 | THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty |  |
I. APPENDIX I
THE PASSAGES IN
"THE TREATISE ON FOOD AND GOODS"
DEALING WITH WANG MANG
The following two passages are the most important accounts of Wang
Mang in the HS outside of his "Memoir" and are necessary in order to
understand his period, hence they are translated here in full. They
occur at the end of the first and second parts of this "Treatise."
There are a few additional passages dealing with this period: the section
in the "Memoir on the Huns" (HS ch. 94) is translated in de Groot,
Die Hunnen der vorchristlichen Zeit, ch. XX-XXII. The few scattered
matters in the "Memoir on the Western Frontier Regions" (HS ch. 96)
are to be found in his companion volume, Chinesischen Urkunden zur
Geschichte Asiens (cf. his index sub Wang Mang). The passage (about a
page) in the "Memoir on the Southwestern Barbarians" (HS ch. 95) is
translated by A. Wylie in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
vol. 9 (1879/1880), p. 64, 65. There is also a brief section at the
end of the "Treatise on the Suburban Sacrifices and State Offerings to the
Spirits" (HS ch. 25, which is not translated; it deals with Wang Mang's
alterations in the state sacrifices and his attempts to secure immortality).
Other passages dealing with this period, found in the various biographies
of the HS and HHS, are abstracted in the Glossary. With these accounts,
the reader should be able to secure a well-rounded view of Wang
Mang and his period.
After this translation had been prepared and sent to press, there appeared
a translation of these two passages in Food & Money in Ancient
China, Han Shu 24, by Nancy Lee Swann (Princeton University Press,
1950). The difficulty of altering a proof which was already in page form
has however prevented me from referring to this translation.
THE HISTORY OF THE [FORMER] HAN [DYNASTY]
Chapter XXIV
THE TREATISE ON FOOD AND GOODS
A. PART A
After Emperor P'ing died,[2] Wang Mang occupied
[the post of] Regent and thereupon usurped the
throne. Wang Mang profited from the Han [dynasty's]
estate, inheriting its peacefulness: the Huns
had pronounced themselves its tributaries and the
many barbarians had submitted respectfully, so that
wherever boats or carriages could go, all [people] were
its male or female subjects,[6] and its yamens and
treasuries [exhibited] "the richness of its host of
officers,"[7] with the result that the empire was at
rest. In one morning, [Wang] Mang possessed them
[all, but] his mind and intentions were not yet satisfied.
He despised the institutions of the Han dynasty,
considering them to be lax.
Emperor Hsüan had first granted the [Hun] Shan-yü
an imperial seal like that of the Son of Heaven,
and [the Marquis of] Kou-t'ing, [Wu Po], a southwestern
barbarian, had been entitled a king. [Wang]
Mang however sent a commissioner to change the seal
degraded the King of Kou-t'ing to be a marquis.
Not until then did these two quarters become resentful
and trespass the borders. [Wang] Mang thereupon
raised an army, mobilizing a multitude of three
stroke to annihilate the Huns. He solicited and
mobilized the empire's convicts, freemen, and armed
soldiers, to transport supplies and bring military
implements. From the seacoast, the Yangtze and
the Huai Rivers, to the northern borders, commissioners,
[riding in] galloping quadrigae, supervised
and urged them, [so that all] within [the four] seas
were disturbed.[21]
Moreover, whenever [Wang Mang] acted, he desired
to imitate ancient [practises], and did not consider
what was appropriate to the times,[22]
so he
divided up the provinces and commanderies, altered
the duties [of officials], and created [new] offices.
He issued an ordinance,[23]
which said,
"The Han dynasty reduced and lightened the land
there were regularly [required] conscript service and
capitation taxes, which [even] the sick and aged were
all required to pay,[27] while powerful common people
rentals [required for their land, so that while], in
name, the [poor] were taxed [only one]-thirtieth, in
reality, they were taxed or paid in rent five-tenths
of their produce. The rich were proud[33] and did
evil, and the poor became destitute and acted wickedly.
Both [of them] fell into crime, so that the
punishments [had to be] employed and could not be
set aside.
"Now I am changing the names of the cultivated
male and female slaves to be `private adherents.' All
are not to be permitted to be bought or sold. Let
it be that those [rich families with] eight males or
less, who have more cultivated fields than those in
one ching [900 mou], shall divide the cultivated fields
that are in excess [of those in one ching] and give
them to their nine [classes of] relatives or to [people
in] their neighborhood." The punishment of those
who violated this ordinance was as great as death.
The institutions and regulations were moreover not
so that the empire kept murmuring,[36] and those
who fell into punishment were multitudes.
The third year[37]
afterwards, [because Wang]
arrangements], he issued an imperial edict, [saying],
"Those who enjoy the income from the King's fields
together with [those who have] private adherents,
are all to be permitted to sell or buy them, and are
were however very severe, and in other[43] [respects]
his government was contrary to reason and disorderly.
The troops at the border, [numbering] more than
two hundred thousand men, relied upon the imperial
government for food and clothing; [since Wang
Mang's] means were insufficient, he repeatedly [exacted]
unreasonable poll-taxes and imposts, so that
the common people became all the more poor and
impoverished. They constantly suffered from withering
droughts, and there were no abundant harvests,
so that the prices of the grains soared and were high.
In his last years, robbers and bandits arose in great
numbers, and when he mobilized armies to attack
them, the generals and officials acted with free license
outside [the capital], so that at the northern borders
and in the regions of Ch'ing and Hsü [Provinces],
people ate each other. At Lo-yang and east of it,
grain was two thousand [cash per] picul,[46] [so
Wang] Mang sent [one of] the highest ministers and
a general to open the various granaries in the eastern
quarter, and to give and lend to those who were in
extremity or indigent.[48] He also sent out by divisions
grandees and internuncios to teach the common
people to boil [parts of] trees and make a vegetable
juice, [but] the vegetable juice could not be eaten,
[and the sending merely] made much trouble and
disturbance.[51] The vagrant common people who
entered the passes [of Kuan-chung numbered] several
hundred thousand persons, [so Wang Mang] established
an Office for Maintenance and Relief,[52] in
order to distribute [grain] to them, [but] the officials
or eight-tenths of them died of hunger.[54]
[Wang] Mang was ashamed [to recognize that
so he issued imperial edicts which said, "I have
met with the distresses of the nine dry years and [the
untoward] occurrences in the 106 [years], of withering
droughts, frosts, locusts, famines, repeated arrivals
of `barbarians who have troubled the Chinese,' robbers
and bandits [who follow] a wicked course, and
people who become vagrants and fall into [crime].
I am greatly saddened by it. This injurious emanation
will [soon] end." Year by year he produced
this explanation, until he came to ruin.[57]
This statement is all that the Treatise says concerning the period when Wang Mang
was ruling for Emperor P'ing.
A statement characteristic of the Legalists (Bodde, China's First Unifier, p. 214f);
perhaps also of the Confucianists. Mencius says that Confucius was timely (V, ii, i, 5).
A T'ang manuscript of HS 24 A has been preserved in Japan in the Höjöin of the
Shimpuku Temple in Nagoya. Yang Shou-ching (1839-1915) had a tracing of it made in
1895; it was edited by Li Shu-ch'ang (1837-1897) and published as vol. 21 of the "Ku-yi
Ts'ung-shu", under the title, Ying T'ang-hsieh-pen HS Shih-huo Chih. Unfortunately,
this tracing is not always accurate. Dr. Takao Yamada has published a photolithographic
facsimile, under the title, Han-sho Shokka-shi [OMITTED], under the auspices of the
Koten Hozon-kai [OMITTED].
This manuscript taboos the words shih-min [OMITTED] (they usually lack a stroke; occasionally,
as on folio leaf 7, reverse [b], column 7 of the facsimile, and 8a1,5, the word [OMITTED] is
written for min [this latter form of taboo is not in Ch'en Yüan's list]). Shih-min was the
personal name of Emperor Wen [OMITTED], the Grand Exemplar (the T'ai-tsung) of the T'ang
dynasty. This manuscript also taboos the word chih [OMITTED], which was the personal name of
Emperor Ta [OMITTED], the Eminent Exemplar (the Kao-tsung). The words tan [OMITTED] (6a4) and
yu [OMITTED] (5a3, 10a3), which were the personal names of the Penetrating Exemplar (the Jui-tsung)
and the Dynastic Exemplar (the Tai-tsung), respectively, are however written
correctly. The word yung [OMITTED] (16a9, 18b8, 19a2, 19b2, 20a7), which formed part of the
personal name of Li K'o-yung, the founder of the Later T'ang dynasty, is also written
correctly. At its inception, the T'ang rulers were quite lenient concerning taboos of imperial
names. But as Confucianism became more and more influential, the observance
of these taboos became more and more stressed, until, in the period of the Five Dynasties,
which followed upon the fall of the T'ang dynasty, imperial taboos were observed strictly.
