Kangxi Tongbao () refers to an inscription used on Chinese cash coins produced during the reign of the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

of the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

-led

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. Under the Kangxi Emperor the weights and standards of the

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

cash coins changed several times and the bimetallic system of

Qing dynasty coinage Qing dynasty coinage (; Manchu: ; Möllendorff: ''Daicing jiha'') was based on a bimetallic standard of copper and silver coinage. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty was established in 1636 and ruled over China proper from 1644 until it was overthro ...

was established. Today Kangxi Tongbao cash coins are commonly used as charms and amulets where different forms of superstition have developed arounds its

mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate ...

s and

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

. A notable characteristic is that the outer rim on Kangxi Tongbao cash coins on both sides of the coin tend to be quite wide, in contrast to that of the square center hole (方穿, ''fāng chuān''). Apart from the two mints in the capital city of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

operated by the central government, there were mints in operation in most provinces of the Qing dynasty and in some even two, however these were only sometimes open and many were forced to close down at were later re-opened at various times during the Kangxi period.

Background

After the

Manchus The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Q ...

occupied

in 1644 the government of the Qing dynasty began the production of the

Shunzhi Tongbao The Shunzhi Emperor (15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661) was the second emperor of the Qing dynasty of China, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1644 to 1661. A committee of Manchu princes chose him to succee ...

(順治通寶) cash coins modeled after the Huichang Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins (會昌開元通寶錢) of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

and the Dazhong Tongbao (大中通寶) and

Hongwu Tongbao The ''Hongwu Tongbao'' ( Japanese language, Japanese: Kōbu Tsūhō) was the first Cash (Chinese coin), cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coin ...

(洪武通寶) of the early

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. Like these cash coins the Shunzhi Tongbao used

s in the form of a single

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

on the reverse side of the coin to indicate their origin. Other types of Shunzhi Tongbao were also cast creating a total of 5 different types. Under the

only two of these types were retained, one type had a Manchu characters on the left side of the reverse and a Chinese character on the right side of the reverse to indicate the mint of production and was used for provincial mints. And the other type had the name of the mint in

on the right side with the character "" (Boo) on the left which were used for cash coins produced at the Ministry of Revenue and

Ministry of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

History

In the year Kangxi 1 (or the

Gregorian year Gregorian may refer to: *The thought or ideology of Pope Gregory I or Pope Gregory VII (also called ''Gregorianism'') *Things named for Pope Gregory I: **Gregorian chant, the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompa ...

1662) all provincial mints in the Qing dynasty were closed down with the exception of the

Jiangning Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Mint. Meanwhile in Kangxi 5 (1667) all provincial mints would re-open again but three years later a large number of them would close down due to the high price of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

in China at the time. The

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Mint in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

started casting Kangxi Tongbao cash coins with a weight of 1.4 Mace (1 mace = 3.73 gram) in the year Kangxi 7 (1668) which was heavier than those in many other provinces. Those responsible for the transportation of copper rarely made the mints in time, and while copper prices were rising daily the Ministry of Revenue still maintained a fixed rate of exchange between copper and silver causing many provincial mints to quickly lose money, while on paper they were still profitable. A mint was established in

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in the year 1689 but it didn't produce much cash coins and was closed down in 1692, for this reason Taiwanese Kangxi Tongbao coins tend to be very rare today. Kangxi Tongbao cash coins produced in the province of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

are notably quite

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

dish in colour, there were at least seven different mints in existence in Yunnan Province during the Kangxi period. After the governor of the Yunnan and

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

found out that there were so much brass cash coins produced by the Yunnan Mints. The high supply of the brass cash coins had caused the price of the cash coins relative to silver to reduce. The government needed to pay 30% of cash coins instead of silver as military salary. This proved to be very inconvenient for the soldiers. This later caused disturbances to arise in the military. After the governor of these provinces put down the trouble, he urged the government to cease the production of cash coins in the province of Yunnan and to pay the soldiers exclusively in silver. All the Yunnan Mints were then closed down in the year Kangxi 28 (1689). Between the years 1674 and 1681 during the

