The Hongwu period saw one of the most aggressive attempts in Chinese history to suppress copper coinage entirely. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, distrusted metal currency and repeatedly mandated the use of paper notes — the Da Ming Baochao — forbidding copper cash transactions under penalty of law at various points between 1375 and the 1390s. That the mints kept striking anyway reflects how thoroughly those edicts failed in practice.
The Yu mint designation indicates production at Kaifeng, in Henan province. Five-cash multiples from this mint are among the scarcer denominations in the Hongwu series.
The Hongwu period saw one of the most aggressive attempts in Chinese history to suppress copper coinage entirely. Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, distrusted metal currency and repeatedly mandated the use of paper notes — the Da Ming Baochao — forbidding copper cash transactions under penalty of law at various points between 1375 and the 1390s. That the mints kept striking anyway reflects how thoroughly those edicts failed in practice.
The Yu mint designation indicates production at Kaifeng, in Henan province. Five-cash multiples from this mint are among the scarcer denominations in the Hongwu series.