When talking about Chu State, many people have an image of Xiang Yu in their minds. Whether it is in movies, TV dramas or official historical records, Xiang Yu, as the "Overlord of Western Chu", even though he was ultimately defeated by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang, however, is still said to have won the hearts of the people both ancient and modern. Li Qingzhao, a talented woman in ancient times and a great poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, praised Xiang Yu as "I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross the Yangtze River" and regarded Xiang Yu as an outstanding person. So in the history of Chu State for nearly a thousand years, it has experienced countless ups and downs, honors and disgrace. What unknown stories are there in its history?
After the surrounding emperors implemented the enfeoffment system, King Zhou Cheng made Xiong Jiang, the leader of the Chu people, a viscount, and the Chu Kingdom was established. The Chu State was weak when it was first established. There was an incident of "cattle theft in the state of Bo" in history. At that time, the state of Chu was so poor that they stole cattle from other countries to hold sacrifices. After hundreds of years of historical changes, Chu State grew from a small and poor country to the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, and then was destroyed by Qin Shihuang. Then Xiang Yu reestablished Chu State and competed with Liu Bang for the world. Over the past eight hundred years, Chu State said There are ups and downs.
When discussing the rise and decline of Chu State, the most inseparable thing is currency. From the beginning of human civilization to the present modern civilization, the role of currency has always been at the top, so the currency system of Chu State So what? In the rise and fall of Chu State, what role did currency play? First, let’s look at the early days of the Chu State. When the Chu State was first established, the country was poor and weak and had no status at all among the vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty.
So the currency used by the Chu State at this time was the unified currency of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to available historical documents, currency originated from the Shang Dynasty. Therefore, during the Zhou Dynasty, the currency mainly followed the currency system of the Shang Dynasty. , mainly natural sea shells. In addition, the metallurgical technology of the Zhou Dynasty has made great progress compared with the Shang Dynasty. At this time, metal currency began to enter the stage of history.
Although bronzes were already available during the Huangdi period, the bronze smelting technology was very backward. It took the entire tribe to make a Xuanyuan sword. Therefore, even though the currency of the Shang Dynasty became popular, it could not be used as metal coins. To trade, you can only use naturally occurring shells as currency.
During the Zhou Dynasty, bronze smelting technology was qualitatively improved compared to the Shang Dynasty, so metal coins began to be used in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but shell coins were still not eliminated. At this time, the monetary system was divided into two types: metal and shell. This currency is used in circulation and is also the currency system used by Chu State. At this time, the Chu State was too weak to use its own coins, so it used the same coins as the Zhou Dynasty.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty declined, the slave society gradually collapsed, and began to gradually move towards a feudal society. At this time, the heroes were divided and the princes were fighting for hegemony. The Zhou Dynasty was no longer the only currency. In order to demonstrate their power, the powerful vassal states began to create new currencies, so a large number of new currencies began to be born. Among them, "cloth coins" are the most recognized, and cloth coins can be recognized as the earliest coins born.
It was also during this period that the Chu State began to rise, from weak to strong. Later generations will know that Chu culture was very prosperous during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was called "Jingchu Culture", which had a profound impact on the development of later literature. There is also the ancient language of "writing Chu language, composing Chu sounds, recording Chu places, and naming Chu things." In the Spring and Autumn Period, the culture of Chu State influenced the whole country, and Qu Yuan and his "Chu Ci" have been passed down to future generations for thousands of years.
In addition, the Chu State has the silk embroidery craftsmanship of its leaders, the music with complete eight-tone music, the dancing of crouching, the ingenious lacquerware manufacturing craftsmanship, the profound philosophy, and the unbridled willfulness. Excellent prose, stunning poetry, and bizarre art. Therefore, Chu culture has been popular since the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Chu currency has also been popular throughout the Spring and Autumn Period.
In addition to the cloth coins that are popular in all countries, Chu State's bronze casting technology is ahead of other countries. With this technology, two bronze coins, "Ant Nose Money" and "Ying Yuan" were created. Because of the prevalence of Chu culture, Chu's currency also became popular in the countries of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods due to the spread of culture.
The ant-nosed money is made of bronze and is the first generation of self-made currency of the Chu State. It has text printed on the front and is similar in shape to shell coins. It is not much different from the copper coins of the Zhou Dynasty. At this time, the Chu State had just begun to turn from decline to prosperity, and was waiting for prosperity. It was quite a bit like the modern saying of "beating the face to make a fool of yourself". Although the originally weak country began to become strong, it had no foundation and could not compete with other princes. The country generates deterrence.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the importance of currency was self-evident. It was the most important way for people and even kings to trade goods. In such an environment, the king of Chu thought of using currency to strengthen Chu's control over other countries. The deterrent power of vassal states. So the currency "Ant Nose Money" was born. At that time, the Chu State's copper casting technology had made great breakthroughs, but there was no better currency form, so it was improved on the basis of the original shell-shaped bronze currency of the Zhou Dynasty. , creating something other than "ant nose money".
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the beginning of the Warring States Period, the State of Chu became increasingly powerful and became one of the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period". At this time, in addition to its strong national power, Chu State's culture was highly praised by literati throughout the Central Plains region. Unofficial history or folklore has it that Confucius traveled south to Chu and returned without seeing the king of Chu.
Later generations believe that the reason why the king of Chu did not see Confucius was not because he was contemptuous, but because Confucius’ influence had been heard in all countries at that time. Confucius’ Confucianism was not in line with the culture of Chu, so Chu The king refused to see Confucius to prevent the Chu State from being influenced by Confucius' thoughts and leading to the invasion of its own culture.
It can be said that the Chu State at this time was not inferior to any country in terms of influence, especially the civilization of the Chu State. All kinds of cultures were ahead of other countries. There were hundreds of schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. Most of them are influenced by Chu culture. Before Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, Chu State could be said to be the most prosperous country in the Warring States Period.
In this way, in order to expand the influence of Chu State, the kings of Chu State followed the example of their ancestors in the early Spring and Autumn Period and enhanced the external expansion of Chu State culture in the form of currency circulation. Compared with the Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu State at this time not only improved its casting technology, but also had a qualitative change in culture, so the form of currency was no longer restricted to the form of the original Zhou State. From this, "Ying Yuan" was born, which was the first currency made of gold in history and was of great significance to future generations.
It can be said that the formation of several currencies of Chu State is inevitably related to the culture contained in them and the social status of Chu State at that time.