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1 Cash Zhouyuan Tongbao
| Issuer | Later Zhou Dynasty |
|---|---|
| Year | 955-959 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round with a square hole |
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| Obverse description | Cast bronze cash coin featuring a central square perforation surrounded by a raised inner rim and an outer rim of uniform width. Four large clerical-script (lishu) characters are arranged in cruciform fashion around the central hole, reading top-to-bottom and right-to-left: Zhou (周), Yuan (元), Tong (通), Bao (寶), together forming the legend 'Zhou Yuan Tong Bao' (Circulating Treasure of the Zhou Yuan era). The characters are boldly rendered with broad strokes and well-defined relief, characteristic of mid-tenth-century Later Zhou casting standards. The flat field between the inner and outer rims is plain and unadorned. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Zhouyuan Tongbao was introduced under Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou following his 955 edict suppressing Buddhism — one of the most sweeping anti-clerical campaigns in Chinese history. Thousands of monasteries were dissolved and their bronze bells, statues, and ritual vessels were ordered melted down and reminted as coin. The policy was explicitly fiscal: Shizong needed metal for currency to fund military campaigns aimed at reunifying a fractured China after the Five Dynasties period.
Shizong died in 959 before reunification was achieved. That work fell to his successor's general, Zhao Kuangyin, who founded the Song Dynasty the following year.