1.
Chang'an
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Changan is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xian. Changan means Perpetual Peace in Classical Chinese, during the short-lived Xin dynasty, the city was renamed Constant Peace, yet after its fall in AD23, the old name was restored. By the time of the Ming dynasty, the name was changed to Xian, meaning Western Peace. Changan had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao Culture was established in Banpo in the citys suburb, from its capital at Xianyang, the Qin dynasty ruled a larger area than either of the preceding dynasties. The imperial city of Changan during the Han dynasty was located northwest of todays Xian. During the Tang dynasty, the area to be known as Changan included the area inside the Ming Xian fortification, plus small areas to its east and west. The Tang Changan hence, was 8 times the size of the Ming Xian, during its heyday, Changan was one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. Around AD750, Changan was called a million peoples city in Chinese records, while modern estimates put it at around 800, 000–1,000,000 within city walls. According to the census in 742 recorded in the New Book of Tang,362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in Jingzhao Fu, the strategic and economic importance of ancient Changan was mainly due to its central position. The roads leading to Gansu, Sichuan, Henan, Hubei, the site of the Han capital was located 3 km northwest of modern Xian. As the capital of the Western Han, it was the political, economic and it was also the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and a cosmopolitan metropolis. By 2 AD, the population was 246,200 in 80,000 households and this population consisted mostly of the scholar gentry class whose education was being sponsored by their wealthy aristocratic families. In addition to civil servants was a larger underclass to serve them. Initially, Emperor Liu Bang decided to build his capital at the center of the sun and this location was the site of the holy city Chengzhou, home of the last Zhou emperors. The magical significance of location was believed to ensure a long-lasting dynasty like the Zhou. However, in practice the strategic value of a capital located in the Wei Valley became the deciding factor for locating the new capital. To this end, it is recorded c 200 BC he forcibly relocated thousands of clans in the aristocracy to this region. First, it kept all potential rivals close to the new Emperor and his adviser Liu Jing described this plan as weakening the root while strengthening the branch
2.
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou
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Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, personal name Yuwen Yong, nickname Miluotu, was an emperor of the Xianbei dynasty Northern Zhou. He thereafter ruled ably and built up the power of his military, destroying rival Northern Qi in 577, Yuwen Yong was born in 543, as the fourth son of the Western Wei paramount general Yuwen Tai. His mother was Yuwen Tais concubine Lady Chinu and he was born at Yuwen Tais then-headquarters at Tong Province. He was considered filially pious, respectful, and intelligent in his youth, in 554, Emperor Fei of Western Wei created him the Duke of Fucheng. Yuwen Jue took the throne as Emperor Xiaomin, but used the title of Heavenly Prince. Emperor Ming created Yuwen Yong the greater title of Duke of Lu, although Yuwen Yong did not speak much, Emperor Ming made the observation, He did not often speak, but whatever he spoke was always right. In 559, Yuwen Hu formally returned his authorities to Emperor Ming, and Emperor Ming began to rule on governmental matters. In 560, Yuwen Hu, apprehensive of Emperor Mings abilities, had the imperial chef Li An poison him with sugar cookies. Emperor Ming, realizing that he was death, designated Yuwen Yong as his successor. However, the control of the government again fell into Yuwen Hus hands and he formally bestowed Yuwen Hu with not only the military authorities, but also authority over all six ministries. Starting in winter 560, the Northern Zhou generals Heruo Dun and Dugu Sheng began a drawn-out stalemate with the Chen general Hou Tian, around the new year 561, however, Dugu was forced to withdraw, and Heruo was isolated. In spring 561, Hou agreed to let Heruo withdraw if Heruo would yield, and so Heruo withdrew, also in 561, Emperor Wu honored his mother Lady Chinu empress dowager. In spring 562, to foster a relationship with Chen, Northern Zhou returned the brother of Emperor Wen of Chen, Chen Xu, as well as Chen Xus wife Liu Jingyan and son Chen Shubao. In exchange, Chen gave the city of Lushan to Northern Zhou, in summer 562, Emperor Wu, seeing that previously, nobles were not receiving any material benefits from their titles, began to have the nobles receive stipends based on the size of their fiefs. In spring 563, while on a visit to Yuan Province, one of his attendants, Houmochen Chong the Duke of Liang, speculated to his associates that Yuwen Hu had died. When Houmochens speculations became known, Emperor Wu publicly rebuked Houmochen, soon thereafter, he publicly bestowed Yuwen Hu the honor of having his name be subject to naming taboo, an honor that Yuwen Hu declined. Also in spring 563, Emperor Wu promulgated a new 25-volume criminal code drafted by the official Tuoba Di, the northern prong, commanded by the general Yang Zhong, put Jinyang under siege, but was soon defeated by the Northern Qi general Duan Shao and forced to withdraw. In response, the prong, commanded by Daxi Wu
3.
