As we all know, Qin Shihuang unified the six countries in 22 1 BC, and at the same time adopted a series of policies such as unifying cars and tracks, writing and weights and measures. Among them, the unified currency includes: when Qin and China are involved, a country's currency is third-class, and gold is named as the upper currency; Copper coins, commonly known as half a tael, are as heavy as the text, and are the next coins. Jewelry, tortoise shell, silver and tin belong to ornaments, not coins. But each one is changing at any time (Historical Records Average Book, Volume 30). Qin and the world, the currency is second-class, and gold is named after Yan, which is the currency; The quality of copper coins is like "half Liang" in words, which is as heavy as its words, while pearls, jade, turtles, shells, silver and tin belong to jewelry treasures, not coins. But each is changeable at any time ("Hanshu" Volume 24 "Record of Food Goods"). As a part of Qin Shihuang's unification policy, Qin Banliang's money problem has been discussed. However, with the continuous excavation of new archaeological materials in recent years, there is a new view. Judging from the half-taels unearthed in different areas, there are obvious differences in their weight. The style of the word "half beam" is also different. At first glance, it is difficult to judge whether it is a unified currency. At the same time, 1976 found the bamboo slips of Crouching Tiger Land in Qin Dynasty, which can reveal the monetary system of Qin State in the Warring States Period. Among them, the first issue of Cultural Relics (1982) published the wooden slips unearthed from the Warring States Tomb in Qingchuan County, Sichuan Province, and the unearthed situation of half a penny. This excavation at least truthfully reported that Qin issued half a penny during the Warring States period. The above examples show that half money is not the half money after Qin Shihuang unified the currency, but must be the half money that appeared in Qin circulation during the Warring States Period. Therefore, around the Qin Dynasty, * * * issued currency twice. Historical Records Chronology of the Six Kingdoms records: "In the second year of King Huiwen, the emperor congratulated him. Line money. " "In the thirty-seventh year of the first emperor, I will pay back the money." Therefore, Qin issued currency in 336 and 2 10. What does half a penny have to do with these records? Half-taels of money was a currency with considerable weight change that was issued for a long time before the issuance of five baht by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The shape of a half penny is a round square hole. The face value record of money has a great influence on the currency of later generations. Therefore, this paper wants to discuss the recent unearthed reports about the Warring States period and the unification of half a penny and the actual situation of the monetary system at that time. I. Excavation in front of Qin Banliang Recently, there have been a lot of unearthed reports about excavation in front of Qin Banliang. The following table lists the reports published in various parts of China and the excavations in Qin Dynasty for two thousand years. The period column in the table records the burial period of half a penny inferred from reports and so on. It is believed that the coins buried in the Han Dynasty are clearly considered to be four baht and a half pence, which is hereby omitted (table 1). As listed in table 1, it is obvious that Qin Banliang's money was unearthed in Shaanxi and Sichuan. Shaanxi is the hometown of Qin. Although Sichuan belonged to Bashu in the early Warring States period, it belonged to Qin in 3 16. Yongcheng is the old capital of the Qin Dynasty. In the twelfth year of filial piety (the first 350 years), after moving the capital to Xianyang, it remained an important town. What's more, Xianyang, as the center of the Qin Dynasty and the site around the first imperial tomb, undoubtedly has a large number of cultural relics unearthed. As for other places, there are few unearthed reports. Even the place where Qin Banliang's money was discovered by chance was closely related to Qin. For example, Hejin County, Shanxi Province, which was called Pi's in the Warring States Period, belonged to the land of Wei, and was captured by Qin in the first 329 years. In the first 272 years, Qin established Nanyang County in Nanyang, Henan. Besides, Chifeng and Aohan Banner in Inner Mongolia are both near the Great Wall in Zhu Qin. You can see several special unearthed examples in the table. First of all, Table 1-29 Since 1979-1980, the Warring States