(Cf. Ch'en Yüan, Shih-hui Chü-li, p. 95b.) In the T'ang period, there were tabooed the
personal names of the seven immediately preceding generations of emperors, and also
those of the dynastic founders, as well as that of the reigning emperor, i.e., those of the
Eminent Founder (the Kao-tsu), the Grand Exemplar, the Eminent Exemplar, the seven
emperors immediately preceding, and the reigning sovereign. (Cf. ibid., p. 49b.) From
the above noted phenomena, this manuscript was written in either of two periods: (1)
between 650 (when the Eminent Exemplar began his reign) and the reign of the Penetrating
Exemplar, i.e., 684 (when he was first enthroned) or 710 (when he began his
independent reign), or else (2) after the seventh reign after that of the Dynastic Exemplar,
down to the end of the T'ang period, i.e., in 847-904.
On the back of this scroll there has been transcribed the Buddhist Amida Sutra, with a
colophon stating that it was written in the second year of the period Kaho [OMITTED], a
Japanese date corresponding to 1095. The scroll is doubly boxed. On the outer box is
written the words, "[OMITTED] Handwriting of Tachibana no Hayanari." The inner
box also has this attribution inscribed on it; on the cover of this box is the signature of
Kohitsu Ryôhan [OMITTED] (1827-1853), who came of a family for generations acknowledged
to be authorities on matters of ancient handwriting, so that this attribution is
very likely from him.
Hayanari went to China in the closing years of the Enriki period (782-805) and after
his return served in the court, being noted for his calligraphy. At the end of the scroll
is a vermillion seal, that of the Office of Civil Affairs, used on official documents from 770
to some date before 864. It is then quite possible that this manuscript was written in
the middle of the ix century by Hayanari, after his return from China. In that case it
represents an exemplar then preserved in Japan. Hayanari was made Governor of
Tajima Province in 840; the date of his death is unknown. Dr. Yamada however seems
to place little reliance upon the attribution of this scroll to Hayanari. He and his colleagues
believe that this scroll comes from the early Nara period (646-710). (I thank
Dr. Shio Sakanishi, formerly of the Library of Congress, for the above information.)
There is the further possibility that this manuscript is a copy by Hayanari or some
other Japanese scribe of a Chinese exemplar then preserved in Japan. Dr. Sakanishi
states that no Japanese would have taken any liberties in copying an old Chinese manuscript,
not even altering the writing to conform to Chinese taboos that had arisen after
the exemplar had been written. If so, this exemplar was written between 650 and 684 or
710 and the present manuscript was written between 650 and the first part of the ninth
century, to possibly about 820, when that seal ceased to be used.
At this point, this T'ang manuscript omits the word [OMITTED] after the [OMITTED].
The T'ang manuscript reads [OMITTED] for [OMITTED], and omits the word [OMITTED], although space is
left for it.
The Official ed. has emended [OMITTED] to [OMITTED], but the T'ang mss. and other texts read
the former word.
The T'ang mss., the Ching-yu ed., and the Official ed. read [OMITTED]; the Chi-ku-ko ed,
and Wang Hsien-ch'ien read [OMITTED].
This edict is also found in 99 B: 20a.
For the [OMITTED] of the other texts, the T'ang mss. writes [OMITTED].
I have compared this T'ang manuscript with the Ching-yu ed. of 1035, with what
seems to be a copy of the 1131 Szechuan large character ed., also a Yüan reprint of a
Sung Academy ed., the Te-fan-tsui-lo-hsien ed. (betw. 1457 & 1573), the Wang Wen-sheng
ed. of 1546, the Chi-ku-ko ed. of 1642, and the Wang Hsien-ch'ien ed. of 1900.
In the part translated here, there are ten differences between the T'ang manuscript and
these other texts. Except for the difference noted in n. 21.10, in every case these other
editions agree against the readings of the Japanese T'ang manuscript. Its variants are
then textually unimportant. No significent variations occur and some are sheer blunders.
Cf. also Pelliot, BEFEO, 2 (1902), 335.
This passage does not seem to be a quotation from any single edict, but merely a
summary; cf. 99 B: 21a, 28a; C: 8b, 17a for such utterances. "Barbarians who have
troubled the Chinese" is a phrase from Book of History II, i, 20, Legge, p. 44.
B. PART B
When Wang Mang acted as Regent, he changed
the Han institutions. Because in the Chou [dynasty]
its cash were larger and smaller coins[62] which
coined large cash, with a diameter of an inch and two
fen, a weight of 12 shu, and a legend which reads,
"Large cash (ta-ch'ien) [worth] fifty [cash]."[69] He
also coined graving-knife (ch'i-tao) [coins] and [gold]
inlaid knife (ts'o-tao) [coins]. The circular [heads]
of the graving-knife [coins] are like the large cash;
their bodies are shaped like knives and are two inches
long. Their legend reads, "a graving-knife [coin],
worth five hundred [cash]."[70] The inlaid knife
reads, "One knife [coin], worth five thousand
[cash]."[74] Together with the five-shu cash, altogether
considered that in the writing for the word Liu [there
are the words] metal and knife, so he abolished the
with the five-shu cash. [Later] he changed and
made [six] kinds [of money]: gold, silver, tortoise[shells],
cowries, cash, and spade-money, [giving
them] the name, "Valuable currency (pao-huo)."[85]
The diminutive cash (hsiao-ch'ien) are six fen in diameter,
one shu in weight, and their legend is,
"Diminutive cash worth one [cash]."[87] The next
with the legend], "Young cash (yao-ch'ien) [worth]
ten [cash]."[90] The next are eight fen [in diameter
and weigh] five shu, [with the legend], "Small cash
(yu-ch'ien) [worth] twenty [cash]."[92] The next are
nine fen [in diameter and weigh] seven shu, [with
the legend], "Medium cash (chung-ch'ien) [worth]
thirty [cash]."[93] The next are one inch [in diameter
and weigh] nine shu, [with the legend], "Adult
cash (chuang-ch'ien) [worth] forty [cash]."[94] [The
use of] the previous large cash [worth] fifty [cash]
was [also] continued.[95] These were the six denominations
of cash currency, each of which are valued
according to its legend.
Actual gold weighing one catty was [declared to be]
Shu-shih silver weighing eight taels made [one
[cash].[98] One liu of other silver was [declared to be]
worth one thousand cash. These were the two
denominations of silver currency.
Sovereign's tortoise-[shells], the edges of whose
carapaces reached a foot and two inches were [declared
to be] worth 2160 [cash] and were [made
the equivalent of] ten pairs of large cowries.[100]
nine inches [or more],[103] were [declared to be] worth
five hundred [cash] and were [made the equivalent of]
ten pairs of big cowries. Marquises' tortoise-[shells,
the edges of which reached] seven inches or more were
[declared to be] worth three hundred [cash] and were
[made the equivalent of] ten pairs of small cowries.
Viscount's tortoise-[shells, the edges of which
reached] five inches or more were [declared to be]
worth a hundred [cash] and were [made the equivalent
of] ten pairs of little cowries. The [foregoing]
were the four denominations of tortoise-[shell]
currency.
Of large cowries (ta-pei), four inches eight fen or
more [in length], two made one pair (p'eng), and were
[declared to be] worth 216 [cash]. Of adult cowries
(chuang-pei), three inches six fen [in length] or more,
two made one pair, and were [declared to be] worth
fifty [cash]. Of little cowries (yao-pei), two inches
four fen [in length] or more, two made one pair and
were [declared to be] worth thirty [cash]. Of diminutive
cowries (hsiao-pei), an inch two fen [in
length] or more, two made one pair and were [declared
to be] worth ten [cash]. Those which were
not fully an inch two fen and so were outside of these
regulations were not permitted to make pairs and
were [declared to be] generally worth three [cash]
of cowry currency.
