摘要
In ancient China various kinds of materials were used as the medium of currency. Cowries were the most popular kind among them. That cowries were highly valued by the ancient Chinese and widely used as money had been shown as early as on the oracle bones. The cowries found at Anyang ruins are similar to the fresh ones found on the Taiwan coast. This fact shows that ancient cowries shells were transported through a long way from the East China Sea to the center of the China mainland.
The original use of cowries might be similar to the use of pearls for necklace which is so common as found in the primitive societies and among the civilized people. In ancient time a string of cowries was called a "pêng" which might be used both as ornaments of personal adornment and as a medium of exchange. The cowries are quite beautiful and very much alike and there is every indication that one of them had the same value as another. Thus we found that in the inscriptions on bronze vessels it is said that the lords have often given cowrie strings to their subjects as reward for service or as a mark of esteem.
In a long ranged term cowries ceased to be used as currency. Firstly, due to the wide use of bronze, imitation cowries were cast in place of the natural ones. Secondly, bronze tools such as spades and knives became the main medium of exchange. During the time of the Warring States, copper coins cast in the shape of the shpades and the knives bearing inscriptions were used. Later, round coins were cast circulated. The round coins proved to be most convenient in carrying as well as in counting. In consequence they became the last from having been used throughout the period of dynasties in China.
After the unification of China by the Ch'in dynasty all the rules imposed by the Six States were adjusted according to the standard regulations set by the Ch'in court. The shape and the size of the copper coins were not exceptional. Half ounce coin, or half tael coin (or panliang chien) was cast. When the Han court began its sovereignty, almost all the regulations were duplicated from those of the Ch'in dynasty. The cast of half ounce coin also followed the Ch'in system. But newly established Han court was not as efficient as the Ch'in court had been. Illegal coinage was frequently found in the newly appointed princedoms and even in private factories. Because the illegal coins could not be controlled by the government, the number of coins grew and grew and overflowed the market with a decrease in size and weight to such a degree that they resembled elm-seeds. Those facts showed that there were inflations which had caused the living expenses running high and had compelled the government changing its monetary policy to solve the new problem.
In 175 B. C. (the thirtieth year from the establishment of the Han dynasty) the Han government issued a new coin known a ssu-chu chien or ssu-shu chien (or four twenty-forth ounce coin). The size is medium comparing to the standard pan-liang chien and the illegal elm-seeds. On the other hand, the government repealed the law prohibiting illegal coinage. This was done in order to root out false coining.
The result of this policy was good; the coinage got in order. But since the government gave up the privilege of the coin monopoly, the wealthy lords and the wealthy individuals became more wealthy by means of coinage. It became the menace of the imperial power. Thus the new policy was opposed by the famous philosopher Chia Yi.
In 140 B. C. Han Wu-ti took his throne. He was the most aggressive emperor in the line of his heredity. He changed many laws basing on his new ideas. He reformed both the political system and the economic system with an intention to control his domain efficiently. He also made several amendments in his economic and financial policies in order to provide his army with sufficient food and equipments during the time of military expeditions. Certainly the monetary system was most important to him. He failed several times in reforming the system, but finally he succeeded by setting up the Wu-chu chien or five twenty-forth ounce coin system.
Wu-chu chien was lighter than half ounce coin but heavier than the four twenty-forth coin. It proved to be a convenient unit of cash. The major difference between this policy and the former ones was that the coinage of wu-chu chien was monopolized by the central administration. No feudal lords, no wealthy people and not even the local administrations were allowed to cast coins. Only limited mints in the suburb of the capital Chang-an were used to cast the special coin with specific techniques. Under the control of material and technique, counterfeiting became nearly impossible. In consequence it proved to be even more stable than the ssu-chu- coin. The wu-chu coin lasted for quite a long period of time until it was abolished by the usurper Wang Mang.
The monetary system established by Wang Mang was complicated and unpractical which caused serious inflations. The people dissatisfied with the system and prayed for the return of wu-chu coin which was expressed in popular folk ballads, such as "Yellow ox with white belly, Let the 5-shu coin return."
When the Latter Han was established, the old wu-chu coin system was recovered. It lasted about two hundred years until the other usurper Tung Cho abandoned it to cast small coins. However it remained the basic unit throughout the Three Kingdoms and the Six Dynasties, though coins of different sizes and of large denominations were in circulation.
