PREFACE

Li Baohua

China is one of the earliest countries who minted coins in the world．Chinese coins have already had a more than three thousand years history if the bronze shells unearthed at Yin Ruins site in Anyang，Henan Province，and some tombs of the Shang Dynasty in Baode，Shanxi Province，are regarded as primitive coins．As far as bronze coins are concerned，from shell coins，knife coins，spade coins，yibi coins (the shape looks like an ant’s nose)，ring coins to round coins with a square hole in the center，it independently developed in a regular way and created a numismatic culture with Chinese characteristics，whose basic features are: the materials are mainly base metals (copper；iron，etc．)；the designs are mainly with characters；the manufacture is mainly with mould-casting technique．This culture has been spread to many countries and regions in East Asia and Southeast Asia，formed East Numismatic Culture System completely different from the West．

China is also the earliest country who issued paper money in the world．In the late 10th century，a kind of bills called jiaozi (交子)was used as money among the common people．Since 1024，the government of the Song Dynasty took the authority to issue jiaozi from the people，it had become the earliest official paper money．Afterwards，from Jin，Yuan and Ming to Qing Dynasty，Chinese paper money had also gone through an independent advancing way and become an important part of China Numismatic Culture．It not only affected countries and regions belonging to the East Numismatic Culture but also shocked the West．

Chinese currency，which has a long history and can go back to very old times，has plenty of contents．Object currency emerged in the late primitive society was intermittently in use after the emergence of coins，and paper money，even till the People’s Revolutionary War led by the Communist Party of China．Bronze was ever used as one kind of Chinese primitive weight currency．And gold and silver used as weight currency or coins had different manufacture and stipulation not only in shape，decoration，size and weight but also in quality in distinct periods and regions．There are a great variety of coins and paper money，as the open sea，in the history of China．So far，none exactly know how many kinds and formats there are．Furthermore，the characters，design，manufacture and style of currency are the reflection of social politics，economy，culture，sciences and technology at that time；every kind of currency inherits the past and ushers in the future，and has taken various effects to nowadays and later generations．The contents are crisscross；there are substantial research subjects in every aspects．Hence，the numismatic research should be a subject．

Numismatics in China is an old subject and also a new subject．It is called old subject．because of this fact that China had an ancient coin at least 1400 years ago，which showed that somebody，at that time，had already collected and studied ancient coins．Moreover，the articles and works relevant to coins can be back to earlier time Guoyu (literature for every state of the Zhou Dynasty) in pre-Qin period and Shiji (Records of the Historian)in the Han Dynasty are good examples．It is called a new subject，because of this fact that numismatics has become an independent special subject only in present age．In a very long time，the study of ancient coins was ever a branch of Chinese epigraphy．Then，with the development of scientific archaeology，it was regarded as a part of archaeology．China Numismatic Society was founded in 1982，marked that numismatic study in China has gone into a new stage．From then on，the research fields，methods and achievements of numismatics have been poured into new contents and newly opened up．At first，the research objects on numismatics certainly can’t be limited on ancient coins but should include all currency withdrawn from the circulation，such as object currency，weight currency，coins，paper money and credit notes，and other related objects (coins moulds，steel models，money plate，commemorative medals and so on)．As two basic research methods，dialectical materialism and historical materialism are used．When carrying forward the traditional coin-authenticated techniques，people pay attention to absorbing the research methods and achievements of relevant subjects，such as archaeology，ancient philology，national philology，economics，history，the history of currency，the history of metallurgy，the history of printing，folklore and aesthetics，and even absorbing and applying some new techniques and methods of natural sciences．Correspondingly，the research achievements on numismatics are no longer limited on traditional sever aspects，such as the textual research on truth or forgery，date，casting and circulating areas，determination for the value of historical relics，etc，but further expand to every aspects of the society and history relevant to coinage．

Numismatic research has also not been limited in the academic circle．People who are interested in numismatics are not a small number of specialists，scholars and collectors but cover every circle of the society，including workers，peasants，soldiers，teachers，students and the officials．Furthermore，with the improvement of people’s culture accomplishments，the group of coin enthusiasts，collectors and researchers is expanding continuously．Therefore，propagating numismatic culture，popularizing and improving numismatic knowledge，collecting and sorting out the achievements of numismatics are the demands not only of this subject itself but also of the society，of the times，the construction of socialist material and moral civilization．This is why we are determined to compile this dictionary．

Fifty years ago，Mr．Ding Fubao made a great contribution to Chinese numismatic cause，taking charge of compiling a book known as The Great Dictionary of Ancient Coins ，which collected the main accomplishments on numismatics in 1930’s．Up to now，it is still a necessary book for the workers，researchers，collectors，and enthusiasts．More than half a century has passed since then．This is such a century within which science and technology progressed rapidly．Especially after the founding of the new China，with the development of the basic construction，the field excavation was flourishing，a great number of culture relics including ancient coins unearthed．The new unearthed coins provided the researchers on numismatics with scientific data，which the predecessors were hard to get，because most of them had the exact unearthed sites and strata (some of them were unearthed with other articles and this is very helpful to their confirmation)．During this period，other related subjects also made great achievements，which offered the researchers new suggestion in different views．For instance，explaining the ancient characters (including the minority nationalities’ words)，analyzing the composition of ancient coins with chemical methods and others made some hard problems，unsolved for more than one hundred years，believably resolved．With the elimination of the racialism and the developmept of the autonomies of minority nationalities and the border areas，collecting and sorting out coins in these regions are thriving．And people’s vision is no longer limited in the central area but open up to all over the country．In addition to，the rescue，collection，arrangement of present numismatic materials，especially issued by the people’s political powers，greatly enrich the contents of numismatic research．All of them stated as above are enough to prove that people’s understanding for coins has reached a new level，and that the condition we compile a new dictionary is mature．

According to the characteristics of numismatics，the Great Dictionary of China Numismatics is compiled with both pictures and words．It covers not only Chinese coins withdrawn from the circulation but the foreign coins ever circulated in China and all aspects relevant to numismatic culture．It also pays much attention to new scientific archaeologyical data，setting up an archaeological volume．The annotation for the early ancient coins is made with not only historical documents but also the achievements of scientific excavation．Moreover，this dictionary strives to reflect the present state of numismatic research objectively and different viewpoints on some problems．

The compilation of the Great Dictionary of China Numismatics was taken under Henan Numismatic Society and obtained the full support from Henan Province Branch of the People’s Bank of China，and was put into an important project of the 7th Five-year Plan of social sciences of Henan Province．During compiling this dictionary，it also gained the support from many archaeological institutes，museums，banks，China Numismatic Society and other local numismatic societies．

This dictionary is made up of ten volumes: Vol.1 pre-Qin，Vol.2 Qin and Han，Vol.3 Wei，Jin，the South and North Dynasties，Vol.4 Tang，the Five Dynasties and Ten States，Vol.5 Song，Liao，the West Xia and Jin，Vol.6 Yuan，Ming and Qing，Vol.7 the Republic of China，Vol.8 Archaeology in Numismatics，Vol.9 Scholars’ Works and Vol 10 Appendix．The relate d experts were invited as the chief editors and vice-chief editors for all volumes，and the editorial staff，each of the chief editors and vice-chief editors and the people who took part in the compilation all did their best to work to ensure the quality of this dictionary．However，the defects are unavoidable．We sincerely hope that readers can criticize and correct it in order to improve it in the future．

December，1991