"Large spade-money (ta-pu)," the "next-[largest]
spade-money (tz'u-pu)," the "third [largest] spade-money
(ti-pu)," "adult spade-money (chuang-pu),"
"medium spade-money (chung-pu)," "smaller [than
medium] spade-money (ch'a-pu)," "[still] smaller
[than medium] spade-money (hsü-pu),"[111] "young
spade-money (yu-pu)," "little spade-money (yao-pu),"
and "diminutive spade-money (hsiao-pu)"
[were also coined]. The diminutive spade-money
was one inch five fen long, weighed fifteen shu, and
its legend was "Diminutive spade-money [worth]
a hundred [cash]."[112] From the diminutive spade-money
on upwards, each [denomination] was one fen
longer and one shu heavier, and the legend of each
[gave] the name of [that denomination of] spade-money,
and each [denomination] was worth a hundred
[cash] more [than the preceding denomination],
up to the large spade-money, which was two[113]
inches four fen long, weighed one tael, and was worth
a thousand cash.[115] The [foregoing] were the ten
denominations of spade-money currency. Altogether
the "valuable currency" was made of five
substances with six names, and [included] twenty-eight
In casting and making cash and spade-money, all
[denominations] used copper and mixed it with lead
their raised rim all around, they imitated the Han
[dynasty's] five-shu cash. In this [currency], the
gold and silver were mixed with other substances,
and the alloy was not pure and good. Tortoise[shells]
not fully five inches [in size], and cowries not
fully six fen [in length] were all not permitted to be
considered as valuable currency. Large tortoise-[shells
what the four [orders of] common people[126] were allowed
to store up. Those who had them took them
to the Grand Augur and received their value.
The people were confused and troubled [by this
coinage, so that Wang Mang's] currency did not
circulate. The common people privately used five-shu
cash in the markets and in purchases. [Wang]
Mang was troubled by it and so issued an imperial
edict that those who presumed to oppose the ching
[system of] cultivated fields or hoard five-shu cash
were misleading the multitude and `should be thrown
out to the four frontiers [and be made] to resist the
elves and goblins."[129] Thereupon farmers and
merchants lost their business, food and goods were
both rendered useless, and the common people wept
and cried in the market-places and highways. Those
who were sentenced for selling or buying fields,
residences, slaves or slave-women, or for casting cash,
and [thus] fell into crime, from the ministers and
grandees down to ordinary people, could not be
estimated or counted.
[Wang] Mang knew that the common people hated
[his arrangements], so he only had the two denominations
of diminutive cash worth one [cash] and the
large cash worth fifty [cash] circulate together; the
tortoise-[shells], cowries, spade-money, and the like
were temporarily abandoned.
[Wang] Mang by nature was irascible and irritable,
and could not [bring himself to a state of] nonactivity.
Every time there was something that he
accordance with ancient [practises and tried to]
secure the words of [some] classic [as a model]. The
State Master and Highest Minister, Liu Hsin1a,
for Money,[137] which collected what was not sold
and gave to those who needed to obtain [such things],
which was precisely what the Book of Changes means
by "the right administration of wealth, correct instructions
[to the people], and prohibitions to the
common people against wrong-[doing."[139] Wang]
Mang accordingly issued an imperial edict, saying,
"Verily, the Chou Offices contains [regulations for]
selling on credit and lending on interest,[140] the Yo-yü
contains [an account of] the five equalizations,[142] and
all the books and records speak of controls. Now
that I open [offices for] selling on credit and lending
on interest, set up the five equalizations, and establish
that the crowd of people may be made equal and
those who take concurrently [the advantages of other
classes] may be repressed."[146]
Thereupon at Ch'ang-an and at five [commandery]
capitals there were established Offices for the Five
Equalizations. The name of the Prefects of the
Eastern and Western Markets at Ch'ang-an, together
with the Chiefs of the Markets at Lo-yang,
changed to be the Masters in Charge of the Five
Equalizations at the Markets.[148] At the Eastern
Market, in the title [of this official, the word] Capital
[was used]; at the Western Market, in his title [the
word] Court [was used]; at Lo-yang, in his title,
[the word] Central [was used]; at the remaining four
capitals one of [the words] Eastern, Western, Southern,
and Northern, [respectively, was used] in his
title. At each [place] there were established five
Assistants for Exchange, and one Assistant for the
Office for Money. Artisans and merchants who
tin, to whom tortoises had presented themselves,[153]
or who had gathered cowries, all themselves testified
[their value to the Assistant for] the Office for
Money of [the Master] in Charge of the Market, and
he took them in accordance with the emanations of
the seasons.
[Wang Mang] also [ordered], "In accordance with
the [system of] taxing the common people in the
Chou Offices,[154]
all fields that are not plowed are `unproductive
[fields,' hence] shall pay taxes for three
outer city walls that are not planted [with fruit-trees]
or cultivated [for garden produce] are `denuded
of vegetation,' and shall pay the hemp-cloth [tax]
for three heads of households; common people who
wander about and have no occupation must pay [the
tax of] one roll of hemp-cloth for a head of a household.
Those who are not able to pay the hemp-cloth
[tax] shall work at incidental occupations for the
imperial government and shall be clothed and fed
by it.
"Those who collect articles of any kind, birds,
beasts, fish, turtles, or the various insects from the
mountains, forests, streams, or marshes, together
with those who rear or care for domestic animals,
women who collect mulberry leaves, rear silkworms,
weave, spin, or sew, laborers, artisans, physicians,
shamans, diviners, invokers, together with [people
who have] other recipes or skills, peddlers, traders,
merchants who sit down and spread out [their wares]
houses, shall all and each themselves, at the places
where they are, testify to the imperial government
what they do, exclude their principal, calculate their
[net] profit, divide off from it one-tenth, and use
this one-[tenth] as their tribute. Those who presume
not to testify themselves, or who themselves
in testifying do not accord with the facts shall have
all that they have collected or taken confiscated and
paid [to the government] and shall work for the imperial
government for one year.
"The [Masters] in Charge of Markets shall regularly,
in the second month of [each of] the four
seasons, determine the true [prices] of the articles
that they take care of and make high, middle, and
Each [Master] shall himself use [these prices] at his
own market to equalize [prices there] and shall not
restrict himself [by the prices] at other places. When
the mass of common people have sold and bought the
five [kinds of] grains or articles of hempen-cloth, silk
cloth, silk thread, or silk wadding, which are used
everywhere among the common people, whenever any
has not been sold, and the office for equalization has
examined and inspected the reality of that [fact, the
office] shall take those [articles] at their cost price,
so as not to cause [the people] to lose a cash. When
[any of] the myriad things rise [in price and become]
expensive, so that they surpass by one cash [the
prices at which they have been] equalized, then [the
accumulated stock] shall be sold to the common
people in accordance with the price at which they
have been equalized. If the price goes down and becomes
cheap, below [the price at which it is to be]
equalized, the common people shall be permitted to
sell [goods] amongst each other at the market-place,
in order to prevent any from storing [goods] up [for
the purpose of keeping them until they become]
expensive.[163]
"If any of the common people wish to sacrifice or
perform funeral and mourning ceremonies, and have
not the means, the Office for Money shall give to
them on credit, without requiring interest, whatever
laborers or merchants have paid in as tribute,[167] [in
the case of] sacrifices, for not more than ten days,
[and in the case of] mourning ceremonies, for not
more than three months. If any of the common
people are lacking and have no [means] or wish to
borrow on interest in order to establish a productive
occupation, [the money] shall be impartially given to
them, and, after their expenses have been deducted,
they shall calculate what [profit] they have made,
and shall pay interest [to the amount of] not more
than one-tenth [of his income] per year."[168]
The Hsi-and-Ho, Lu K'uang, said, "The controls
salt and [3] iron, [4] cash and spade-money currency,
[6] the five equalizations, selling on credit and lending
on interest, are in [the hands of] the imperial
government. Only [1] the selling of fermented
drinks alone is not yet monopolized. Fermented
drink is the most beautiful happiness from Heaven,
whereby the lords and kings have nourished the
country. Meetings for offering sacrifices, for praying
for blessings, for succoring the decrepit, for caring for the sick, and all the rites, cannot be carried on
without fermented drink.
"Hence the Book of Odes says,
`If I have no fermented drink, I buy it, do I,'[175]
but the Analects says, `[Confucius] would not drink
purchased fermented drink.'[176]
These two are not
contradictory.
"Verily, the ode refers to [a time when] peaceful
reigns succeeded [each other, when] the fermented
drink purchased at a [government] office was harmonious,
agreeable, and suited to people, so that it
could be offered [to others]. [In the time of] the
Analects, Confucius [lived] in [the period when] the
Chou [dynasty] was decaying and in disorder, so that
the sale of fermented drink was in [the hands of] the
common people, [and hence] was of poor quality, bad,
and not free from adulteration. For this reason
[Confucius] suspected it and would not drink it.