In ancient time gold was discovered and used in China as well as in other parts of the world. However, in Chinese the term for gold "chin" (or in ancient speech "chim") was confused in interpretation because it has three meanings, namely, gold, copper, and metal in general. We may trace back to the construction of the archaic form of the character "chin" which is a pictograph showing the process of metal casting. Later the meaning of this character changed and denoted any kind of metal including gold, silver, copper, etc. To distinguish the meanings of "chin" is rather difficult. Only rarely does the context furnish a clue. In the time of the Warring States "yi" was used as a unit of gold which indicates that gold, for the first time, was used as currency.
The term "chin (chim)" used for gold specifically was rather late, but to use huang-chin or yellow metal for gold dated back as early as the time of Yi-ching compiling. It might be around one thousand B. C. At the ruin of Anyang, bronze vessels plated with gold have been found. This shows that gold was already in used in the Shang time, but strangely no special name was given. It was mentioned in Yü-kung, or the Tribute under Yü's Management in the Book of History, that three ranks of metal were presented as tribute by the people of the Delta of Yangtze. The three ranks of metal certainly referred to gold, silver, and copper. Most scholars believe that Yü-kung was compiled in the beginning of the Warring States. We may thus concluded that down to the period of the Warring States the term "chin (chim)" represented three kinds of metal, i.e. gold, silver, and copper.
"Yi" was a unit for gold used as currency with a weight of twenty ounces in the time of the Warring States. However the word "chin" 'catty' (not to be confused with "chim" 'metal') became the unit for gold in the Han time with a weight of sixteen ounces only. Meng-tze, Chan-kuo-tse, and Shih Chi all contain references to the fact that "yi" was primarily used as a unit for gold throughout the Warring States. But we do not know the ratio of gold to copper coins.
Ku yen-wu was the first scholar who discussed the problems of gold in his outstanding work Jih-chih Lu. Chao Yi, an eminent historian of the eighteenth century, in his "Nien-ê-shih-cha-chi" also pointed out the problems of gold in the dynasties of China. He stated that there must have been a great amount of gold in the time of the Han dynasty for the emperors always bestowed gold upon their subjects. Also, when the regime of Wang Mang was overthrown, as much as six hundred thousand "chin", or catties of gold was found in his treasury. But in the later dynasties the quantity of gold in circulation was not so immense. In Chao Yi's opinion the gold mines in the Chinese territory had been exhausted and the gold which circulated in the earlier dynasties was dissipated by the gilding of Buddhist images.
His assumption is remarkable but the cause of the vanishing of the gold is not so simple. Gold leaf with a thickness of one hundredth millimeter can be made for gilding, therefore not very much gold is required for gilding a big Buddhist image. Moreover, when I visited the caves at Tunhuang I found that none of the images cast during the time of the Northern Wei and the T'ang dynasties were ornamented with gold leaves. This shows that gilding Buddhist images was not very common at that time; thus it cannot be the primary cause of the dissipation of gold.
So much gold reserved in the imperial treasury during the time of Wang Mang was quite unusual in Chinese history. Most of this collection vanished during the Latter Han and the Three Kingdoms. And we know that not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties did Buddhist temples become popular in Chinese society. Therefore better explanation should be found for the vanishment of this great amount of gold.
Ti-li-chih or the Geographical Record in Han Shu mentioned the commercial relations between China and the South Sea world.
"The Nan-hai(province)...is situated by the sea. It is the center of rhinoceros' horn, ivory, tortoise-shell, various kinds of pearl, silver, copper, fruit and cotton. Most of the merchants from mainland become rich by the South Sea trade. Pan-yü is one of the main ports...Huang-chih...is the largest island with a large population and special treasures. From the time of Wu-ti people in those countries always come th the court with tribute. The chief interpreter who belongs to the eunuch office navigated with voluntary employees carrying gold and various kinds of silk to trade for bright pearls, glass beads and other precious stones."
From this paragraph we know that ivory, rhinoceros' horn, pearls, precious stones and even glass beads were the principal imports from the South Sea world, whereas gold and silk were used as currency. This kind of trading had continued for quite a long period of time from Han to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Obviously an immense amount of gold was exported through the trade. Therefore this should be the major fact which caused the exhaustion of the gold reservation in the imperial treasury.
The legal ratio of gold to copper coins was one catty of gold to ten thousand coins. Gold was the main standard currency and copper coin was the auxiliary currency during the time of Han and Wei-Chin dynasties. Since gold became rare and could not be found in the open market, rolls of silk and cotton became the standard currency in the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Undoubtedly the silk-cotton standard was very inconvenient. Therefore, when a considerable amount of imported silver was accumulated towards the middle period of the T'ang dynasty, silver standard was naturally established in place of the silk-cotton standard. This standard had continued in the following dynasties up to the twentieth century before the Second Sino-Japanese war.