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Advanced Chinese bronze workmanship gave the necessary technology for the accurate casting of coins. As many as 80 coins were cast at a time using a mold made of clay, stone, brass or sand. The individual coin molds were interconnected in the form of a 'coin tree'. Coinage in China goes back some 2,500 years. The earliest Chinese coins were cast in bronze—by the 1st century BCE, these round coins featured square holes in their centers. This style persisted until about the 13th century, when silver and then brass coins were minted and circulated. These coins continue to be issued for limited usage today. Following the economic reforms of the 1970s, higher denomination coins such as 1, 2, and 5 jiao (10, 20, 50 fen), and 1 yuan coins were issued for limited circulation. The first jiao- and yuan-denominated coins to be circulated on a large-scale basis were issued in the 1990s. Coinage in China goes back some 2,500 years. The earliest Chinese coins were cast in bronze—by the 1st century BCE, these round coins featured square holes in their centers. This style persisted until about the 13th century, when silver and then brass coins were minted and circulated.
At present, banknotes in denominations of one, five, 10, 20, 50, and 100 yuan are in circulation. One yuan coins are also widely used. Due to inflation, banknotes or coins with a value of less than one yuan, including one jiao and five jiao, are rarely used in China. Many places just round up or down to the nearest whole number.
IDENTIFICATION GUIDE
SQUARE HOLE, 4 CHARACTERS
The most commonly encountered Chinese cash date from the Ching Dynasty and have the Manchurian 'BOO' character on the reverse left hand side. This character only occurs on Ching Dynasty cash, so it it is present on the back of your coin, click here, or on the image, to go to a page that lists the Ching Dynasty obverse types. |
The most common non-Ching Chinese cash coins are shown below. If you see one that matches your coin, just click on the image and it will take you to the listing for that type.
THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS OCCUR AT THE 12 O'CLOCK POSITION
Click on the appropriate image. If this character occurs on only one types, you will be taken to the appropriate part of our reference listing. If it occurs on more than one type, you will be shown images of the coins we have listed with that character and if you find your coin just click on the image to go to a listing of it. We apologize for not having all types currently listed, but here are about a thousand of them and it will be some time before all are available. We will try to list the most common types first.
| Character | OFFICIAL | SEAL | GRASS | OTHER |
| TA or TAI | not built | not built |
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
AND THE FEATURES BELOW THIS POINT ARE NOT YET WORKING.
| B | not built | not built | not built | not built |
Chinese Cash Coin Value
Chinese Coins With Holes
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