Ancient Chinese Currency {& Qin Dynasty} Homeschool Lesson

In this homeschool lesson about ancient Chinese currency we first learnt about early currency forms such as cowrie shells. Next, we will be researching the unified currency which resulted in the familiar round coins with square holes. Lastly, we made some very cool replicas of the ancient Chinese unified currency of the Qin dynasty.

The Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE) was the first imperial dynasty of China. It was known for unifying the Warring States and establishing a centralized bureaucratic government. This governmental prototype would serve as the model for subsequent Chinese dynasties. Though short-lived, its founder, Qin Shi Huang (the “First Emperor”), implemented numerous foundational reforms and massive construction projects. These had a lasting impact on Chinese history and culture. 

The Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty

The state of Qin, originally a minor vassal on the western periphery, grew powerful during the Warring States period. This is because of its military strength and the adoption of Legalism. Legalism is a philosophy advocating for strict laws and absolute authority. In 221 BCE, King Zheng of Qin completed the conquest of the other six rival states. After, he declared himself Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China.

The Qin Dynasty ruled with a brutal, authoritarian hand. It relying on forced labor for large-scale projects like the Great Wall and the Emperor’s mausoleum. Qin Shi Huang’s death in 210 BCE led to a power struggle among his advisors and his weaker second son. Widespread popular revolts, fueled by heavy taxation and the oppressive regime, broke out shortly after. This caused the weakened empire to fall to rebel forces by 206 BCE, paving the way for the Han Dynasty. 

Key Achievements of the Qin Dynasty including Ancient Chinese Currency

Unification and Centralisation

Qin Shi Huang replaced the old feudal system with a highly centralised, bureaucratic government. This government was divided into commanderies and prefectures, managed by appointed officials rather than hereditary nobles.

Standardisation

To facilitate trade, communication, and governance across the vast empire, the Qin standardized the Chinese script (small seal script). It also unified ancient Chinese currency (banliang coins), weights and measures, and the width of roads and cart axles.

Massive Infrastructure Projects

The dynasty initiated enormous public works, including an early version of the Great Wall of China, a vast national road and canal system to improve transport and military supply lines. Oh, and the construction of the Emperor’s opulent mausoleum. It was guarded by the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors and horses, a major archaeological discovery in 1974.

End of Feudalism

By removing the power of regional aristocrats, the Qin created a foundation for a meritocratic bureaucracy in later dynasties.

Enduring Name

The name “China,” in Western languages, is widely believed to be derived from “Qin” (pronounced “chin”). 

The Qin Dynasty’s institutional and cultural changes permanently shaped the course of Chinese history. Particularly, inaugurating the imperial era that lasted for two millennia. 

Homeschool Lesson Essay Writing

This week, I wanted to introduce the children to taking notes from three different sources. Afterwards, they would put them into a spider diagram or key word outline, in preparation for writing an essay.  This is a useful in three ways:

1. The children learn to read different accounts, written in different ways, with an emphasis on different aspects of the topic.
2. They absorb a surprising amount of information when they have to read three different accounts
3. They begin to learn the skill of speed reading and picking out the most important facts

I decided not to require them to actually write the essay. This was so they could concentrate on note taking from various sources without becoming overwhelmed by an essay also.  During our study of Marco Polo I had introduced the idea of highlighting keywords from passages and then making a note of them in the prewriting organization tool.  They had found it quite easy. So, I wanted to expand on the idea but use three different sources of information instead of just one:

This was a great exercise which worked so well! They were able to see how logical and simple it was to pre-write plans such as these.  I will do this a few times with them until they are confident. Once they are confident, I’ll require an essay out of them!

Ancient Chinese Currency

Ancient Chinese currency included a variety of early forms like cowrie shells, bronze spade and knife money, and later standardised round coins with square holes, such as the banliang and wuzhu. Monetary systems also involved ingots of silver for large transactions and eventually early forms of paper money. 

Early currency forms

• Cowrie shells: Used as early money, even after they became scarce, leading to copies made from other materials like bone, stone, and bronze.
• Spade and knife money: Bronze coins shaped like tools, which were widely used during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
• Gold: Used as a form of currency, particularly in the south.
• Silver ingots: Boat-shaped ingots of silver, or “yuan,” were used for larger transactions, especially during later dynasties. 

Unified currency 

• Banliang (半兩): The first standardized currency for the unified empire under Qin Shi Huang, these were round coins with a square hole in the middle.
• Wuzhu (五銖): These coins, which became the most common coin denomination in Chinese history, replaced the banliang and were used for centuries.
• Round coins: The design of a round coin with a square hole became a lasting symbol of Chinese currency. 

Later developments

• Paper money: The first official paper money was issued during the Ming dynasty, representing a certain number of copper coins.
• Private banknotes: During the Qing dynasty, private banks issued their own paper notes, often called “yinpiao” (silver notes) or “qianpiao” (cash notes). 

The unified currency of ancient China was the “Ban Liang” coin, introduced by the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, around 210 BCE during the Qin dynasty. Before this, different Chinese states used different forms of currency, such as spade-shaped and knife-shaped coins. 

About the Ban Liang coin: 

• Appearance: It was a round copper coin with a square hole in the center, a design that remained standard for Chinese cash coins until the 20th century.
• Standardization: The coin was part of Qin Shi Huang’s efforts to standardize not only the currency but also writing, weights, and measures across the newly unified empire.
• Circulation: Due to the low value of a single coin, people often strung many of them together for larger transactions.
• Design influence: The coin’s design became the model for subsequent Chinese coinage for many centuries. 

How to Make Your Own Ancient Chinese Currency

Forge Your Own Coins!

Chinese coins were cast which made them easy to forge, which is exactly what we tried to do!  The children used plasticine to make the molds and plaster for the coins:

Here are our three casts. At this point, the coins would have been forged using molten copper. For us though, it was more practical to use plaster which would give clear shaped coins which we could then paint a copper colour:

They painted them bronze adding Chinese characters, ensuring they had a square hole in the middle so they could be kept on a chain with a person’s keys:

Writing On Silk

As we hadn’t done much on silk production, the children found out some information from our ancient China books.  Writing up until the Qin period had been done onto hard surfaces such as bamboo, tortoise-shell and bone.  As these mediums were heavy and cumbersome to carry around, the richest of society turned to silk as an early form of ‘paper’.  Using lacquer (we used black nail varnish) we wrote some Chinese characters onto the silk.  We had used special Chinese ink when we did our brush calligraphy last week, and we will be using it again when we do some printing so I wanted the children to experience a different type of writing fluid.  Many vessels have been found dating from this period bearing brush written lacquer inscriptions, proving lacquer was indeed used like ink:

Chinese Food This Week

As noodles were said to be invented during the Qin dynasty we had a noodle based dinner for our special Chinese meal:

Next week we are looking at the Han dynasty and their invention of paper