Tomb in Qingchuan County has been excavated three times and 72 tombs have been cleared. Among them, the wooden slips recording the land law were unearthed in Tomb 50, and seven and a half pennies were unearthed (Table 2). According to the records in the wooden slips, in China, this tomb is considered to be the first year of King Qin Zhao (306 BC). At the same time, in many cases, seven half coins unearthed were used as a standard to determine the Qin half coins in the Warring States period. However, as far as the burial age is concerned, from the unearthed cultural relics and other conditions, Mr. Sumitomo Sansei thinks that the age of this tomb should be after the fall of Chu Duying (278 BC), and the weight of one and a half parts varies from 2. 1g-9.5g, which is quite different, so it seems inappropriate to take this as the age standard. About Table 1- 1 Yongcheng site high tomb, 46 tombs were excavated and cleared in 1977, and 580 tombs were unearthed in * * *, belonging to tombNo. 1 in the late Warring States period, and 5 tombs were unearthed/kloc-0, of which the largest one was 3.2cm in diameter and weighed 6. This is consistent with the "money collector, 1000 yuan a cup" in the Qin bamboo slips of Sleeping Tiger Land. The author of the report divides these coins into three categories: the first category: the maximum diameter of coins is 3.7cm, generally above 3cm, and the heaviest coin is 1 1g, generally between 6 and 6-7g. Most coins are irregular with copper flowing around them. Qian Wen is simple and extensive, without certain specifications. It is considered that the clay model is adopted. A total of 148 pieces, accounting for 16% of the total. The second category: money varies in size, relatively small, light and thin. Generally, the diameter of money is 2.5-2.8cm and the weight is 3-6g, so the casting is poor. ***738 pieces, accounting for 79.80%. The third category: heavy, large and thick specifications, standardized, with a diameter of 3-3.2cm and a weight of about 6g, equivalent to 85,6 kg-* 2 Zhu made in Qin; The thickness is 0. 15cm, and the money is square. Advanced casting technology. Qian Wen is a frequent visitor. There are 38 pieces, accounting for 4.2% (Table 3). According to the fact that pottery pots are artifacts of the Warring States Period, the third kind of coins are basically the same as those unearthed from Dongsunba Warring States Tomb in Baxian County, Sichuan Province and No.50 in Qingchuan County, and these coins are obviously different from Chinese coins when buried. It is considered that the first and second types are private casting, and the age should be two years before Qin Huiwen; The third category is the national unified coins, that is, the coins in Wang Huiwen two years later. At the same time, the author traces the casting period of Banliangqian back to the "initial market" period of Qin Xiangong in seven years. At least the storage period should be determined before Qin unified the six countries. Because this unearthed data can show that during the Warring States period, although the date of issue, size and weight of these coins were very different, they were all in circulation at the same time, and they were collected in units of 1000 pieces for convenience. In addition, there are Qi coins in the Warring States period, and there are also Beiyi flower coins, two steroid coins and half a penny unearthed. Qian Qian's two steroids are 3. 1cm in diameter, wearing 0.9cm and weighing 5g, and/kloc-0 is 2.3cm in diameter, wearing 0.8cm and weighing 3g, and the other one is 2.4cm in diameter, wearing 0.6cm and weighing 3 g. The fact that two steroid coins and half a penny were unearthed at the same time has been known from 1954 the excavation report of No.49 Dongsunba Tomb in Ba County, Sichuan Province. However, more than 20,000 pieces of half pence and 65,438+Beiyi coins were also found in the tin cans unearthed in February in the table 1-27 and 1988. It is more likely that two steroid coins will be the currency of the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty, but it is not clear when and under what conditions they can be minted. Beiyi spent money as the currency of the Warring States and Qi State, which belonged to the territory of Qin State and was unearthed in the capital at that time. This information is very important. The combination of two steroids, spending money and half a penny, may have some special significance. Table 1-9 Near Changling Station of Xianyang Site, in March, the Warring States currency 1962, 15, and bronze wares 140 were unearthed in the bunker. Among them are Qin Banliang's money, Wei Anyi's 2 yuan money, Liang