"If now the empire's fermented drink is cut off,
then there will be no means of performing the rites
or of cherishing others. If permission is given [to
anyone to make it] and no limit is set [to its manufacture],
then it will consume wealth and injure the
common people. [Hence] I beg that you will imitate
ancient [practises] and order the [government] offices
to make fermented drink, taking 2500 piculs as one
standard [unit] and accordingly open one shop[177]
to
is taken as one standard [unit]; one fermentation
requires two hu of coarse grain and one hu of
yeast, [from which] is obtained six hu six tou of
finished fermented drink. If for each [fermentation]
one counts up together the price of the three hu of
grain and yeast, according to [the price at] the
by three, and take one part as the average for one hu
of [material for] fermented drink, if one deducts the
original price of the grain and yeast and counts up
the profit, then seven parts in ten will be paid to the
government. The three [other parts], together with
the lees, vinegar, ashes, and charcoal may be given to
the workmen for the expense of the utensils and
firewood."
The Hsi-and-Ho, [Lu K'uang], established [officials,
five equalizations and the six monopolies. [In each]
commandery there were several [such] men. Everywhere
he employed rich merchants, [such as] Nieh
Tzu-chung and Chang Ch'ang-shu from Lo-yang,
Hsin Wei from Lin-tzu, and others. [Traveling] in
riding quadrigae, they sought for profit and made
numerous contacts [all over] the empire, and, availing
[themselves of their opportunities], they communicated
their wickedness to the commanderies and
prefectures, and made many false accountings. The
yamens and storehouses were not filled, and the
people suffered all the more.
[Wang] Mang knew that the common people
suffered from these [measures, so he] again issued an
greatest of foods; [1] fermented drink is the chief
of all medicines and the best feature of auspicious
assemblies; [3] iron is the fundamental [thing] in
[the cultivation of] fields[185] and in agriculture; [5] the
famous mountains and the great marshes are storehouses
of abundance; [6] the five equalizations and
and [the system of] selling on credit and lending on
interest [are means by which] the people may receive
the equalization of high [prices], in order to give assistance
and spade-money, and the casting of copper make
wealth circulate and furnish [what is needed] for the
common people's use. These six [matters] are not
[things that] the enrolled households of equal common
people[190] are able to make in their homes, so
that, if [the prices of these goods] are high in the
market-place, although [these things] may be several
times as expensive [as usual, the people] inevitably
have no alternative but to purchase them, [hence]
eminent common people and wealthy merchants can
thereupon coerce the poor and weak. The ancient
sages knew that it would be so, hence they made controls
(monopolies) of these [matters]."
For each control (monopoly) he established rules
and precepts to interdict and prohibit [violations of
the monopoly]; the penalties for violation extended to
capital [punishment].[193] Wicked officials and cunning
common people both at the same time encroached
upon the mass of people, so that every
[person] was disquieted with life.
The fifth year after, in [the period] T'ien-feng, the
message], increasing and decreasing considerably the
price and value of gold, silver, tortoise-[shell], and
cowry currency, and abolishing the large and small
cash. Instead he made "currency spade-money (huo-pu,"
width, with their heads eight fen and a fraction long
and eight fen wide, their circular holes two fen and a
half in diameter, their feet eight fen long, their
opening [between the feet] two fen wide, their
legend, on the right reading, "Currency (huo)" and
on the left reading, "Spade-money (pu)."[200] Their
weight was twenty-five shu, and they were worth
twenty-five of the currency cash. The currency cash
(huo-ch'üan) were one inch in diameter, and weighed
five shu. Their legend on the right reads "Currency
(huo)" and on the left reads "Cash (ch'üan)."[201]
One [such] was worth one [cash]; it and the currency
spade-money [formed] two denominations,
which circulated concurrently.
Moreover, because the large cash had circulated
that the common people would keep them and not
stop [using them].[204] So he ordered that the common
people should only temporarily circulate the
large cash, and that one [such large cash] should be
worth one of the new currency cash, that their concurrent
circulation should be ended in the sixth
year, and that [people] should not [then] be any
more allowed to possess the large cash.[207]
Each time that the money was changed, the common
people were thereby ruined financially and fell
into serious punishment. Because so many were
those who violated the laws and [whoever] privately
cast cash had to die and [whoever] criticized or put
obstacles [in the circulation of] the valuable currency
should be thrown out to the four borders, with the
result that [their sentences] could not be entirely
carried out, [Wang] Mang therefore changed and
lightened these laws: those who privately cast or
made cash or spade-money were confiscated with
their wives and children and became government
slaves or slave-women. Officials and the group of
five [families, of which the culprit was a member],
who knew of [the crime] and did not bring it forward
or denounce it, [were tried] with [the culprit as having
committed] a like crime. As to those who
criticized or put obstacles [in the circulation of] the
valuable currency: common people were to be punished
[by being made] to work for one year and
violations became the more numerous and [the people
in the group of] five [families who were held responsible]
were sentenced together with them and all were
confiscated to [the government penal service], the
commanderies and kingdoms, with accompanying
[guards], sent them in carts with cages, with iron
locks [about their necks], to the Office for Coinage
at Ch'ang-an. Six or seven out of [every] ten [of
these people] died from the hardships and suffering.
The sixth year after the currency spade-money had
robberies, [hence Wang] Mang made a great solicitation
of the empire's prisoners, convicts, and people's
slaves, naming them, "Boar braves who are porcupines
rushing out." He temporarily taxed the
officials and common people, taking one-thirtieth of
their property. He also ordered that the ministers
and those of lower [rank, down] to the officials in the
commanderies and counties who wore yellow seal-cords,[217]
should all guarantee the rearing of horses
for the army, and the officials all in turn gave [these
horses to] the common people [to care for them].
Whenever the common people moved their hands,
they ran upon a prohibition. They could not plow
or cultivate silkworms, for the corvée service was
troublesome and distressing, and withering droughts
and [plagues of] insects and locusts[218] followed
each other.
Moreover, because [Wang Mang's] establishment
[of rites] and composition [of music] had not been
settled, from the dukes and marquises on the one
hand to the minor officials on the other, they all
could not secure their salaries, so they made private
taxations and collections, and goods and bribes flowed
up from them. Criminal trials and litigations were
not settled, officials employed tyranny and violence
in order to establish their power, and utilized [Wang]
Mang's prohibitions to encroach upon and oppress
the unimportant common people.
When the wealthy were not able to protect themselves
and the poor had no way of keeping themselves
alive, they arose and became thieves and robbers.
Since they relied upon the fastnesses of the mountains
and marshes [for refuge], the officials were not
able to capture them, hence covered and hid the
[fact], and the infection spread daily. Thereupon in
the regions of Ch'ing, Hsü, Ching, and Ch'u [Provinces,
people] often by the ten-thousands battled and
died, were taken captive at the borders by the various
barbarians, fell into criminal punishment, or suffered
from famine and epidemics, so that people ate each
other. Before [Wang] Mang had been executed, the
population of the empire had been reduced by half.[227]
In the fourth year after the "Boar braves who are
porcupines rushing out" had been mobilized, the
Han troops executed [Wang] Mang. The second
year afterwards, the Epochal Founder, [Emperor
Kuang-wu], received [Heaven's] mandate, washed
away these vexatious [ordinances] and tyrannous
[punishments], restored the five-shu cash, and gave a
new beginning to the empire.[232]
Cf. HS 24 B: 2b, 3a. The reference is to Kuo-yü (iv or iii cent. B.C.) 3: 13b-15b,
sect. 5, (de Harlez, Jour. Asiat., ser. 9, vol. 3 [Jan.-Feb. 1894], pp. 58-61) which says,
"In the twenty-first year of King Ching [524 B.C.], when [the King] was about to have
large cash cast, [seemingly for the purpose of securing more revenue], Duke Mu of Shan
said, `It should not be done. Anciently, when Heaven's visitations descended, thereupon
[the ruler] evaluated [the state's] merchandise and currency, and standardized the weight
[of the currency] in order to assist the common people. When the common people suffered
[because the currency was too] light, then he made heavier currency in order to make [the
lighter ones] circulate, whereupon the larger ones (mu) acted as a standard (ch'üan) for
the smaller ones (tzu) and [the smaller ones] circulated, so that the common people secured
[the benefits of] both [denominations of coins]. However, when [business conditions]
would not support the heavier [coins], then [the ruler] made many lighter [coins] and
circulated them, and also did not suppress the heavier ones, whereupon the smaller [coins]
(tzu) acted as a standard (ch'üan) for the larger ones (mu) and [the larger ones] circulated
so that [both] the smaller and larger [coins] were beneficial. If now you, King, abolish
the lighter [coins] and make heavier ones, and the common people lose their property,
will they be able not to default [on their taxes]?' ... But the King did not listen and
eventually cast larger cash."