Revolt of the Three Feudatories The Revolt of the Three Feudatories, () also known as the Rebellion of Wu Sangui, was a rebellion in China lasting from 1673 to 1681, during the early reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The revolt was ...

the province of Yunnan was in the hands of the rebel

Wu Sangui Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a notorious Ming Dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty in China. In Chinese ...

and later his grandson

Wu Shifan Wu Shifan (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳世璠), 1663–1681, was the grandson of Wu Sangui and his successor as emperor of the Zhou dynasty during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories. He was declared the ''taisun'' (太孫, lit. 'Imperial Eldest ...

who cast his own cash coins with their own inscriptions there, these cash coins didn't use the same mint marks as the Kangxi Tongbao. In 1684 the ratio of copper to

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

in the alloys in the Kangxi Tongbao cash coins was reduced from 70% to 60% all while the standard weight was lowered to 1 ''qián'' again and were known as Zhongqian (重錢), while the central government's mints in Beijing started producing cash coins with a weight of 0.7 ''qián'' known as Xiaoqian (小錢) or Qingqian (輕錢). The Kangxi Tongbao was officially fixed against

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

with a ratio of 1000 Zhongqian per

tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

bimetallic system. The Xiaoqian were only worth 0.7 tael of silver per string of 1000 coins (which would equate to 14.3 Xiaoqian per

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

of silver), however by the middle of the eighteenth century the Xiaoqian disappeared from circulation. By 1702 all provincial mints were closed again due to the aforementioned circumstances.

Mint marks

Under the Kangxi Emperor cash coins with the inscription Kangxi Tongbao were produced with both a

and a Manchu character on the reverse side of the coin at provincial mints, while the Ministries of Revenue and Public Works in the city of

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th-century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

exclusively used Manchu characters.

Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Public Works

Provincial mints

Commemorative issues

In 1713 a special Kangxi Tongbao (康熙通寶) cash coin was issued to commemorate the sixtieth birthday of the

, these bronze coins were produced with a special yellowish colour, and these cash coins believed to have "the powers of a

charm Charm may refer to: Social science * Charisma, a person or thing's pronounced ability to attract others * Superficial charm, flattery, telling people what they want to hear Science and technology * Charm quark, a type of elementary particle * Ch ...

" immediately when it entered circulation, this commemorative coin contains a slightly different version of the Hanzi symbol "", at the bottom of the cash, as this character would most commonly have a vertical line at the left part of it but did not have it, and the part of this symbol which was usually inscribed as "" has the middle part written as a "" instead. Notably, the upper left area of the symbol "" only contains a single dot as opposed of the usual two dots used during this era. Several myths were attributed to this coin over the following 300 years since it has been cast such as the myth that the coin was cast from molten down "golden" (brass) statues of the 18 disciples of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

which earned this coin the nicknames "the Lohan coin" and "Arhat money" because the Kangxi Emperor was intimately involved with

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

missionaries and developed a contempt for

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. These commemorative ''kāng xī tōng bǎo'' cash coins were given to children as ''yā suì qián'' (壓歲錢) during

Chinese new year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...

, some women wore them akin to how an

engagement ring An engagement ring, also known as a betrothal ring, is a ring indicating that the person wearing it is engaged to be married, especially in Western cultures. A ring is presented as an engagement gift by a partner to their prospective spouse when ...

is worn today, and in rural

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

young men wore this special ''kāng xī tōng bǎo'' cash coin between their teeth like men from cities had golden teeth. Despite the myths surrounding this coin it was made from a

copper-alloy Copper alloys are metal alloys that have copper as their principal component. They have high resistance against corrosion. The best known traditional types are bronze, where tin is a significant addition, and brass, using zinc instead. Both of t ...

and did not contain any gold but it was not uncommon for people to enhance the coin with

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

. According to David Hartill this myth was first reported around the year 1851 in China and attributes this to similar stories which were circulating about the "Bun" ''

Kan'ei Tsūhō The Kan'ei Tsūhō (Kyūjitai: 寛永通寳; Shinjitai: 寛永通宝) was a Japanese mon coin in use from 1626 until 1868 during the Edo period. In 1636, the ''Kan'ei Tsūhō'' coin was introduced by the Tokugawa shogunate to standardise and mai ...