Chong's gold pawn, Liang Zhengshang's gold pawn, Chu Shu's cloth pawn, Qi Fa Hua Dao, Yan Yi's (Ming's) Dao, pointed first Dao, ancient Dao and Chu Ant's nose money. The author of the report clearly believes that this site belongs to the Qin Dynasty. According to these data, Mr. Jiangcun Zhishu thinks: "These coins and copper pieces were almost broken when they were unearthed. It seems that it is not a stored coin, but buried as copper slag. Therefore, it cannot be used as evidence that the currency of the Warring States period circulated during the Qin Dynasty. " However, it is difficult to determine that these Warring States currencies were specially shipped from all parts of the Warring States as bronze materials. Ichiro Inaba believes that "although it belongs to the excavation case of Qin Dynasty, the broken Qi Dao, Ming Dao, cloth money, ant nose money and half-penny unearthed in the pottery urn in Nanshakeng, Changling Station, Xianyang suburb, eloquently proved that these currencies were used around Xianyang. It should be noted here that knife coins such as Qi State and Yan State in the Far East are transported to Xianyang in the far west. " If it is not unearthed at the same time as the half penny, it can be considered as recycling the half penny minted by currencies from all over the Warring States. But it doesn't have to be specially shipped to Xianyang, but it can be cast in the local money-making institute and finally circulated to Qin as money. This may have intentionally destroyed the function of money and been buried. In any case, the evidence of currency circulation in Qin and the Warring States seems to be insufficient. The following is a discussion on the half-taels of money unearthed from the sites around Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, in order to make clear whether Qin Shihuang really implemented the unification of money. According to the investigation report of the Fish Pond Site in Table 1-23, there are 538 pieces of half a penny arranged in the north-south direction in a cave, with three rows of * * *. I can't find anything except half a penny. What is the purpose of this arrangement? According to the actual measurement, the diameter of half coins is between 2.6 cm and 2.8 cm, and the weight is between 2.3 g and 5.45 g. Because these half coins are relatively standardized, it is speculated that they may belong to the official mint currency. At the same time, it can be seen that the shape of half a penny was more valued than its weight. Table 1-20 Four and a half coins unearthed from Terracotta Warriors Pit No.1. One of them has a diameter of 3. 1 cm, a diameter of 1 cm and a thickness of 0.9 cm, and the other has a diameter of 2.4 cm, a diameter of 0.9 cm and a thickness of 0.08 cm. Regarding the construction of Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit, Mr. kazuo kawasaki thought it was a short-term fortification by Emperor II. If so, then half a penny was buried by Emperor II. These two kinds of coins with obvious differences are different from the above-mentioned fish pond sites, indicating that coins with different shapes are popular in the next year. This can be said to be the same as the two and a half pieces (with diameters of 1.9cm and 3cm, respectively) unearthed from the architectural site where the "Li Mountain Feeding Officer" supported the soul of the first emperor in Table 1-25. In the era of the first emperor, on the one hand, it did issue a certain specification of half-taels of money, but on the other hand, in the passage stage, there were still quite different half-taels of money. Table 1-37 The pottery jar found in Xinwopu, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia has been broken, but the money inside is still in order. It has been confirmed that there are 245 pieces of square ruler cloth, 2 pieces of pointed cloth 1 piece, half a penny1piece, 2,325 pieces of money for Beiyi and 6 pieces of knife coins. The burial time is uncertain, but there is a site of the Great Wall of Yan State 7.5 kilometers north of the village, so it is considered that Xinwopu Village has a residential site during the Warring States Period. The diameter of half a penny is 2.8 cm. All the coins except Chu in the Warring States Period were unearthed in the same clay pot, which shows that half a penny and the currency of the Warring States Period are in circulation at the same time and have a certain exchange relationship. Second, Qin Banfan has always believed that Qin Banban was originally made of clay sculpture, which was basically a piece of money. