The longest-produced coin in history.

The Dahuting Tomb (Chinese: 打虎亭汉墓, Pinyin: Dahuting Han mu; Wade-Giles: Tahut’ing Han mu) of the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), located in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, was excavated in 1960-1961 and contains vault-arched burial chambers decorated with murals showing scenes of daily life. Image, Wikipedia

The Han Dynasty

The Han dynasty was considered a golden age in Chinese history. It spanned over four centuries from 202 B.C. to 220 A.D. with a brief interruption from 9 – 23 A.D. by the usurper Wang Mang.

During the Han Dynasty, Confucianism became the official state religion, and the Silk Road—a trade route from Asia to southern Europe and East Africa—was established.

The Han dynasty bound together its empire through a network of roads and a centralized administrative system that promulgated a unified legal code and standardized currency, weights and measures, and, most importantly, a consistent written language.

One major invention during the Han Dynasty we still use today, was paper. Papyrus, parchment and leaves had previously been used around the world. Paper is more refined and is made with pulped plant fibre. This is diluted with water, and formed into a sheet using a screen. The first banknote was still some time away. The earliest precursor, more like a deposit receipt, were used during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). The first paper currency as we would recognise it, were issued during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.).

Coins had been produced in China for hundreds of years. They had already started to take on the “round with a square hole” shape which would define Chinese coins for several thousand years. Early coins, however had tended to be crude, unfiled edges, no regular rim, and variable weights. While there were also quality issues at various times later on, the Han Dynasty created coins which were a standard size and weight, had neat, filed edges and rims.

Obverse

The Wu Zhu coin is round with a square hole. There are two characters, read right to left, 五 (5) 銖 (Zhu). These coins were called Chi Ze Wu Zhu or Chize Wuzhu (赤仄五銖), meaning red, or shining edge. This name is derived from its shiny red edge attained after filing. There is no central rim on this version, and the weight and style suggest it was produced fairly early, around 115 – 113 B.C.

Reverse

The reverse is blank, as many early Cash coins were. There is an outer and inner rim, although the outer rim particularly is much thinner than on later Cash Coins.

Coins had been produced for at least 500 years before the Han Dynasty, but minting procedures had been chaotic. Sometimes the law stated that only the central government could cast coins. At other times, anyone could. Coins came in all sizes and weights with no regulation or consistency.

In 118 BC the Han emperor Wu Di resolved to do something about this problem. After a few experiments with token coinage, he resolved on a new design: the “wu zhu.” That translates to 5 zhu, a zhu being the weight of 100 millet seeds. They were intended to be neat, handsome coins, with rims and careful quality control. They caught on more or less immediately, driving everything else out of the market.

The Wu Zhu coin was produced from 118 B.C. to 618 A.D., 736 years, the longest mint run for any coin in history, and well past the end of the Han dynasty.

This is one of the late Sui Dynasty Wu Zhu coins, produced around 581 – 618 A.D. just before the start of the Tang Dynasty. Note that the design is basically the same as the earlier coin, with a thicker rim. The period before the 9 A.D. interruption of Wang Mang, is known as the “Western” Han dynasty, and the period after 23 A.D. is known as the “Eastern” Han dynasty. The coins tend to be known as either Western (early) or Eastern (late) Han Dynasty.

David Hartill’s “Cast Chinese Coins” is the standard reference work on Chinese Cash coins and is an excellent investment for anyone interested in Chinese currency up to the end of the Empire. Hartill lists numerous variations on these coins. Wikipedia has descriptions of many variations and photos of some. There were coins with extra markings, markings reversed, an inner rim only at the top of the hole, and more. Some had the inner, or outer part cut off. The reasons for these are generally lost to time, but they are very interesting early coins.