Chi-chung Chou-shu (possibly forged from ancient materials after the Han period), 2:
7b, 8a, also refers to this incident: "When the currency for the land tax was too light,
[King Wen] made larger [coins] in order to make the smaller ones circulate and altered
the price of merchandise, in order to adjust it for travelers, so that [merchandise] might
have no obstacles [in trade]."
Ying Shao explains this economic policy as follows (in a note to HS 24 B: 2b, 3a):
"The mother (mu) is the heavier one. It is a moiety larger, hence it is the mother (mu).
The son (tzu) is the lighter. It is lighter and lesser by half, hence it is the son (tzu). When
the common people suffered by the lightness of the currency and the expensiveness of
goods, [the ruler] made heavy currency in order to equalize the [prices] and temporarily
circulated these [coins] in order to do away with the light [coins]. Hence it is said,
`The mothers (mu, heavier ones) act as standards for the sons (tzu, lighter ones),' which
is like saying that the heavier ones are used as the weights by which to weigh the lighter
ones. The common people all secured them. Whether they were farmers or merchants,
had or had no [property], they all secured benefits from them."
Meng K'ang adds, "The heavier ones were the mothers (mu) and the lighter ones
were the sons (tzu). It is like the selling of an article for eighty cash: the mother (mu
[original cost]) was fifty [cash] and the son (tzu, [profit]), thirty [cash], comes from it."
This same precedent was used to justify paper money in Yüan times; cf. HJAS 2: 317
(the phrase mentioned there, tzu-mu hsiang-ch'üan erh hsing, is from the Kuo-yü.)
Cf. James H. Stewart Lockhart, The Stewart Lockhart Collection of Chinese Copper
Coins, "Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch," Extra Volume no. 1 (1915), no. 144;
H. Glathe, The Origin and Development of Chinese Money, p. 30, nos. 151-161, 163-167.
Mr. H. F. Bowker of Oakland, Cal., an officer of the U. S. Navy, has loaned me a 50-cash
coin of this issue which weighs 6.19 g. and is 27 mm. in diameter, as compared with the
7.68 g. and 27 mm. of the text.
Cf. E. Chavannes, Documents chinois, no. 709; Glathe, op. cit., p. 29, no. 103. The
graving-knife coins in Lockhart, ibid., nos. 152, 153, are both probably fakes: no. 152
because of the defective writing of the words for "five hundred" and no. 153 because of
its size and the more modern form of the word ch'i. In this matter I am glad to have the
concurrence of the numismatist, Mr. H. F. Bowker. Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 29a, b, contains
diagrams of the graving-knife and inlaid-knife coins.
Mr. Bowker has very kindly loaned me an excellently-preserved specimen of a graving-knife
coin, obtained from Gakuyo Katsuyama [OMITTED] of Tokyo, a highly esteemed
Japanese archeologist, who guaranteed its authenticity. It corresponds exactly with
the description in the HS text and with Chavannes' illustration. The cutting edge of the
knife-blade has been sharpened by filing from both sides (with almost all of the bevel on
the obverse side), so that the coin would actually cut. It weighs 15.80 g. or a little less
than 25 shu (16.0 g.), which latter figure may have been its original weight. The circular
head of the coin is 28 mm. in diameter (exactly corresponding to the text's "1 inch 2 fen"
for the diameter of large cash; cf. HFHD I, 279 for equivalents), with a hole 13 mm.
square; the blade is 46 mm. long (exactly 2 of Wang Mang's inches, as the text states).
Mr. Bowker has also loaned me what is plainly the circular head of a graving-knife coin,
from which the blade has been broken off and the break smoothed, thus making a round
cash out of the coin. It weighs 9.48 gm.; about two-thirds of the graving-knife coin's
metal was in its head. Since the edges of cash were smooth and not milled, such a
mutilation would be unnoticed until the inscription was read, which is "ch'i-tao (graving-knife)."
Mr. Bowker has also loaned me three other coins which are similar round heads
of inlaid knife-coins. Cf. Glathe, ibid., p. 30, no. 162.
Chang Yen (iii cent.) plainly knew only these broken-off knife-coin heads, for he glosses
this passage as follows: "In my opinion, in shape and substance, the graving-knife [coins]
and inlaid knife-[coins] which are extant today are like [Wang Mang's] large cash, but
the raised edges to their circumferences and holes are thick—different from those of these
large cash. In shape [these knife-coins] are like the rings on swords. The shape of the
body of the graving-knife [coins] is round, not two inches long. The legend to the left
[of the hole] reads, `ch'i (graving),' and to the right reads, `tao (knife),' and they do not
have the words, `wu-po (five hundred [cash]).' "
Yen Shih-ku (581-645) states that Chang Yen is mistaken and that the Wang Mang
knife-coins of his day tallied with the description in the text. Chang Yen seems merely
not to have known unmutilated knife-coins. (Cf. also the end of n. 21.5).
Cf. Glathe, op. cit., 29, no. 104. Mr. Bowker has also kindly loaned me a well-preserved
Wang Mang inlaid knife-coin, also obtained from and guaranteed by the same
archeologist. It corresponds with the description in the text (except for the substitution
of p'ing for chih, which is discussed later). This coin weighs 23.74 g. (a little less than
38 shu [24.32 g.]), so that these coins probably originally weighed about 40 shu. The
cutting edge of the blade has been filed sharp, with an even bevel on both sides. Its
dimensions are exactly the same as those of the graving-knife coins, except that it is
thicker and heavier. On the field of the circular part of the coin, above and below the
hole, are the words, "yi-tao (one knife-[coin])," in seal characters, engraved into the body
of the coin and inlaid with gold, level to the field of the coin. This gold inlay is mentioned
in the HS text, without specifying what is inlaid. The blade of the coin bears the words,
"p'ing wu-ch'ien (standardized at five thousand [cash])" in raised bronze characters, like
the legends on other Han coins. The reverse of the coin is bare of any legend.
In the account of the legend on these coins, for "worth," the text reads the word chih [OMITTED].
But this coin has p'ing [OMITTED]. I suspect that the chih in the HS text is an error, from attraction
to the word chih in the legend on the one-cash coins in Wang Mang's coinage of A.D.9.
P'ing, which meant "standardized," denoting the establishing by the government of a
fixed value for an article, is much more appropriate for these coins, which were really fiat
money. Liu Feng-shih (1041-1113), the Sung Ch'i ed. (xi or xii cent.), and Ch'ien Chan
(1744-1806) moreover all quote the legend on these coins with the word p'ing. The
latter of these writers noted that the words yi-tao are engraved and inlaid with gold, while
the rest of the legend is raised.
Lockhart's inlaid knife-coins, ibid. nos. 146-152, seem all either to have been fakes or
counterfeits or to have been copied incorrectly from Chinese numismatic books. He nowhere
mentions the gold-inlaid characters, which are the most striking feature of these
coins and are testified to as early as by Chang Yen in the third century. Mr. Bowker
remarks that Lockhart "obviously did not have these coins or he would have mentioned
the gold characters." The word p'ing in Lockhart's drawings is not correctly formed
(except perhaps in no. 147); the vertical line should project below the bottom horizontal
line. Mr. Bowker writes me, "I have never seen a specimen like no. 148, and am sure
it is a fake. The same applies to no. 147, on account of the incused line around the blade
on both sides, not to mention the smallness of the characters." No. 149 comes closest to
Mr. Bowker's specimen, but the proportions are somewhat incorrect.
Chang Yen knew only the circular heads of these inlaid knife-coins, from which the
blades had been broken off. His gloss (trans. in n. 21.4) continues, "The inlaid knife[coins]
are moreover engraved with characters, which are filled with actual gold. Their
legend, above [the hole], reads, `yi (one),' and, below [the hole], reads, `tao (knife-[coin]).' "
This description agrees with Mr. Bowker's specimens. The heaviest of these heads
weighs 15.97 g., so that about two-thirds of the metal was in the head. The amount of
gold inlaid in the two engraved characters is negligible, so that it was not worth gouging
out.
When Wang Mang ascended the throne and dispossessed the Han dynasty, these knife-coins
became nefastus, unpropitious, since they denoted the Han surname, Liu (cf. p. 245f).
