Study On The Monetary Issues Of Qin And Han Dynasties

As the Qin and Han Dynasties evidenced the establishment of the ancient monetary economy in China, study on the form, content, framework, policy, rules, and chronology of the currency during this period will facilitate the further understandings of the monetary history, economical history, as well as archaeology in ancient China. This thesis is composed of five chapters, focusing respectively on the content, framework, and rules of the Qin-Han currency, as well as the minting of the "Three-Zhu Money", and the chronology of the "Five-Zhu Money" of the Eastern Han.The first and second chapters analyzed the content and framework of the Qin-Han currency. Gold, silver, copper coins, cloth and silk, and grains all had once been used as legal or actual currency during the period in question. Copper cash and gold served as legal currency all through the time. Except for the Qin Dynasty, when they were legal money, cloth and silk were used as actual currency for most of the time, especially in the Eastern Han. Although silver was treated as legal currency shortly during the time of Emperor Wu and Wang Mang, its monetary role had not been actually enhanced until the middle years of Eastern Han. Grains had never grained the legal role as currency, but were always used as medium during the non-official trades. Shells and jewelries were not used as currency during this period. These different forms of currency consisted of the monetary system of Qin-Han period, and also formed certain relationship of exchange.The third chapter discussed the administration and conduction of minting. The minting affairs of the Qin were managed by the office Shao Fu(少府)and facilitated by local governments, which was inherited during the early years of Western Han. The administration of minting was transferred from Shao Fu(少府)to the Shuiheng Duwei(水衡都尉)at the second year of Yuanding of the Emperor Wu. At the fourth year of Yuanding, the management of minting was taken back by the central government, and the conduction of minting was appointed to the three official departments named Shanglin San’guan(上林三官)under the office Shuiheng Duwei (水衡都尉).The specific department who minted the money varied by time. In the Eastern Han, the administration was assigned to the office Jin Cao(金曹),which was the subordinate to Tai.Wei(太尉),and the minting was done by local provincial and county governments.The minting of "Three-Zhu Money" and related issues were covered in chapter four. The Qin people respected the number "six" and "twelve", and the "Ban-Liang Money" of Qin was minted at the weight of twelve Zhu (铢,ancient unit of weight) and the diameter of twelve Fen (分,ancient unit of length). Then people became to use the size to represent the weight of the money in Qin and Han times. So the "Five-Fen Money" during the time of Empress Lu was actually the Ban-Liang Money weighed five Zhu,and the "Three-Fen Money" of Emperor Wu was the Ban-Liang Money weighed three Zhu. The "Three-Zhu Money" was first minted and used in the Fourth Year of Yuanshou of Emperor Wu.The fifth chapter focused on the chronology of the "Five-Zhu Money" of Eastern Han. Based on the development of the characters, decorations, and structures, the "Five-Zhu Money" of Eastern Han was divided into two categories and eight types, which were integrated into six phases, dated successively back to Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Mingzhang, Emperor He, Emperor Shun to Emperor Huan, Emperor Huan, and Emperor Ling to Emperor Xian. This chapter also discussed the development of the characters on the "Five-Zhu Money", which could be described as changing from a loose to strict style, and finally falling into a hasty form.