30-Second Ancient China by Dr. Yijie Sung

Author:Dr. Yijie Sung
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: The Ivy Press
Published: 2015-09-24T04:00:00+00:00

One of the earliest recorded Chinese physicians, according to legend Bian Que was a gifted diagnostician and his skills ranged from acupuncture to surgery.

COINAGE

the 30-second history

Most transactions in the Early Bronze Age of China were performed using commodities as currency. The emergence of a true monetary system had to wait until the Eastern Zhou period. By then, the states of central-north China employed three main types of bronze coinage, which still bore the shape of primitive commodity currencies. They were the spade-shaped Bu coin, the knife-shaped Dao coin and rounded coins with a round or square hole in the middle. In south China, the coinage system was quite different, possibly indicating a different trajectory of cultural development. The area of ancient Chu, while also using Bu coins, operated largely with Yi Bi coins, which were usually perforated, shell-shaped and had pronounced inscriptions on the front surface. The shape might have been derived from the ancient tradition of using shells and shell-shaped bronze as currency. Precious metal coinage, such as the gold stamped plaque, also appeared during this period, though it played a relatively minor role compared to the bronze coinages. When the first emperor, Qin Shinghuandi, finally united the country in 221 BCE, he adopted the round coin called Ban Liang as the currency of his empire. This became the prototype for almost all Chinese bronze coins in later periods.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.