A string of cash coins (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: , , ; ) refers to a historical Chinese,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese,

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n, Ryukyuan, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

ese currency unit that was used as a superunit of the Chinese cash, Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn currencies. The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings. The term would later also be used on banknotes and served there as a superunit of '' wén'' (). Prior to the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

strings of cash coins were called (), (), or (), while during the Ming and

Qing dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

they were called () or ().Chinesecoins.lyq.d
Weights and units in Chinese coinage
Section: "Guan 貫, Suo 索, Min 緡, Diao 吊, Chuan 串." by Lars Bo Christensen. Retrieved: 05 February 2018. In Japan and Vietnam the term would continue to be used until the abolition of cash coins in those respective countries. During the Qing dynasty a string of 1000 cash coins valued at 1

tael Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

fiat currency Fiat money is a type of government-issued currency that is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver, nor by any other tangible asset or commodity. Fiat currency is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, ...

. Because the counting and stringing together of cash coins was such a time-consuming task, people known as () would string cash coins together in strings of 100 coins, of which ten would form a single . The would receive payment for their services in the form of taking a few cash coins from every string they composed. Because of this, a was more likely to consist of 990 coins rather than 1000 coins, and because the profession of had become a universally accepted practice, these were often still nominally valued at 1000 cash coins. The number of coins in a single string was locally determined, as in one district a string could consist of 980 cash coins, while in another district this could only be 965 cash coins. These numbers were based on the local salaries of the . During the Qing dynasty the would often search for older and rarer coins to sell these to coin collectors at a higher price. The number of cash coins which had to be strung together to form a string differed due to region, time period, or by the materials used in the manufacture thereof. For example, under the reign of the

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

Emperor of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

, one string of cash coins included 600 zinc coins, while during the later days of the French colonial period, a string of cash coins was 500 copper alloy coins. In Vietnam a string of cash coins had the nominal value of 1

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...

or 1

French Indochinese piastre The piastre de commerce ("trade piastre") was the currency of French Indochina between 1887 and 1954. It was first used in 1885. It was subdivided into 100 ''cents'', each of 2~6 '' sapèques''. The name '' piastre'' (), from Spanish pieces o ...

. During the late 19th century in Qing China, some currency systems were named after how many cash coins made up a string, such as the (, 'metropolitan cash') or (),"Silver, Copper, Rice, and Debt: Monetary Policy and Office Selling in China during the Taiping Rebellion," in ''Money in Asia (1200–1900): Small Currencies in Social and Political Contexts'', ed.
by Jane Kate Leonard and Ulrich Theobald,

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

: Brill, 2015, 343–395. which was an

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

that was used in the capital city of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The system allowed a nominal debt of 2 '' wén'' () which could be paid out using only one physical cash coin instead of two. In this system a string of Beijing cash coins () required only 500 cash coins as opposed to the majority of China, which used 1000 cash coins for a string (). Meanwhile, in the (, 'Eastern cash') system, an exchange rate used for cash coins in the Fengtian province, only 160 cash coins were needed to make up a string. During the Qing dynasty period, the term was used to designate long strings while the term was used to design short strings. Although the term appeared frequently on banknotes, the only cash coin to have ever had the currency unit "String of cash coins" as a part of its inscription was the Nguyễn dynasty-era Tự Đức Bảo Sao () 1 cash coin (, ), which was worth 600 văn (or 60 mạch).

Background

Much like how cash coins are counted in (), until the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

, China used cowry shells and bronze cowry shells which were denominated in () and a string of cowry shells was called a (). However, it is currently not known how much was in a .

Strings of cash coin units during the Qing dynasty

During the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

different number of cash coins were used to make up strings of cash coins. * 1 () = 1000 '' wén'' () * 1 metropolitan () = 1000 metropolitan cash () * 1 metropolitan () = 500 pieces of "standard cash coins" (, before 1853) * 1 metropolitan () = 50 pieces of "big cash coins" (, after 1861) In actual circulation, however, cash coins throughout

Chinese history The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

were put on strings in ten groups of (supposedly) one hundred coins each; these strings were separated by a knot between each group.Frank H. H. King – "Money and Monetary Policy in China 1845–1895". 1965. Publisher:

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. During the Qing dynasty period, strings of cash coins rarely actually contained 1000 cash coins and usually had something like 950 or 980 or a similar quantity; these amounts were due to local preferences rather than being random in any form. In the larger cities cash shops would make specific strings of cash coins for specific markets. The cash shops existed because at the time there were many different kinds of cash coins circulating in China, including old Chinese cash coins from previous dynasties (), Korean cash coins, Japanese cash coins (), Vietnamese cash coins, large and small genuine Qing dynasty cash coins, and different kinds of counterfeits, such as illegally private-minted cash coins. Some of these strings would contain exclusively genuine Zhiqian, while other strings could contain between 30% and 50% of counterfeit and underweight cash coins. The actual number of cash coins on a string and the percentage of counterfeits in a string was generally known to everyone who resided in that town by the type of knots that were used. Each of these different kind of strings of cash coins fulfilled different functions. For example, one string of cash coins was acceptable to be used in a local

grain market The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agri ...