Ancient Chinese coinage
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Ancient Chinese coinage includes some of the earliest known coins. These coins, used as early as the Spring and Autumn period, the Spring and Autumn period also saw the introduction of the first metal coins, however, they were not initially round, instead being either knife shaped or spade shaped. Round metal coins with a round, and then later square hole in the center were first introduced around 350 BCE, the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty to unify China, saw the introduction of a standardised coinage for the whole Empire. Subsequent dynasties produced variations on these round coins throughout the imperial period, ancient Chinese coins are markedly different from coins produced in the west. Chinese coins were manufactured by being cast in molds, whereas western coins were cut and hammered or, in later times. Chinese coins were made from mixtures of metals such copper, tin and lead, from bronze, brass or iron, precious metals like gold. The ratios and purity of the coin metals varied considerably, most Chinese coins were produced with a square hole in the middle. This was used to allow collections of coins to be threaded on a rod so that the rough edges could be filed smooth. Official coin production was not always centralised, but could be spread over many mint locations throughout the country, aside from officially produced coins, private coining was common during many stages of history. Various steps were taken over time to try to combat the private coining and limit its effects, at other times private coining was tolerated. The coins varied in value throughout the history, some coins were produced in very large numbers – during the Western Han, an average of 220 million coins a year were produced. Other coins were of limited circulation and are extremely rare – only six examples of Da Quan Wu Qian from the Eastern Wu Dynasty are known to exist. Occasionally, large hoards of coins have been uncovered, the earliest coinage of China was described by Sima Qian, the great historian of c. While nothing is known about the use of shells as money, gold. They are not found in hoards, and the probability is that all these are in fact funerary items. Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest use of the spade and knife money was in the Spring, as in ancient Greece, socio-economic conditions at the time were favourable to the adoption of coinage. Inscriptions and archaeological evidence shows that cowrie shells were regarded as important objects of value in the Shang Dynasty, in the Zhou period, they are frequently referred to as gifts or rewards from kings and nobles to their subjects. Later imitations in bone, stone or bronze were used as money in some instances
4.
Cash (Chinese coin)
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Cash was a type of coin of China and East Asia from the 2nd century BC until the 20th century AD. The English term cash referring to the coin was derived from the Tamil kāsu, the English word cash, meaning tangible currency, is an older and unrelated word from Middle French caisse. There are a variety of Chinese terms for cash coins, usually descriptive, confusingly, Chinese qián is also a weight-derived currency denomination in Chinese called mace in English. Traditionally, Chinese cash coins were cast in copper, brass or iron, in the mid-19th century, the coins were made of 3 parts copper and 2 parts lead. Cast silver coins were produced but are considerably rarer. Cast gold coins are known to exist but are extremely rare. Chinese cash coins originated from the barter of farming tools and agricultural surpluses, around 1200 BC, smaller token spades, hoes, and knives began to be used to conduct smaller exchanges with the tokens later melted down to produce real farm implements. These tokens came to be used as media of exchange themselves and were known as spade money, the hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coins low value. The number of coins in a string of cash varied over time, a string of 1000 cash was supposed to be equal in value to one tael of pure silver. A string of cash was divided into ten sections of 100 cash each, local custom allowed the person who put the string together to take a cash or a few from each hundred for his effort. Thus an ounce of silver could exchange for 970 in one city and 990 in the next, in some places in the North of China short of currency the custom counted one cash as two and fewer than 500 cash would be exchanged for an ounce of silver. A string of cash weighed over ten pounds and was carried over the shoulder. Paper money equivalents known as flying cash sometimes showed pictures of the number of cash coins strung together. The Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese all cast their own copper cash in the part of the second millennium similar to those used by China. The last Chinese cash coins were struck, not cast, in the reign of the Qing Xuantong Emperor shortly before the fall of the Empire in 1911, the coin continued to be used unofficially in China until the mid-20th century. Vietnamese cash continued to be cast up until 1933, in AD666, a new system of weights came into effect with the zhū being replaced by the mace with 10 mace equal to one tael. The mace denominations were so ubiquitous that the Chinese word qián came to be used as the word for money. Other traditional Chinese units of measurement, smaller subdivisions of the tael, were used as currency denominations for cash coins
5.
Western Wei
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The Western Wei followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei, and ruled northern China from 535 to 557. As with the Northern Wei state that preceded it, the family of Western Wei were members of the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei. After the Xianbei general Yuwen Tai killed the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Xiu, although smaller than the Eastern Wei in territory and population, Western Wei was able to withstand the attacks from the eastern empire. Due to its better economical conditions, Western Wei was even able to conquer the western part of the Liang empire in the south. In 557 Yuwen Tais nephew Yuwen Hu deposed Emperor Gong and placed Yuwen Tais son Yuwen Jue on the throne, ending Western Wei and establishing Northern Zhou
