Currency culture includes three levels: material, institutional, and spiritual. It is embodied in the material, shape, text, value, etc. of currency, thus reflecting the overall picture and essence of currency. Monetary culture is a comprehensive standard for currency classification. According to this standard, the currencies of various countries in the pre-Qin period had two systems: those in the Yellow River Basin and those in the Yangtze River Basin. The currency of Chu State is the representative of the currency culture of the Yangtze River Basin.
In treatises about the pre-Qin period, currencies are often divided into four systems: knife, cloth (po), yuan, and shell. If only based on the shape of copper (bronze. The same below) coins, this classification is well-founded. But copper coins are only one type of currency system, and their shape is only one of the characteristics of copper coins. This determines that the criteria for this classification are not comprehensive and the results are unreasonable. The comprehensive standard for currency classification should be currency culture, because it includes the material, institutional and spiritual aspects of currency, reflecting the overall picture and essence of currency. If we distinguish by currency culture, expand our sights from copper coins to currency as a whole, and go from appearance to essence, we will find that there were two currency systems in this period: the one in the Yellow River Basin (north) and the one in the Yangtze River Basin (south). The currency of the Chu State is a representative of the monetary culture of the Yangtze River Basin (Note: There are Wu, Yue, Chu and other countries active in the Yangtze River Basin. So far, there is no currency that can be definitely from Wu, Yue and other countries other than Chu.). This article briefly analyzes the similarities, differences, and mutual influence between the monetary culture of Chu and other countries in the Yellow River Basin of the same period from four aspects: coin material, coin shape, coin text, and coin value.
1. Coin material: precious metal type and base metal type
Coin material is the material carrier of monetary culture and belongs to the material level of monetary culture. In terms of coin materials, the Chu State is similar to the other states in the Yellow River Basin in that they both use cloth and metal. The characteristics of Chu State lie in the following three aspects. (1) Silver coins are used, and the "three gold grades" are complete.
According to "Historical Records: The Family of King Goujian of Yue", Chu had a "house of three coins". "Three Moneys" refers to the three metal currencies of gold, silver and copper. Unearthed cultural relics prove that Chu State did have gold, silver and copper coins. According to pre-Qin, Qin and Han literature records and unearthed cultural relics, countries in the Yellow River Basin used gold as coins and minted copper coins. The difference is that it is certain that the State of Chu used silver as currency; whether the countries in the Yellow River Basin used silver needs to be confirmed by new unearthed cultural relics (Note: See "The Currency of the State of Chu" written by me, Hubei Education Press, 1995 edition, p. 198 -210 pages.). The conclusion that can be drawn so far is that the only country that uses silver as currency is Chu. This makes the state of Chu's gold, silver and copper coins complete, that is, the "three grades of gold" are all available (Note: "Shu·Yu Gong": "Yu Gong only has three grades of gold" in the two states of Jing and Yang. "Historical Records·Pingzhun Shu": "Yu Gong" "Xia Zhi Coin", gold is of three grades: "either yellow, white, or red." In the past, there were two interpretations of the three grades of gold. One is that "jin" means "hardware" gold, which generally refers to metal, and "yellow" gold. For gold, "white" gold is silver, "red" gold is copper. First, "gold" is copper, "yellow" gold is brass, "white" gold is white copper, and "red" gold is red copper. According to the unearthed materials, the types of metal currencies in Chu include gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. Accordingly, the first explanation may be consistent with historical reality). In the strict sense of coin material, the term "gold third grade" is not complete. Because if we analyze the material elements of these metal currencies, the materials of copper coins are copper, lead, and tin. In addition to the gold used to make gold coins and the silver used to make silver coins, there are five metals: copper, tin, lead, gold, and silver. It is more accurate to say that the currency materials of Chu's metal currency are all "gold and five grades". (2) Gold plays an important role in currency materials
From the literature, gold was used in Qin, Zhou, Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan, Qi, Song, Yue, Wu and Chu. For the records of coins. The following facts show that relatively speaking, the status of gold in coins is the most prominent in Chu State.