, while it would not be accepted at a meat market, while another type of string was able to be used in both markets but not to pay taxes. The cash shops sorted all cash coins into very specific categories, then would make up appropriate kinds of strings that were intended for use in specific markets or to pay taxes to the government.

Silk as Currency

Silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

was used as a commodity worth as much as gold. Silk started out as primarily produced by the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

. While strings of cash coin were used as currency, it wasn't very valuable, only being worth its weight in the material it was made of (

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and sometimes

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

). Silk was used to purchase many things but lost its value over time as middle eastern communities started producing their own silk and using it for trade. This over abundance of silk caused it to lose its worth. Strings of cash coins were mainly used for small purchases while silk was for larger trades.

Banknotes

During the

the first series of standard government

Jiaozi ''Jiaozi'' or Gyoza (; ) are a type of Chinese dumpling. ''Jiaozi'' typically consist of a ground meat or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together. ''Jiaozi'' can be ...

notes were issued in 1024 with denominations like 1 (, or 700 '' wén''), 1 (, or 1000 ), up to 10 . In 1039 only banknotes of 5 and 10 were issued, and in 1068 a denomination of 1 was introduced which became forty percent of all circulating Jiaozi banknotes. The Huizi also continued to use these currency units. Between the years of 1161 and 1166 the government of the Song dynasty had produced 28,000,000 (, equal to a or 1000 ) in Huizi notes. The exchange rate between Guanzi banknotes and copper cash coins was 1 for 770 '' wén'' while Huizi notes of the eighteenth production period were valued at 3 for 1 .ResearchGat
Study of the corrosion from the printing plates of `Guan Zi' by Raman spectroscopy
by Jilong Shi, Tao Li, Min Feng, Zhenwei Mao, and Changsui Wang. Received 22 April 2005; Accepted 13 December 2005; Retrieved: 06 February 2018. During the last days of the Southern Song dynasty, China was suffering from inflation to the point that the value of the Huizi had lowered so much that a was only accepted at between 300 and 400 cash coins, which caused people to start hoarding the coins, removing them from circulation which had a devastating effect on the economy. As the Mongols continued marching south, the Chinese military required more money causing the government to print an excessive amount of Huizi banknotes. The currency unit would later also be used by the Jurchen Jin dynasty and the

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

on their

Jiaochao Jiaochao () is a Chinese word for banknote first used for the currency of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty and later by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. Jin dynasty The Jurchens swept control over northern China, conquering the Liao dynasty ...

banknotes, though due to

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...

these currencies would not be able to be exchanged with any real cash coins and under Mongol rule non-paper forms of currency were abolished. From the early fourteenth century to the early sixteenth century in Japan, banknotes which were known as were used for transactions, payments, and the transfer of funds between remote regions. Most of these banknotes had a value of 10 (10,000 mon, or 10 strings of 1000 copper coins), these notes also circulated among the general public. Under the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

the

Great Ming Treasure Note The Great Ming Treasure Note () or Da Ming Baochao was a series of banknotes issued during the Ming dynasty in China. They were first issued in 1375 under the Hongwu Emperor. Although initially the Great Ming Treasure Note paper money was succes ...

would also continue using as a currency unit for its denominations. The 1 Great Ming Treasure Note banknote was originally good for 1,000 copper-alloy cash coins and had a size of 36.4×22 cm, making it the largest Chinese paper banknote ever produced. In the middle of its design was an image of a string of cash coins () to show what it was worth. At the bottom of the Great Ming Treasure Note banknote was text which explained that it was issued by the (, 'Palace Secretariat'), that it was a valid type of currency used concurrently with copper-alloy cash coins, and that counterfeiters would face a penalty and those who notified the authorities of counterfeiting would be highly rewarded. Despite originally circulating concurrently with cash coins, the Great Ming Treasure Note became a

and would later no longer be able to be exchanged for any actual cash coins. Privately produced banknotes of the Qing dynasty, as is usual for China, had a great variety of names designating them across the country with names being used such as '' Zhuangpiao'' (), (), (), (), (), or (). The denominations used on them varied greatly with some reaching as high as 5 (). During the early days of the Republic of China, the currency units of and were still being used on banknotes and . The Hupeh Provincial Bank (, ), a provincial government-owned created by

Zhang Zhidong Zhang Zhidong ( zh, t=張之洞) (2 September 18374 October 1909) was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Qing dynasty. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong was one of the four most famous offici ...

