Yuan Coinage

The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol-ruled Chinese dynasty which existed from 1271 to 1368. After the conquest of the Western Xia, Western Liao, and Jin dynasties they allowed for the continuation of locally minted copper currency, as well as allowing for the continued use of previously created and older forms of currency (from previous Chinese dynasties), while they immediately abolished the Jin dynasty's paper money as it suffered heavily from inflation due to the wars with the Mongols. After the conquest of the Song dynasty was completed, the Yuan dynasty started issuing their own copper coins largely based on older Jin dynasty models, though eventually the preferred Yuan currency became the Jiaochao and silver sycees, as coins would eventually fall largely into disuse. Although the Mongols at first preferred to have every banknote backed up by gold and silver, high government expenditures forced the Yuan to create fiat money in order to sustain government spending.

Inscriptions on the obverses of the coins appeared both in Traditional Chinese characters and 'Phags-pa script, and coins appeared in denominations of 2, 3, 5, and even 10 wén, the larger denominations led to a debasement of the currency which caused inflation.

Background

After the Mongol Empire began their campaigns against the Western Liao, Western Xia, and Jin dynasties, they started to cast their own copper cash coins with the inscription "''Da Chao Tong Bao''" (). It is currently unknown if these coins were already cast under Genghis Khan or if production started under Kublai Khan during the Yuan dynasty as these coins are undocumented and rare. Production of Yuan dynasty copper coins with the "Zhong Tong Yuan Bao" (中統元寶) coins commissioned by Kublai Khan started concurrently with the issuance of paper money which was backed up by silver sycees.

Prior to the establishment of the Yuan dynasty, Möngke Khan created the Department of Monetary Affairs in 1253 to oversee the issuing and creation of paper money, this was to ensure that the nobility would not cause more inflation by overprinting money. The Yuan dynasty would see the introduction of the bimetallic standard, copper would be used for short distance, and silver for long distance transactions.

History

Kublai Khan, Temür Khan, and Külüg Khan

Kublai Khan asked his advisor Liu Bingzhong about the usage of coinage and with a Yin and Yang metaphor Bingzhong claimed that no peace could exist within the Yuan empire if coins continued to be used and advised for the exclusive circulation of mulberry bark paper money.

The "Zhongtong Yuanbao" coins were only cast for 3 years (1260 to 1263), later coins would again be issued under Kublai Khan. In the year 1285 Liu Shirong advocated for the creation of the Zhiyuan Tongbao (至元通寶) cash coins, stating that the Mongols should follow the examples of the Han and Tang dynasties in the production of copper-alloy cash coins, and that these cash coins should circulate concurrent with silk and paper money.

For the entire duration of Temür Khan coins were only symbolically cast for religious institutions.

Under Külüg Khan the Yuan dynasty’s treasury was almost completely depleted which eventually led to Külüg Khan issuing a new banknote called the "Zhi Da Yin Jiaochao" () which coincided with the minting of "Zhida Tongbao" (至大通寶) coins, which are the most commonly cast Yuan era coins. Under Külüg Khan the levels of inflation rose to 80% as the government kept printing more banknotes due, and in order to ensure the government’s control on the currency Külüg Khan banned the usage of silver and gold coins, and stopped the circulation of silver certificates in favour of fiat banknotes.

Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan and the cessation of production

Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan completely ceased the production of coinage in favour of paper money and made it illegal to use coins for payment, however the private production of copper cash coins would persist despite these laws. Because the khans of the Yuan dynasty were Buddhists they allowed Buddhist temples exemption from taxation and granted them special rights to cast bronze statues, and mint their own coins for religious offerings. During the periods that paper money was considered to be less valuable due to inflation people would use these " temple coins" () as substitute currency.

Toghon Temür

For 40 years the production of coins would not continue until the reign of Toghon Temür who started casting coins again in 1350 alongside his new series of banknotes.

There are three basic typed of the Zhizheng Tongbao (至正通寶) cash coins. The first type has the Earthly Branch, indicating the year of casting, written in 'Phags-pa script located above the square centre hole situated on the reverse side of the cash coin. The Zhizheng Tongbao cash coins with the reverse inscription "寅" (meaning 1350 in the Chinese calendar) are the rarest because they began to be cast in November 1350 meaning that their production period was relatively short. This type was cast in values of 1 ''wén'', 2 ''wén'', and 3 ''wén''.

The 'Phags-pa words on these Zhizheng Tongbao cash coins represent the following years:

In some variants reverse side of the cash coin displays the Mongol word for the Chinese cyclical calendar characters "Geng Yin" (庚寅, ''gēng yín'') which indicates that these cash coins were cast somewhere in the year 1350. These cash coin typically have a diameter of 33 millimeters and tend to have a weight of about 8.8 grams.

The second type of Zhizheng Tongbao cash coins have the Earthly Branch of their year of production above the square centre hole on the reverse side, and the nominal value of the coin below the square centre hole. For example, the words "戌十" (''xū shí'') would denote that the cash coin was produced in the year 1358 and a nominal value of 10 ''wén''. The denominations of this type were cast as 2 ''wén'', 3 ''wén'', 5 ''wén'', and 10 ''wén''.

The third type of Zhizheng Tongbao cash coins have the Earthly Branch representing the year of production above the square centre hole on the reverse side, and the nominal weight of the coin below the square centre hole. For example, the 'Phags-pa transliteration of the word "亥" (''hài'') written above the square centre hole to denote that the cash coin was produced in the year 1359 and the words "壹兩重" (''yī liǎng chóng'') inscribed below the square centre hole which translates as "1 tael