Ancient Chinese Coinage - Wang Mang

Wang Mang

Wang Mang was a nephew of the Dowager Empress Wang, In AD 9, he usurped the throne, and founded the Xin Dynasty. He introduced a number of currency reforms which met with varying degrees of success. The first reform, in AD 7, retained the Wu Zhu coin, but reintroduced two versions of the knife money:
一刀平五千 Yi Dao Ping Wu Qian (One Knife Worth Five Thousand). The Yi Dao characters are inlaid in gold.

契刀五百 Qi Dao Wu Bai (Inscribed Knife Five Hundred).

Between AD 9 and 10 he introduced an impossibly complex system involving tortoise shell, cowries, gold, silver, six round copper coins, and a reintroduction of the spade money in ten denominations.

The Six Coins. AD 9-14.

• 小泉直一 Xiao Quan Zhi Yi. Small Coin, Value One
• 么泉一十 Yao Quan Yi Shi. Baby Coin, Ten
• 幼泉二十 You Quan Er Shi. Juvenile Coin, Twenty
• 中泉三十 Zhong Quan San Shi. Middle Coin, Thirty
• 壯泉四十 Zhuang Quan Si Shi. Adult Coin, Forty
• 大泉五十 Da Quan Wu Shi, a round coin with a nominal value of fifty Wu Zhu

The Ten Spades. AD 10-14.

• 小布一百 Xiao Bu Yi Bai. Small Spade, One Hundred
• 么布二百 Yao Bu Er Bai. Baby Spade, Two Hundred
• 幼布三百 You Bu San Bai. Juvenile Spade, Three Hundred
• 序布四百 Xu Bu Si Bai. Ordered Spade, Four Hundred.
• 差布五百 Cha Bu Wu Bai. Servant Spade, Five Hundred.
• 中布六百 Zhong Bu Liu Bai. Middle Spade, Six Hundred.
• 壯布七百 Zhuang Bu Qi Bai. Adult Spade, Seven Hundred.
• 第布八百 Di Bu Ba Bai. Graduate Spade, Eight Hundred.
• 次布九百 Ci Bu Jiu Bai. Lower Spade, Nine Hundred.
• 大布衡千 Da Bu Heng Qian. Large Spade, Weight One Thousand.

According to the History of Han:

The people became bewildered and confused, and these coins did not circulate. They secretly used Wu Zhu coins for their purchases. Wang Mang was very concerned at this and issued the following decree:

“Those who dare to oppose the court system and those who dare to use Wu Zhus surreptitiously to deceive the people and equally the spirits will all be exiled to the Four Frontiers and be at the mercy of devils and demons.”

The result of this was that trade and agriculture languished, and food became scarce. People went about crying in the markets and the highways, the numbers of sufferers being untold.

In AD 14, all these tokens were abolished, and replaced by another type of spade coin and new round coins.
貨布 Huo Bu (Money Spade).
貨泉 Huo Quan (Wealth/Money Coin).
According to Schjöth, Wang Mang wished to displace the Wu Zhu currency of the Western Han, owing, it is said, to his prejudice to the 金 jin radical in the character 銖 zhu of this inscription, which was a component part of the character Liu, the family name of the rulers of the House of Han, whose descendant Wang Mang had just dethroned. And so he introduced the Huo Quan currency. One of the reasons, again, that this coin circulated for several years into the succeeding dynasty was, so the chroniclers say, the fact that the character 泉 quan in the inscription consisted of the two component parts 白 bai and 水 shui, which happened to be the name of the village, Bai Shui in Henan, in which the Emperor Guang Wu, who founded the Eastern Han, was born. This circumstance lent a charm to this coin and prolonged its time of circulation. The Huo Quan did indeed continue to be minted after the death of Wang Mang – a mould dated AD 40 is known.

布泉 Bu Quan (Spade Coin). Known later as the 男錢 Nan Qian, the Male Cash, from the belief that if a woman wore this on her sash, she would give birth to a boy. Eventually, Wang Mang's unsuccessful reforms provoked an uprising, and he was killed by rebels in AD 23.