After Wang Mang demonetized them, their possession probably became a mark of loyalty
to the Han dynasty. Wealthy nobles, who had obediently exchanged their gold for these
knife-coins, found them now not only worthless, but even dangerous to possess. Probably
many nobles did not dare to melt down their knife-coins, for someone in their household
would be sure to inform the ever-watchful government of the deed, and counterfeiting was
a serious crime. Hence the blades were broken off these coins, making them into round
cash. As such they would have been worth their weight in bronze or (perhaps more
likely) they may have circulated on a par with the fifty-cash coins—the owners lost 99%
of their money by turning a 5000-cash coin into a 50-cash coin, but that doubtless seemed
better than losing the whole value of these coins and being punished for possessing them!
In the Ch'üan-pi [OMITTED], issue 1, July, 1940 (pub. at Shanghai), Mr. Ts'ai Chi-hsiang
[OMITTED] publishes a photograph of a 10,000-cash coin, shaped like a circle with a square
attached to it, with the legend, "Worth ten thousand [cash from] the chests of gold in the
state's treasure [OMITTED]." Mr. Ts'ai decides that it is a Wang Mang coin from
the issue of A.D. 11.
I cannot agree with him. If it was from Wang Mang's age at all (the use of the word
chih, instead of p'ing, raises doubts), it must have been intended for the issue of A.D. 7.
At that time, Wang Mang "nationalized" gold, paying for it probably at the rate of 10,000
cash per catty (the value he set in A.D. 11), so that a 10,000-cash coin was really needed
in making this exchange. The round shape denotes heaven and the square shape denotes
earth. Mr. Ts'ai argues that the word kuei [OMITTED] (chest) in its legend was the name for
10,000 catties of gold in Wang Mang's time (cf. HS 99 C: 25a), just as Kuan-tzu (ch. 5,
"Shen-ma," sect. "Shih, nung, kung, shang"; Szu-pu Ts'ung-k'an ed. 1: 12b) states, "A
hundred yi [OMITTED] of actual gold [make] one ch'ieh [OMITTED] (box)," and Nan-shih, 53: 25b "Memoir
of the King of Wu-ling, Hsiao Yüan-cheng," states, "One catty of actual gold makes one
ping [OMITTED] (cake) and a hundred ping make a ch'ou [OMITTED] (secondary unit)." (Gold was cast
into cake-shaped ingots; Mr. Ts'ai publishes photographs of such ingots from Chou and
Former Han times.)
This 10,000-cash coin is not mentioned in any Chinese history. It was needed in
A.D. 7, but if such coins had been issued, they would have been used plentifully in purchasing
the nobles' gold and would not be so rare and unmentioned. But in the issue of
A.D. 7, the coins of a higher denomination than one cash were all multiples of five: 50, 500,
and 5000 cash. (Five, along with the other odd numbers, is the number of Heaven, not
Earth; cf. Book of Changes, App. III, i, 49; Legge, p. 365.) Emperor P'ing was sickly;
the knife-coins, with their symbolism of metal and knife [HS 24 B: 21b] denoted the Liu
house; similarly the use of the number five, denoting Heaven [the Emperor was the Son
of Heaven] was probably also magic to strengthen the Emperor.) It would have been
unlikely that a 10,000-cash coin (denoting both Heaven and Earth) would have been
added to this (purely Heavenly) series. In the issue of A.D. 11, the denominations increase
by tens to 50, then by hundreds to 1000; it would have been unlikely that a 10,000-cash
coin would have been added to such a series, leaving so great a gap between it and
the next lower coin. The largest denomination in the issue of A.D. 14 was 25-cash, so
that this 10,000-cash coin could not have belonged to that series. In my opinion, if this
coin is really from Wang Mang's mint (concerning which I have no evidence), it can
only have been a mint sample for the issue of A.D. 7, which coin was rejected because it
spoiled the symmetry and magical effect of that issue. (Cf. also the Tung-yang Huo-pi
Tsa-chih [OMITTED], no. 218.)
As a matter of fact, this coinage was not all begun at the same time. The previous
coinage was abolished, except for the twelve-shu large fifty-cash coins, in the spring of
A.D. 9, when there were also first coined the one-shu diminutive cash coins, so that these
two denominations circulated together (99 B: 7b). Then in A.D. 10 (99 B: 15a), Wang
Mang added the other 26 denominations of this coinage. When compiling this "Treatise,"
Pan Ku evidently forgot that this coinage was not all enacted at the same time.
As a matter of fact, this coinage was not all begun at the same time. The previous
coinage was abolished, except for the twelve-shu large fifty-cash coins, in the spring of
A.D. 9, when there were also first coined the one-shu diminutive cash coins, so that these
two denominations circulated together (99 B: 7b). Then in A.D. 10 (99 B: 15a), Wang
Mang added the other 26 denominations of this coinage. When compiling this "Treatise,"
Pan Ku evidently forgot that this coinage was not all enacted at the same time.
Wang Mang took this name from that said to have been given by King Ching of
the Chou dynasty to his large cash; cf. HS 24 B: 3a.
Cf. Lockhart, ibid., no. 145; Terrien de Lacouperie, Catalogue of Chinese Coins in
the British Museum, p. 367, nos. 341-343; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 28b.
Shu-shih was a prefecture in Chien-wei Commandery, which mined fine silver.
For location, cf. Glossary, sub voce.
Meng K'ang glosses, "Jang [OMITTED] [means] the border of tortoise shells.... They
measured the edge of the two sides of their backs as a foot and two inches." Li Tz'u-ming,
in his HS Cha-chi 2: 6a, adds that jang should be [OMITTED], which is defined in the Shuo-wen
13 B: 2b as, "The edge of a tortoise carapace.... [The edge of] great tortoise shells
used for] the Son of Heaven is a foot and two inches; for the nobles, it is a foot; for grandees,
it is eight inches; and for gentlemen, it is six inches." Meng K'ang seems to have
had this latter word in mind. The Shuo-wen is quoting the ancient text of the Lost Book
of Rites (now lost), which is quoted by name in Ch'u-hsüeh-chi 30: 30a.
Li-chi XVII, ii, 26 (Legge, II, 114; Couvreur, II, 82) says, "[The standard] bordered
with blue and black was that [on which were represented] the Son of Heaven's precious
tortoise-[shells]." The "precious" tortoise-shells were those used for divination. Kung-yang
Commentary, 26: 3b, Dk. Ting. VIII, says "The treasures of Chin were...tortoise[shells]
with blue borders," and Ho Hsiu glosses, "Tortoises [which live to] a thousand
years have blue beards." (References from Shen Ch'in-han.)
Wang Nien-sun asserts that after [OMITTED] there were originally the words [OMITTED], to agree
with the statements concerning the size of the next two sizes of tortoise-shells; K'ung
Ying-ta, in a note to Li-chi, ch. VIII, i, 6, in his Li-chi Chu-su 23: 4a, and the Ch'u-hsüeh-chi
30: 32b quote this passage with these words; the T'ung-tien, ch. 8: 11a, (Com. Pr. ed.
p. 47) quotes it without them.
Ts'ai Yün (d. ca. 1820), in his Pi-t'an 3: 8b, 9a, asserts that the text's hou [OMITTED] should
be hsü [OMITTED]. He points out that the six denominations of cash were named "diminutive,"
"little," "young," "medium," "adult," and "large." There were ten denominations of
spade-money, hence between "large" and "adult" there were added [OMITTED] and [OMITTED], both of
which words mean "next"; and between "medium" and "young" there were added [OMITTED]
and hsü, both of which also mean "next." Hou, "thick," does not fit the meaning at all;
in the seal character, hou and hsü are very similar. A specimen of this "Still smaller than
medium spade-money," loaned me by Mr. Bowker, bears plainly the seal-character form
of the word hsü, which is practically identical with that found for hsü in the Shuo-wen,
and is not the word hou.
The Ching-yu ed. and the Official ed. read the obviously correct [OMITTED] for Wang
Hsien-ch'ien's [OMITTED].
For these spade-coins, cf. de Lacouperie, ibid., pp. 302-306; Ku-chin Ch'ien-lüeh 16:
7b-9a and Chin-shih So, Chin, 4: 30b-32a illustrate a complete set. The Yokohama
Numismatic Society's [OMITTED], no. 9 (1912) and Glathe, op. cit., pp. 28,
29, nos. 90-99 print a photograph of these ten spade-coins.
The legend on these 1000-cash pieces is "[OMITTED] large spade-money valued at a
thousand [cash]," for which legend there is ancient testimony. Ni Mo, in his Ku-chin
Ch'ien-lüeh 16: 9b, points out that the word huang [OMITTED] in this legend is a cursive form of
heng1 [OMITTED], and that heng1 is used for heng2 [OMITTED], with which it was anciently interchanged.
