I found that Week 6’s lessons were more comprehensible to me and easier to grasp, as we discussed the issues of currency and value. The resources I focused on were [Money on the Silk Road, Chinese Money in Global Context] Though I must admit that the chronology of when all of the different types of currency was exactly used to be muddled. I also was confused about the difference between bank notes and paper currency? For example, when we were discussing the transition to the use of paper money during the Ming period I was confused as to what differentiated this between the Tang/Yuan’s use of bank notes. It was my impression that the Tang and Yuan valued bank notes differently, as they saw it to take the place of 2 strings of coins (2,000 coins). Their worth is on the basis of fiduciary currency, which parallels our own present day paper dollars ($1, $5, $10… etc.) there is nothing to guarantee it’s worth other than that our society views it as something of worth. The Ming also briefly used their own paper money yet transitioned to the use of a silver economy. Unlike the Tang and Yuan bank notes, the Ming paper money had expiration dates, and had to be exchanged or else it was destroyed. So I can see how the difference comes in usage, as it appears the Ming paper money serves a similar function to credit and debit cards (with an expiration date). I also wonder if the Ming discontinued its use of paper currency due to its durability.
Something which greatly amused me was the interesting shapes the Han dynasty money took. Most interestingly was their form of knife money. I do wonder though how much Han society affected its shape. As we know the Han dynasty was filled with warfare and political tension. Was the money ever used as defensive weapons? Because if so it would be important to see how instability in society affects average citizen’s daily lives (as it appears to have manifested in Han currency). Similarly this observation is applied to spade-money. The least interesting (in my opinion) shape were the cylindrical shaped coins. Though it appears to be the most practical of the differently shaped currency the Han had. It would be pretty inconvenient just carrying a whole bunch of knives/spades to the market just to buy some food…
The coinage which I was expecting to see more prominently this week were the wuzhu coins. Wuzhu coins most resemble coinage which is common in the West. Though the symbolism is intriguing. I was struck with how the five phases appear to be present in everyday life, from philosophy (which is one of its more apparent uses) but also in coinage. The roundness of the coin is meant to symbolize heaven while the square represents earth. It was just fun to see how the five phases manifest in other aspects of Chinese society.
Horesh, Niv. Chinese Money in Global Context: Historic Junctures between 600 BCE and 2012. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2014. (Ebook Trexler Library
Wang, Helen. Money on the Silk Road: The Evidence from Eastern Central Asia to c. AD 800. London: British Museum Press, 2004.(PDF)
