Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Li Wei
In 1089, Su Shi came to Hangzhou for the second time, this time as the mayor, the position of Taishou, the highest official of Hangzhou.
He saw that the West Lake was more heavily silted than it was more than 10 years ago, but dredging the West Lake needed financial support, where did the money come from?
Su Dongpo presented the "Hangzhou Beggar Du Mu Kai West Lake", using these 100 degrees (度牒, the ancient written certificate of monks and nuns ordination, monks and nuns with degrees, can be exempted from taxes and labor), in exchange for 17,000 yuan.
According to the "Song Dynasty Food And Goods Chronicle", the consistent money of the Song Dynasty is equivalent to 770 copper coins, while the weight of the more common copper coin Xiaoping Qian in the Northern Song Dynasty is about 3 grams, and 17,000 yuan is stacked together, which is equivalent to a money mountain weighing 39 tons.
In the China Museum of Finance and Taxation in the southwest corner of Wushan Square in Hangzhou, there are many Song Dynasty copper coins, and there is also a money mountain - 130 centimeters long, 26 centimeters wide, 85 centimeters high, and weighing 1 ton of iron money money.
Rusty Iron Money Money Mountain
Yes, the Song Dynasty also cast iron coins, which were circulated and used in local areas. In 1997, when these countless Song Dynasty iron coins were unearthed in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, they were already layered and interlaced and glued together, and could not be separated.
Su Shi dredged the West Lake, relying only on 39 tons of more than 17,000 guan is not enough, he launched a fundraising, and auctioned his own calligraphy and paintings, and finally hired 200,000 laborers, dredged the West Lake, using the dredging excavated grass and silt to accumulate into the "Su Causeway".
Tell this story because the treasure of the town hall we will launch next is the Song Dynasty copper coin, a piece is only a text, there is no gold leaf, gold collar value, but the most common copper coin circulating in the Song Dynasty, it is really worth saying.
Chun Hee Won Treasure
◆ Single item recommendation: Chunxi Yuanbao China Finance and Taxation Museum
◆ Recommended by: Xu Xiang, director of the China Finance and Taxation Museum
In China's thousands of years of numismatic rivers, the Song Dynasty money system is definitely the most complex, innovative, varied editions, superb minting, exquisite coins, almost a microcosm of Song Dynasty culture, is a delicate business card of the Song Dynasty.
Before entering the exhibition hall of the Two Song Dynasties, pass by the Mural of Lin'an
In the Song Dynasty, there were gold and silver currencies (mainly used for offerings, rewards, etc.), copper coins, iron coins (circulating currencies), and the denominations were divided into small flat, folded two, dang ten and so on.
The emperors of the Song Dynasty especially liked to mint money, and every emperor had to mint new coins when he ascended the throne, and the same emperor had to mint new coins once he changed his era name, creating the highest number in the history of the dynasty.
There is also the calligraphy on the coin, which is so diverse that it can open a font library, seal, li, true, line, grass, everything.
This is a pair of Northern Song Dynasty Yuan Feng Tong Bao fold two pairs of money, the book style is seal book (left), Xingshu (right)
What's more, the Song Dynasty also engaged in the right money. The text, size, thickness, weight, standard, and material of the money are the same, the only difference is the use of different books, or a line of one seal, or a subordinate seal, in pairs, mirroring each other.
The Song Dynasty's love for coins, the emperor will even personally write Qianwen, creating a precedent of "Royal Book Money", Song Taizong, Song Zhenzong, Song Huizong, Song Gaozong, Song Xiaozong, etc. have minted "Royal Book Money", especially Song Huizong has played his calligraphy art vividly between the square inches of coins, and in the 25 years of his reign, he has personally written the qianwen of Chongning, Daguan, Zhenghe, Xuanhe and other era names.
In the display case, there is not enough to watch, and on the display wall of the China Finance and Taxation Museum, there is also an enlarged model of the Great Guan Tongbao, a typical "jade stroke silver hook" thin gold body.