, issued their own banknotes denominated both in taels and in (), which were known as the (), until 1927.

Bamboo tallies

Some Chinese bamboo tallies, which circulated in the provinces of

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, and

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

from the 1870s until the 1940s, used "strings of cash coins" as a currency unit, but also contained additional inscriptions stating that they would not be paid out in "regular" cash coins. For example, a bamboo tally with the text "" (, 'a string of 1000 cash coins') could contain the additional information that it if were to be redeemed, it would be paid out in () of "10 cash" coins. This bamboo tally would then be paid out in a string of 100 of 10 . Below their denominations many bamboo tallies had the Chinese characters (, '

warranty In law, a warranty is an expressed or implied promise or assurance of some kind. The term's meaning varies across legal subjects. In property law, it refers to a covenant by the grantor of a deed. In insurance law, it refers to a promise by the ...

mark') to indicate that the bamboo tally is trustworthy to be worth its stated (nominal) value. Another way to indicate what type of cash coins would be paid out is if the bamboo tally did or did not contain the inscription 10 () below its top hole. It could then contain an inscription like "" (, 'a string of 200 cash coins') that would only have to be paid out in a string of 20 cash coins of 10 rather than 200 cash coins of 1 . The issuing authorities would do this due to the concept of "token" money that the Chinese employed at the time. As the Qing dynasty's government started manufacturing Daqian since the Xianfeng period that contained high nominal values but had intrinsic values that were only slightly more valuable than the low denomination coinages, the issuer of the bamboo tally would be able to make a profit off of this situation. This was because the bamboo tally in question would be valued more than the promised redeemed value. In general, bamboo tallies in the region were not always redeemed and would continue to circulate in their local areas as a type of alternative currency as long as the local populace would maintain their trust that the bamboo token had value or worth. This situation translated to the profits of issuing the tally being kept by the issuing authority. And if the bamboo tally were to be redeemed, the redeemer would receive a weight of

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

much lower than the bamboo tally's nominal value.

(weight unit)

The ( Japanese , alternatively ) as a Japanese unit of measurement is a bead weight for

cultured pearl Cultured pearls are pearls which are formed within a cultured pearl sac with human intervention in the interior of productive living molluscs in a variety of conditions depending upon the mollusc and the goals. Having the same material as natur ...

s. equals one thousand or 3.75 kg. The modern was officially established in the Japanese Law of Weights & Measures of 1891. It is still used worldwide as a weight indicator for cultured pearls.

Contemporary Western commentaries on strings of cash coins

Qing dynasty

American bicyclist William Sachtleben visited the city of

Ghulja YiningThe official spelling according to ( zh, s=伊宁), also known as Ghulja () or Kulja ( Kazakh: ), is a county-level city in northwestern Xinjiang, China. It is the administrative seat and largest city of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture ...

in 1892 and was preparing to cycle to

; while preparing for his trip together with the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

consul, he noted the difficulty in transporting strings of cash coins, stating: Sachtleben noted how there were no money exchange banks in the Chinese interior. Of the ability to use and exchange the cash coins Sachtleben noted: Eventually Sachtleben and the Russian consul managed to exchange the strings of cash coins for silver coins as they were easier to carry on their trip, but noted how the money that they had to carry was much heavier than their camera equipment.

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

explorer Isabella Bird wrote of the annoyance that strings of cash coins caused to the Chinese she witnessed in her travels stating:

Nguyễn dynasty (French Indochina)

During the colonial era in

French Cochinchina French Cochinchina (sometimes spelled ''Cochin-China''; ; , chữ Hán: ) was a colony of French Indochina from 1862 to 1949, encompassing what is now Southern Vietnam. The French operated a plantation economy whose primary strategic product wa ...

, Chinese sapèques (known as lý) were exclusively used as

casino token Casino chips (also known as poker chips, gaming tokens, or checks/cheques) are small discs used as currency in casinos. Larger, rectangular gaming plaques may be used for high-stakes games. Poker chips are also widely used as play money in cas ...

s by gambling houses and were not used for other purchases unless trade was being conducted with Qing China. The general conversion rate was 1000 lý = 1 lạng = 7.50 French francs. The which circulated at the time of French Cochinchina were made from

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It 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 periodic tabl ...

and had a very distinctive square centre hole allowing for them to be strung into strings of 1000 zinc or 600 copper-alloy . These strings were known as () in Vietnamese and as or in French. Each string is further subdivided into 10 consisting of 60 ; these coins were valued in their quantity rather than in weight. These coins usually featured the reign or era title of the reigning Nguyễn monarch and were extremely poorly manufactured with bad alloys, causing the strings to often break. Many broke, resulting in considerable losses for their owners due to their brittleness. Charles Lemire described the heavy nature and difficult mobility of strings of as "a currency worthy of

Lycurgus of Sparta Lycurgus (; ) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its (), involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Pythia, Delphic oracle. The Sp ...

" and ("they are not counted but weighed"). To the French, zinc coinage also presented a huge inconvenience since their colonisation of Cochinchina in 1859, as the exchange between

French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...

s and zinc Tự Đức Thông Bảo () meant that a large amount of zinc coins were exchanged for the French franc. Zinc cash coins often broke during transportation as the strings that kept them together would often snap. The coins would fall to the ground and a great number of them would break into pieces. These coins were also less resistant to oxidation, causing them to corrode faster than other coinages. Prior to 1849 brass coins had become an extreme rarity and only circulated in the provinces surrounding the capital cities of Vietnam, but under

, new regulations and (uniform) standards for copper cash coins were created to help promote their usage. Between 1868 and 1872 brass coins were only around 50% copper and 50% zinc. Due to the natural scarcity of copper in Vietnam, the country always lacked the resources to produce sufficient copper coinage for circulation.

Non-Tender Uses

Strings of cash coin, specifically the Wen on the strings, have many uses outside of currency. Wen has been used like a contract, locking people into a promise. It was used as a ritual item, believed to bring those who owned some good luck. These practices are also known as

Feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

. They were gifted to others at weddings, funerals, and other holidays. Wen was also used to identify one's social standing in their community, as using it for purchases was a sign that a person was flourishing and was able to provide for a family. All of these uses tend to happen primarily in

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

communities.

Storage and Variety

Many items have been used to store these coins and keep them kept safe. These range from basic wooden bowls to intricately designed vases. Bowls and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

fragments have been discovered all over Asia and the

Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. Coin design is also fairly loose as many coins of the same name and origin were discovered but had separate designs. In today's day and age these strings of cash coins provide us with significant historical material to study. We study the craftsmanship of these ancient coins and numismatists value their discovery.

How They are Made

To create the wen put on these strings a coin tree must first be made. The tree is composed of many individual molds, allowing for the mass production of wen. The coins were created using mixes of separate metals such as bronze, zinc, and silver. These metals are melted down and poured into a mold created by "mother coins". Once the mold dries and the metal hardens, the 'tree' is removed and the coins separated. They are sanded down around the edges and dispersed into the empire.

Galleries

Strings of cash coins

Strings of cash coins used as a currency unit on banknotes

Slang names

In early 20th century Sơn Tây Province

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

, the term for a string of cash coins was . Meanwhile, in the late 19th century slang spoken by the lower-class people of

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, the terms were and as an abbreviation of (). File:L'Argot Annamite - M. A. Chéon (Année 1905, Volume 5, Numéro 1). – pp. 47 and 48 (in French).

Notes

References

Sources

* * Wilkinson, Endymion, ''Chinese History: A Manual'' (Revised and Enlarged). Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 52.

Harvard University Asia Center The Harvard University Asia Center is an interdisciplinary research and education unit of Harvard University, established on July 1, 1997, with the goal of "driving varied programs focusing on international relations in Asia and comparative studi ...

. 2000. * Akin, Marjorie H, James C Bard, and Kevin Akin. "Asian Coins in North America." In Numismatic Archaeology of North America, 1st ed., 65–81. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2016. * Akin, Marjorie Kleiger. "The Noncurrency Functions of Chinese Wen in America." Historical Archaeology 26, no. 2 (1992): 58–65. * Trombert, Eric. "The Demise of Silk on the Silk Road: Textiles as Money at Dunhuang from the Late Eighth Century to the Thirteenth Century." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 23, no. 2 (2013): 327–47. . * Scheidel, Walter. "Coin Quality, Coin Quantity, and Coin Value in Early China and the Roman World." American Journal of Numismatics (1989) 22 (2010): 93–118. {{Qing dynasty currency, state=collapsed Coins of ancient China Chinese numismatics Cash coins Currencies of Japan