Heng2, like p'ing [OMITTED], meant "to weigh," hence "to standardize at a given value." Karlgren,
Grammata Serica 707a & m, lists huang and heng1 as having had the same archaic and
ancient pronunciations. The fact that Wang Mang asserted he ruled by virtue of the
element earth, whose color is yellow, huang, aided in forming this cursive form of heng1.
Mr. Bowker has loaned me a complete set of these spade-coins, secured by him from
Gakuyo Katsuyama. Herewith a comparison of these coins with the statements in
the HS:
| Denomination (in cash) |
Legal weight according to the HS (in grams) |
Actual weight (in g.) |
Legal length according to the HS (in mm.) |
Actual length (in mm.) |
| 100 | 9.60 | 7.0 | 35 | 35 |
| 200 | 10.24 | 7.86 | 37 | 38 |
| 300 | 10.88 | 9.44 | 39 | 40 |
| 400 | 11.52 | 8.09 | 42 | 42 |
| 500 | 12.16 | 9.38 | 44 | 44 |
| 600 | 12.80 | 14.15 | 46 | 50 |
| 700 | 13.44 | 12.02 | 48.5 | 51 |
| 800 | 14.08 | 15.31 | 50.8 | 52.5 |
| 900 | 14.72 | 13.37 | 53.1 | 54 |
| 1000 | 15.25 | 8.42 | 55.4 | 53 |
It is to be noted that the first five and the 900-cash coin correspond very well with
the sizes indicated in the HS, although their age has caused them to lose weight. The
other four are, in my judgment, very likely ancient counterfeits or later fakes. Since
the Han weights and measures were gradually increased to their present size, a later faker
would make coins in accordance with the weights and measures of his own epoch, so that
they would be larger and heavier than the Han standards required. Such seems to be
the case with Mr. Bowker's 600-, 700-, and 800-cash coins. The 1000-cash coin may be an
ancient light-weight counterfeit.
The outstanding feature of Wang Mang's bronze coinages is that as the nominal value
of the coins increased, the amount of metal per cash decreased, so that the larger coins
were the more depreciated.
| Coinage of A.D. 7 | Coinage of A.D. 9-10 | Coinage of A.D. 14 | ||||
| Nominal Value |
Total Weight |
Shu per cash |
Total Weight |
No. of shu per cash |
Total Weight |
No. of shu per cash |
| 1 cash | 5 shu | 5 shu | 1 shu | 1 shu | 5 shu | 5 shu |
| 10 cash | (same as Han dynasty's cash; unchanged since 118 B.C.) |
3 shu | 0.3 shu | |||
| 20 cash | 5 shu | 0.25 shu | ||||
| 25 cash | 25 shu | 1 shu | ||||
| 30 cash | 7 shu | 0.23 shu | ||||
| 40 cash | 9 shu | 0.225 shu | ||||
| 50 cash | 12 shu | 0.24 shu | 12 shu | 0.24 shu | ||
| 100 cash | 15 shu | 0.15 shu | ||||
| 200 cash | 16 shu | 0.080 shu | ||||
| 300 cash | 17 shu | 0.057 shu | ||||
| 400 cash | 18 shu | 0.045 shu | ||||
| 500 cash | 25 shu? | 0.05 shu? | 19 shu | 0.038 shu | ||
| 600 cash | 20 shu | 0.036 shu | ||||
| 700 cash | 21 shu | 0.030 shu | ||||
| 800 cash | 22 shu | 0.027 shu | ||||
| 900 cash | 23 shu | 0.0244 shu | ||||
| 1000 cash | 24 shu | 0.0240 shu | ||||
| 5000 cash | 40 shu? | 0.008 shu? | ||||
On the origin of spade-coins, cf. Richard Schlösser, "Der Ursprung der Chinesischen
Pu-münzen," Artibus Asiae, 1928, no. 1, pp. 12-34. This article contains photographs
of more ancient spade-coins (of which Wang Mang's coins were imitations), also of a
complete set of Wang Mang's coins. Cf. also his, "Die Münzereformversuche des Wang
Mang," Sinica V (1930), 25-37.
Meng K'ang glosses, "Lien1 [OMITTED] is another name for tin," but Li Ch'i declares,
"The name for lead and tin ore is lien1." Yen Shih-ku asserts that both are mistaken,
because the Shuo-wen 14 A: 1b says, "Lien2 [OMITTED] is [the same] sort [of thing as] copper."
Shen Ch'in-han however replies that Li Ch'i is correct; the Shuo-wen is merely speaking
in general terms; the Kuang-ya and the Yü-p'ien both state that lien2 is lead ore. F. C.
Chang asserts that zinc was called lien; Journal of Science 8, 233-243; 9, 1116-1127 (in
Chinese). Certain Sung cash are found, upon analysis, to be copper with a considerable
proportion of lead, a small proportion of tin, and a minute amount of zinc, the latter arising
from the impurity of the ore used.
Ju Shen quotes Analects V, xvii, in which a tortoise is called a t'sai, and states that
the state of Ts'ai produced large tortoises. Hence large tortoises were named Ts'ai.
Ku-liang Commentary 13: 1b, Dk. Ch'eng, I, enumerates the four orders of common
people as gentlemen, merchants, farmers, and artisans. HS 24 A: 2a however enumerates
them as gentlemen, farmers, artisans, and merchants. The Han dynasty, following the
Ch'in practise, degraded merchants.
Cf. 99 B: 12b. The numbers in square brackets in the margin and text, here and
on pp. 24b, 25a, b are the same as those in the enumeration of the six monopolies in
99 B: 12b. There was no fixed order, so I use that list as a reference point.
Chou-li 15: 3b f (Biot, I, 326-328) lists as one of the Chou offices an Office for
Money, which "collected what goods are not sold in the market-place, goods [whose sale]
is slow, but which are used by the common people. [The Yamen] writes their selling-price
on a post, in order to be ready for those in need who would buy them."
Chou-li, 15: 4a (Biot, I, 327), sub the Office for Money (Ch'üan-fu), says, "Whoever
buys on credit, for [purposes of] sacrificing, shall not exceed ten days [without paying
interest], and for mourning ceremonies, shall not exceed three months [without paying
interest]. Whenever common people wish to borrow on interest, [the head of the Office
for Money] shall discuss it with his heads of departments and then only shall pay out
[the loan; the people shall pay] interest in accordance with [the taxes paid] as their service
to their state," [i.e., if the tax was a tithe, the interest would be a tithe per year].
Cheng Chan (fl. ca. 208) glosses, "The Yo-yü are sayings on the origin of music,
which King Hsien of Ho-chien, [Liu Tê, d. 130 B.C.], transmitted [to Emperor Wu]. It
speaks of the matter of the five equalizations." This book has been lost; the only quotations
from it that have been preserved are three brief paragraphs in the Po-hu-t'ung (relating
to other matters) and the following one:
Fu Tsan glosses, "Its words are, "When the Son of Heaven takes land from his nobles
and uses it to establish the five equalizations, then in the market-places there are no two
[different] prices [for the same thing, so that] the four [orders of] common people are
constantly equalized [in their power]. If the strong are not permitted to oppress the weak
and the rich are not permitted to use force upon the poor, then the government shows
additional kindness to the unimportant common people."
Shen Ch'in-han declares that this statement is based on the Chi-chung Chou-shu, 4: 7a,
ch. 39, (possibly this latter book, which seems to be a later forgery, took them from the
Yo-yü) which says, "When in the market-places there were the five equalizations, then
morning and evening [prices] were the same. [This office] accompanied the departing,
invited those who are coming, assisted the distressed, and rescued the impoverished."
Wang Nien-sun points out that the word ch'eng [OMITTED] after the [OMITTED] is an interpolation
by attraction for the subsequent use of this word. This title is quoted without the word
ch'eng in HS 91: 11b (Master in Charge of the Capital Market) and in sundry quotations
of this passage: Wen-hsüan 21: 23a, in a note to Pao Chao's "Yung-shih Shih"; ibid., 36:
22a, in a note to the "Yung-ming, XI Nien, Ts'ê Hsui-ts'ai Wen"; ibid., 53: 20b in a note
to the "Yün-ming Lun"; T'ung-tien 11: 22a (Com. Pr. ed. p. 65); and Tzu-chih T'ung-chien
37: 8b. Wen-hsüan 1: 8b, in a note to the "Hsi-tu Fu", however quotes this passage
with the word ch'eng.
I.e., those who had found tortoises. Ju Shun explains, "Tortoises have supernatural
power [OMITTED], hence it says that they present themselves [OMITTED]."
