Hongwu Tongbao
First cash coin to bear the name of a Ming Emperor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hongwu Tongbao (simplified Chinese: 洪武通宝; traditional Chinese: 洪武通寶; pinyin: Hóngwǔ tōng bǎo; lit. 'vastly martial circulating treasure' Japanese: Kōbu Tsūhō) was the first cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coins officially replaced the earlier Dazhong Tongbao (Chinese: 大中通寶) coins, however the production of the latter did not cease after the Hongwu Tongbao was introduced.[2] The government of the Ming dynasty placed a greater reliance on copper cash coins than the Yuan dynasty ever did, but despite this reliance a nationwide copper shortage caused the production of Hongwu Tongbao cash coins to cease several times eventually leading to their discontinuation in 1393 when they were completely phased out in favour of paper money. In the year 1393 there were a total of 325 furnaces in operation in all provincial mints of China which had an annual output of 189,000 strings of cash coins (or 1,890,000 cash coins annually) which was merely 3% of the average annual production during the Northern Song dynasty.
Value | 1 wén, 2 wén, 3 wén, 5 wén, 10 wén |
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Composition | Copper-alloy (bronze) |
Years of minting | 1368–1393[1] |
Obverse | |
Design | Hongwu Tongbao (洪武通寶) |
Reverse | |
Design | Some versions are blank, while others have reverse inscriptions. |
Japanese Kōbu Tsūhō cash coins continued to be manufactured well into the seventeenth century as a result of trade with China which caused Ming dynasty era cash coins to circulate in Japan.