1. Judging from the physical currency unearthed, all countries in the Yellow River Basin have copper coins. It can be confirmed that no gold coins from these countries have been found yet (Note: Except for Chu, have other countries minted gold coins? It is still difficult to be sure. Gold cakes were unearthed from tombs in the early Warring States period in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, but their national origin has not been proven. Some scholars believe that the gold and silver coins without seals unearthed in Fugou, Henan, were minted in Korea or Zheng. . Some scholars have concluded that it is a Chu coin. From the coin inscriptions and the location of its origin, it is only the Chu State that has confirmed the existence of gold coins. ; Chu State is not the case. Chu gold coins have been found all over the Chu territory at that time. The gold coins unearthed in the Qin, Qi and other states in the Yellow River Basin and can be determined to be minted by the country are also from the Chu state. 2. From the perspective of the function of gold coins, when used as currency, the gold of the countries in the Yellow River Basin can be used for tribute, gifts, rewards, gifts, as a means of payment; or as a measure of value; or as a means of storage; It is only used as a means of circulation in commodity exchanges in "Guanzi: Light and Heavy Chapter", and the writing period of this chapter may be the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, or the Warring States Period, or the late Qin and early Han Dynasty, or the early Western Han Dynasty. It is also considered to be In the late Western Han Dynasty, there is no conclusion yet. The situation in Chu State was very different. Gold has all the functions of currency and is widely used in commodity transactions.
Among the 194 Chu slips in Baoshan, 29 slips involve the use of gold, accounting for 15% of the total slips; 11 slips are only used for Zhai Huang (Bian species), accounting for 5.7% of the total slips, occupying gold slips. 37.9% of the number. (3) Tin plays a prominent role
Among the coins of Chu State, tin plays a prominent role. This is manifested in the following two aspects.
1. Tin is used as an independent currency material. Among the cultural relics unearthed from the Chu State are tin cakes and lead cakes. Its nature can be called a ghost coin or a metal block. Judging from the record in "Historical Records Pingzhunshu" when the Qin Dynasty unified the currency system, it was announced that "beads, jade, turtles, shells, silver, and tin are used as ornaments, treasures, and not as coins." It can be seen that tin was one of the currency materials in the pre-Qin period. These tin cakes were most likely currency.
2. Tin accounts for a large proportion of copper coins. The proportion of tin in copper coins is the highest, with Chu's turtle shells (i.e. ant nose coins. The same below) being the highest (followed by Qi's knife coins). If the tin content of copper coins reaches more than 6%, the volume shrinks little during casting and is easy to form (α + δ) chromium ions, which can improve the strength of the coins and is suitable for casting, making the coins clear in outline, beautiful in appearance, and durable. Durable (Note: The turtle shell of Chu State has a high tin content and a high copper content (up to about 70%), which makes it have a uniform metallographic structure and good mechanical texture. The shape of turtle shell money is characterized by its lightness and small size. The reason why it can take such a light entity and such a small form and resemble a shell (cypraea monete) is mainly due to the large proportion of copper and tin in the coin material. Among the pre-Qin copper coins, the quality of the high-tin turtle shell in Chu State was high. ranked first. ).
The currency of Chu State has an additional type of silver, and gold and tin play a prominent role in its structure. These two aspects give Chu's currency materials two characteristics: first, there are more types, so they are richer, more colorful and more dazzling. Second, the value content is higher. Gold and silver are precious metals with high value. Among the base metal coins tin, copper, and copper, the value of copper is higher than that of lead, and the value of tin is higher than that of copper. Therefore, the value structure of Chu's currency materials is higher than that of other countries in the Yellow River Basin.