Among so many wonderful Song coins, the Chunxi Yuanbao we have picked out and talked about has its rare features - it is the first annual coin in China, the Chunxi Yuanbao minted in the seventh year of Chunxi (1180), and the word "Qi" of the year of the year is cast on the back. Today, the Song characters that we widely use were originally born in The Xiaoping Qian during the Chunxi Dynasty.
This is the front and back of a Chunxi Yuanbao, and the reverse side is cast with the words "Fifteenth", representing that this coin was produced in the fifteenth year of Chunxi
There is already an era number at the time of coinage, so why add a chronology? Because the Southern Song Dynasty lacked copper and the price of copper was high, which led to the loss of minting money, the minting supervisors bought old money from the market and handed it over in order to complete the annual minting task. In order to eliminate this drawback, the year of the year is minted on the coin. However, this practice of minting chronological coins did not continue after the Song Dynasty.
Portrait of Song Xiaozong
Chunxi is the third era name of Emperor Xiaozong of Song. Emperor Xiaozong of Song (宋孝宗赵昚) (27 November 1127 – 28 June 1194) succeeded Emperor Gaozong of Song as the seventh grandson of Emperor Gaozong of Song and the adopted son of Emperor Gaozong of Song. Later generations generally believed that Zhao Yun was the most accomplished emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, who rehabilitated Yue Fei's unjust case, used people from the main war faction, and was determined to recover the Central Plains; in internal affairs, he strengthened the centralization of power, actively rectified the rule of officials, eliminated redundant officials, punished corruption, attached importance to agricultural production, and the people's well-being, which was called "the rule of Qianchun" in history.
There is a small episode in the middle, from "Pure Hee Yuanbao" to "Chunxi Yuanbao" also reflects Zhao Yun's ambition and helplessness.
The era name was "Chunxi", originally "Chunxi". The word "ChunXi" comes from the Poems of Zhou Song and Discretion: "Yu Shuo Wangshi, obeying Shi Xi, Shi Chun Xi. This passage praises the merits of King Keshang of Zhou Wu, the word "Chunxi" is interpreted as light, mostly used for morality or morality, Song Xiaozong used these two words as the era name, and what he wanted to express in his heart was to emulate King Keshang of Wu and recover the northern lands.
However, the era name "Chunxi" only existed for six days, and under the pressure of Emperor Gaozong of Song and the lords and factions of the dynasty, Song Xiaozong had to change "Chunxi" to "Chunxi".
The "Chunxi Yuanbao" was minted within these six days, and the mint should not be far from the capital City of Lin'an. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the national mint was in the current Jiande, known as Yanzhou in ancient times, and China's first annual coin was probably produced in Yanzhou Shenquanjian.
Chunxi Thirteen Years of "General Map of yanzhou capital"
Yanzhou, which is now Jiande Meicheng, has a copper official mountain, where copper was mined during the Tang Dynasty, and the Muzhou Shenquan Prison was placed during the Northern Song Dynasty, which was one of the seventeen copper coin mints in the country during the Northern Song Dynasty. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Muzhou was renamed Yanzhou. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yanzhou Shenquan supervision stopped casting, and it was not reforged until the Southern Song Dynasty Shaoxing period.
So, what could a Chunxi Yuanbao Xiaoping coin have been able to buy at that time?
The researchers of Caibo calculated it like this: In the thirteenth year of Chunxi, the imperial court bought grain at 2 consecutive 300 yuan per stone, and one stone in the Song Dynasty was about 59.2 kilograms, and according to the current price of 3 yuan a catty of rice, a Chunxi Yuanbao Xiaoping coin circulating in the two Zhejiang regions for thirteen years was equivalent to one cent and a half cents.
It can be said that a few cents of Song qian condenses the ultimate of calligraphy art in a period, as well as the condensation of science and technology, craftsmanship and aesthetic taste, as well as the strict management of the state in currency.
The Song Dynasty loved money, really right.
Interior view of the Financial Expo Exhibition Hall
The above pictures are provided by the China Finance and Taxation Museum
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Source: Qian Jiangwan