'' cash coins from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

at the time.

Kangxi Tongbao charms and poem coins

Chinese numismatic charms - Scott Semans 100

Chinese poem coins (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

: 詩錢;

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 诗钱;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''shī qián'', alternatively 二十錢局名) were Chinese cash coins cast under the

, a Manchu Emperor known for his Chinese poetry skills and wrote the work "Illustrations of Plowing and Weaving" (耕織圖) in 1696. Under the Kangxi Emperor 23 mints operated at various times with many closing and reopening, the coins produced under the Kangxi Emperor all had the obverse inscription ''Kāng Xī Tōng Bǎo'' (康熙通寶). As the name Kangxi was composed of the characters meaning "health" () and "prosperous" () the ''Kāng Xī Tōng Bǎo'' cash coins were already viewed as having auspicious properties by the Chinese people. As the ''Kāng Xī Tōng Bǎo'' cash coins were produced at various mints some people placed these coins together to form poems, even though many of these poems did not have any meaning they were composed in adherence to the rules of

Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dyn ...

. These coins were always placed together to form the following poems: It was arranged by a Chinese private

coin collector Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or historic ...

using the different mint marks to form a type of a Chinese poetry during the

Qianlong The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

period and it has now become the favourite target of collection for many coin collectors in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and

. According to an old Chinese superstition the strung "charm" of twenty coins also known as "set coins" (套子錢) only worked if all coins were genuine and this could be tested by placing them on a chicken-coop and if the cocks did not crow during the early morning. As carrying twenty coins together was seen as less than convenient new charms were being produced that had the ten of the twenty mint marks on each side of the coin, unlike the actual cash coins that they're based on these charms tend to have round holes in the middle and are also round in shape. Sometimes they were painted red as the colour red is viewed to be auspicious in Chinese culture. Sometimes these coins had obverse inscriptions wishing for good fortunes and the twenty mint marks on their reverse, these inscriptions include: ''Kāng Xī Tōng Bǎo'' cash coins produced at the Ministry of Revenue and the

in the capital city of

are excluded from these poems. Because of the popularity of the Kangxi poem coins many later versions of the poem coins were made where the Kangxi era mint marks are used but other inscriptions such as the Yongzheng Tongbao, Daoguang Tongbao, Guangxu Tongbao, Etc. are used on the obverse. Coin-swords made from Qing dynasty cash coins with the inscription Kangxi Tongbao are considered to be the most effective, this is because the reign of the

of the

lasted an entire 60-year cycle of the

Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...

and thus according to feng shui cash coins with this inscription represent "

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

".Justus Doolittle (edited and revised by Paxton Hood), �
Social Life of the Chinese. A Daguerrotype of Daily Life in China
�� (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1868). Pages 563 to 565.

References

Citations

Sources

* * T'ang Yu K'un.《制錢通考》(''A comprehensive study of chinese coins'') . * Wei Chien Yu.《中國近代貨幣史》(''Currency history of Modern China'') . 群聯出版社，1955. * Ting Fu Pao.《古錢大辭典》(''A dictionary of ancient Chinese coins''). 中華書局. * Werner Burger. ''Ch'ing Cash until 1735'', Mei Ya Publications, Inc., 1976. * Pang Hsin Wei. 《中國貨幣史》(''The Currency History of China''). 上海人民出版社, 1988. /K·47. * 張作耀. 《中國歷史便覽》(''China History Bianlan'')，人民出版社，1992, /K·53. * Hartill, David, ''Qing cash'',

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

Special Publication 37,

, 2003.

External links

* {{Chinese currency and coinage Coins of ancient China Kangxi Emperor Chinese numismatics Cash coins by inscription