These characteristics of Chu's currency materials are determined by its natural resources, metal mining and refining technology, geographical environment, and trade conditions. Among them, the most important thing is that the Chu region has gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead mineral deposits, and its mining technology is very high, so it is famous for the production of these metals. "Shu Yu Gong": "The tribute from Jing and Yangzhou is only three grades of gold"; "Jiujiang accepts tin and big turtles". Li Si's letter to the King of Qin states that among the foreign materials used by the Qin State were "Jiangnan gold and tin" (Note: "Historical Records" Volume 87 "Li Si Biography"). Coin materials reflect a country's natural reserves and social productivity levels.
2. Coin shape: taking images from natural objects and taking images from products
Each currency must have its specific form. Coin shape is the external expression of currency culture. It involves three levels of monetary culture and vividly reflects the characteristics of a country's monetary culture. The characteristics of Chu's metal currency forms are: (1) Multiple shapes
1. A variety of metal currencies were minted. Countries in the Yellow River Basin use gold as currency, but so far no gold coins minted by them have been seen. It is speculated from this that they were probably made of raw gold nuggets or gold coins cast by Chu State (the gold coins of Chu State unearthed in Qin and Qi, and the quote from Li Si above that Qin State used "Jiangnan gold and tin" illustrate this possibility). Countries in the Yellow River Basin only minted copper coins. Chu State minted not only copper coins, but also gold and silver coins.
2. Each metal currency has various casting forms. Chu's gold, silver, and copper coins come in several shapes. The shape of gold coins can be divided into two categories: plate shape and pie shape. Silver coins come in three categories: shovel-shaped, cake-shaped, and plate-shaped. Copper coins are divided into five categories: shell-shaped, porcelain-shaped, rectangular, square and round. There are several styles within these broad categories.
Judging from the existing physical objects, there are many types and shapes of currencies, with Chu being the most popular.
The diversity of currency types and shapes is a product of the low development of commodity exchange relations, which brings some inconveniences in use. With the increase in commodity exchange and monetary exchanges, a universally used and dominant currency will inevitably emerge. During the Warring States Period, among the gold coins, silver coins and copper coins of the Chu State, the most commonly used were gold coins and copper coins. Among gold coins, most are in the turtle shape. Among copper coins, shell-shaped ones account for the vast majority. The plate-shaped gold coins and the shell-shaped copper coins are the two main currencies in the Chu State's metal currency. They are representatives of the Chu State's currency shape. (2) The form of the main gold coins of the Chu State was taken from the tortoise, and the main copper coins were taken from the form of the shell. This is not only based on the unearthed physical objects and their evolution trajectories, but also can be supported by their names.
The copper coins of Chu originally had the same shape as shells, hollow and toothed. Later it evolved into solid and toothless. The abdomen is like the belly of a shell, and the back is like the back of a shell or a turtle. The name "turtle shell" may come from this. From Qin’s order to establish a unified currency system after unifying the six kingdoms, we can know that the common name for copper currencies in various countries in the late Warring States Period was: "or money, or cloth, or knives, or turtle shells" (Note: "Historical Records" Volume 30 "Pingzhun Book").
Among them, "money" refers to the round-shaped copper coins popular in Qin, Zhou, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Qi and other places. "Knife" refers to the knife-shaped copper coins popular in Qi, Yan, Zhao, Zhongshan and other places. "Bu" refers to the copper coin in the shape of a coin (money, shovel) popular in Zhou, Zheng, Wei, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Chu and other places. "Guibei" refers to the copper coins popular in Chu State. Ancient documents and unearthed cultural relics have proven that the copper coins in China during the late Warring States Period were these four types.
Among the gold coins of Chu, the early ones and always the majority were in the shape of turtle version (tortoise's plastron). Turtle version abbreviated version (Note: Han Yu: "Moon Eclipse Poems by Sichuan Zi Zu": "The turtle is cowardly and afraid of the cold, shrinks its neck and covers itself with its shell, and finally makes Kua'e choose the girl out, the diviner burns the cone, and the whole board is like Xingluo. "The board here is the turtle's belly armor.), the version is also used as a board. Therefore, its name is gold, referred to as gold; it is also called gold version, referred to as version (plate).