Chou-li 13: 9a (Biot, I, 279 f) says, "All residences which are denuded [of vegetation]
have the hempen-cloth [tax] for occupied land; all fields which were not plowed, pay grain
for a house [occupied by three families]; all common people who do not have an occupation,
pay the contribution of service for a head of a household." This passage enumerates the
three types of taxes mentioned in Mencius VII, ii, xxvii, 1 (Legge, p. 491).
The procedure seems to have been that the Master fixed his prices for equalization
as the fair prices for his market, and bought goods that were unsold in the market-place
at their cost to the producer or at the current price, providing that this price was below
his price for equalization. Then he sold those goods at the price for equalization whenever
the market-price surpassed his price by one cash.
HS 99 B: 12b states however that interest was 3% per month. The usual rate of
interest was 20% per year (91: 6a); so that the government was charging more than the
current rate. This passage adds that borrowers were not to pay more than 10% of their
income as interest to the government.
Ju Shun explains, "When a liquor-seller opens a shop and waits for guests, he puts
up a wine-jar. Hence a wine-jar (lu [OMITTED]) is used as the name for the shop." Yen Shih-ku
denies this plain interpretation, but Liu Feng-shih points out that Ju Shun must be correct.
HS 91: 7a states, "A large capital which communicates with [surrounding] towns sells a
thousand fermentations in one year."
Ch'ien Ta-chao says that [OMITTED] should be [OMITTED]; the Official ed. has made this emendation,
and I have followed it.
Ch'ien Ta-chao remarks that the Fukien ed. (1549) has emended [OMITTED] to [OMITTED], which
seems correct, since iron was previously mentioned.
In a note to HS 24 B: 17a, Ju Shun glosses, "Ch'i [OMITTED] is `of the same rank [OMITTED].'
When there are no honorable or inferior [grades] they are called the equal common-people
(ch'i-min [OMITTED]), just as at present we say p'ing [OMITTED] -min." Chin Shao however declares,
"They are Chinese instructed and regulated (ch'i-cheng [OMITTED]) common people." Chavannes
(Mh III, 588 = SC 30: 35), who did not have Ju Shun's gloss available, follows Chin Shao,
but Yen Shih-ku approves of Ju Shun's interpretation.
This sentence is a doublet (except for verbal differences) of one in 99 C: 1b; that
sentence seems however to refer to a second issuance of these rules.
HS 99 C: 10a mentions this enactment under the date A.D. 20, because it was not
to take full effect until that time. Cf. 99 C: 10a & n. 10.4.
Cf. Lockhart, ibid., nos. 155, 156; de Lacouperie, ibid., p. 306, nos. 112-115; Glathe,
op. cit., p. 29, no. 101; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 32a. Prof. P. M. L. Linebarger of Duke University
has loaned me a well-preserved ho-pu coin of this issue, weighing 15.53 g. (legal
weight, according to the HS, 16.0 g.); length, 57.7 mm. (legal, 58 mm.); width, 23.5 mm.
(legal, 23.1 mm.); length of feet 19 mm. (legal, 18.5 mm.); width of opening, 4.8 mm.
(legal, 4.6 mm.).
Cf. Lockhart, ibid., nos. 162-182; de Lacouperie, ibid., p. 384, nos. 365-400; Glathe,
op. cit., p. 30, nos. 173-75; Chin-shih-so, Chin, 4: 29a.
HHS, An. 1 B: 23b says, "When Wang Mang had usurped the throne, he feared evil
[because] the Liu clan had used the word ch'ien [OMITTED] [as the word for `cash'] and [the word
for Liu [OMITTED]] contains [the words for] metal (chin [OMITTED]) and knife (tao [OMITTED]), hence [Wang Mang]
changed [the coinage and the word for `cash'] and made it `currency cash (huo-ch'üan
[OMITTED]).' [But] someone considered that the words huo-ch'üan were `The immortal of the
White River (Po-shui chen-jen)'." Ying Shao, in his Han-kuan-yi (lost; quoted in T'ai-p'ing
Yü-lan 835: 6b, 7a) also remarks this circumstance, and adds, "This was an auspicious
presage of the restoration under the Epochal Founder, [Emperor Kuang-wu]."
The word ch'üan [OMITTED] is composed of the words po [OMITTED] and shui [OMITTED], and huo [OMITTED] is composed
of jen [OMITTED] and chen [OMITTED], which make-up is particularly evident in the seal form on these
coins, in which the jen extends all along the left side of the character. The White River
was a stream which arises 50 li northeast of the present Tsao-yang, Hupeh (Shina Rekidai
Chimei Yoran, p. 531); Emperor Kuang-wu came from the city of Ts'ai-yang, which was
located southwest of the present Tsao-yang (HHS, An. 1 A: 1a); hence it was not surprising
that these coins issued by Wang Mang were later understood as a prophecy of Emperor
Kuang-wu.
The "large cash" weighed 12 shu and were nominally worth 50 cash (B: 21a), i.e.,
0.24 shu per cash; the spade-money of 14 A.D. weighed 1 shu per cash and the round cash
weighed 5 shu per cash; Wang Mang was trying to drive out light coins, something that
rulers have always found difficult or impossible, because of the facts summed up in
Gresham's law.
Since the "large cash" had been worth 50 cash, and the new cash were worth 1 cash,
such a valuation meant losing 49/50 of their nominal value. Yet the large cash weighed
more than twice as much as the new cash, so that private melting down and counterfeit
casting became inevitable.
Wang Nien-sun points out that huang-ch'ung [OMITTED] was originally ch'ung-huang.
He quotes the parallel expressions ch'ung-ming [OMITTED] in Li-chi IV, iv, ii, 18 (Legge, I, 306;
Couvreur, I, 345); [OMITTED] in Yi-li 7: 8a (Steele, I, 50); [OMITTED] in Tso-chuan, Dk. Hsiang,
XVIII, autumn (Legge, 47611); [OMITTED] in the Hsün-tzu; the present expression ch'ung-[OMITTED];
ch'ung-huang in HS 27 Ca: 2b10; the present huang-ch'ung, which he says was originally
ch'ung-huang (cf. Ching-yi Shu-wen) in Li-chi IV, iii, 21 (Couvreur, I, 358); and ch'ung-huang
in Shuo-wen 13 A: 8b, sub [OMITTED]. The HS uses huang just as the Tso-chuan uses
ch'ung (as indicating an insect plague), so that it does not make sense to add a ch'ung
after the huang, for the phrase ch'ung-huang means that the plague consisted of other
insects in addition to the huang. HS 27 Bb: 20a, b lists plagues of ming and huang from
130 to 89 B.C., hence in HS 75: 4a4 Hsia-hou Sheng summed them up by saying that
ch'ung-huang arose, i.e., both locusts and other insects appeared; the present reading of
HS 75: 4a, huang-ch'ung, which means only locusts, is thus inexact. People did not
understand the meaning of ch'ung-huang, so changed it to huang-ch'ung. Hence the
phrase huang-ch'ung was originally ch'ung-huang in SC 106: 121 = HS 35: 7b5, HS 75:
4a4, HS 90: 17a10 (which is quoted in a note to HHS, Mem. 67: 10a11 without the ch'ung).
H. Bielenstein, BMFEA, no. 19, pp. 125-163, in an illuminating paper, "The
Census of China during the Period 2-742 A.D.," (esp. pp. 135-145), shows that, between
2 B.C. (when the population was 56.7 million) and A.D. 140, there was a decrease of 8 or
9 million, i.e., about 15%. The population of northwestern and northeastern China had
decreased nearly 18 million, whereas that of south China, especially the present Hunan,
Kiangsi, Kwangtung, and Szechuan, had increased by roughly 9 million. When we make
allowance for the natural population increase in the subsequent century, Pan Ku's statement,
that by A.D. 25 the population fell to half its former figure, is roughly corroborated,
but for north China only. He seems to have been unaware that millions had emigrated
into central and southern China, so that the total loss in population was not as great as
he believed.
HHS Tr. 13: 10b says, "In A.D. 30, boys in Shu circulated a saying,
The five-shu [cash] must be restored.'
said secretly that Wang Mang had taken yellow [for his color; Kung-sun] Shu wanted to
succeed him, hence he took white [for his color]. The five-shu cash were the currency of
the Han dynasty, [so that this saying] made plain that the Han dynasty must be restored.
[Kung-sun] Shu was thereupon executed and destroyed." Thus even a reference to a
particular coinage had political implications. (Reference from Chou Shou-ch'ang.)
| THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty | |