold was mostly used for decoration of temples and Taoist temples and statues of gods and Buddhas.The generations after Emperor He were extravagant, relatives and eunuchs fought for power, and used troops abroad for years, public and private were scarce, gold was expensive, and officials and people competed to store gold to preserve its value.For example, after Dong Zhuo's defeat, there were 20,000 to 30,000 jin of gold and 80,000 to 90,000 jin of silver in his Mei[Meimei]wu.The earliest silver coins imitating shell coins were discovered in 1974 at the site of Zhongshan State during the Warring States Period.In August of the same year, one Yinkong first cloth and 17 Yinping first cloths were unearthed in Gucheng Village, Fugou County, Henan Province. In the mid-1960s, round cake-shaped lead cake coins wrapped in gold and silver foil were unearthed from the Chu Tomb in Jiangling.These unearthed coins show that as early as 2,800 years ago, China had used gold and silver coins.

Grain cloth has been used as a general equivalent since ancient times to play the role of currency.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, part of the financial revenue and expenditure used to use grain and silk.Official salaries in the Han Dynasty were calculated on the basis of food in the Western Han Dynasty, while in the Eastern Han Dynasty they were matched with food and money, about half of each.In history books, it is often seen that "the rank is compared with a thousand stones" and "the rank is compared with four hundred stones", referring to an official position equivalent to a certain level.Silk is also often used as currency. For example, "Hanshu" records that Emperor Wu traveled to various places and rewarded local officials with a lot of silk.For this reason, many people in the Western Han Dynasty advocated the abolition of gold coins and replaced them with grain and silk.When Wang Mang's currency system collapsed, the folks used cloth, silk, grain and millet as currency.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, grain and silk were paralleled with five baht coins, and some people called it the parallel standard of money and silk.During the two dynasties of Huanling, the scale of selling officials and nobles was expanded, and the money and silk were denominated in currency.However, the use of the two types of currency, gold, silver, grain and silk, was limited to a certain time, a certain scope, and a certain object during the Han Dynasty. Only the square hole and round money was the universal currency that was not limited to classes, regions, objects, and scope.