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that coins have different shapes and weights for other reasons. However, I didn't know about Qin Banliang's Qian Qian fans until recently. The following table (Table 4). Table 4- 1 Half-penny copper fans unearthed in Dongshe Village, Yongcheng site, with T-shaped handles on the back, length 17. 1cm, width 8cm, thickness 1cm, 3 left and right, 6 left and right, and diameter 3.3-3.4cm, 0.6-cm. It is a "diversion direct casting type", unearthed on the platform on the south bank of Yongshui River, belonging to the small tomb of Qin Dynasty in the Warring States Period. Because there are also pottery pieces unearthed in the late Warring States period, this pottery mold should be buried in the civilian tombs in the late Warring States period. This is the same type as the two pieces (collected by Qishan Museum) unearthed in Konka Village, Gu Jun Township, Qishan County in Table 4-2 and the half-two-copper coin model unearthed in Qin Afanggong Site in Table 4-3. Judging from the size of half a tael of money and Qian Wen, it is believed that it may have been cast by the State of Qin in the Warring States period before the reunification of Qin. Table 4-7 A bronze master mold of half a penny was unearthed at the site of Qin Zhiyang Palace handicraft workshop in Wang You Village, Hanyu Township, Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. Seven pieces are arranged left and right, *** 14 pieces, with a diameter of 2.7 cm. There are also a lot of copper slag, waste copper, waste aggregate and stone, as well as clay fragments, tiles and tiles. , as well as fragments of pottery pots, pots and other utensils unearthed during the Warring States period. Therefore, this bronze model should have been cast from the end of the Warring States period to the unification of Qin Dynasty. In addition, the semi-two shapes unearthed in Pit No.2 of Terracotta Warriors and Horses are very similar to those unearthed in Yuchi Site, so it is considered as an ideal place to make coins. In Table 4-4 and Table 5, two bronze models with half money were found in Mengjia Village, Wang Zhen, 2.5km east of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum, 199 1 year in April. There are 12 pieces and 14 pieces, and each piece is half a cent. Within the scope of this excavation, clay pits, furnace wall residues and tiles used for copper smelting were also found. Qian Fan is similar to the half-taels of money unearthed around the Qin Mausoleum, and the author of the report believes that this is the site of the coin-making workshop in Qin Dynasty. Table 4-7, Table 4-4 and Table 5 are of the same type, which may have been cast by the state during the unification of Qin Dynasty. Table 4-8 shows 1977 half-taels of money unearthed in the southeast ditch of Tongjia Village. This place is located in the suburb of Liyang, Qin Dou. Pottery pieces from the Warring States period were found around the earth ditch, and burnt clay blocks and slag were found on the cliff. It is confirmed that Tongjiacun area is probably the site of Qin Lian copper coins. Table 4- 10 The semi-model collected by Baoji Museum is considered to be the money model in the period of Qin unification, but judging from the word "two", it is suspected that it belongs to the money model of Han Dynasty. The above is an introduction to the excavation of Banliangqian and Qian Fan. From these materials, we can probably see the following problems: at first glance, there are doubts about whether the monetary policy of the country where it is located is implemented, but as we all know, the government adopted a strict management system for the currency circulating in China at that time. Moreover, from the fact that Qin Banliang Coin and Five-baht Coin were unearthed at the same time during the Warring States Period, the Banliang Coin in the Warring States Period has been used until the issuance of Five-baht Coin by Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty. This possibility is very large. Although the excavation of half a penny can't completely determine the age of its site, it is still a decisive and important factor. At the same time, half-taels of money with different sizes and weights are circulating at the same time, which does not mean that the casting time is not good. For example, during the Warring States period, half a penny was generally relatively large, with a diameter of more than 3 cm. The lower half of the horizontal bar in Qian Wen is shorter, and the two upper halves are also shorter. From Qian Fan's unearthed report, we can also see the difference between the Warring States period and the semi-money after reunification. It is very likely that the half-taels of money issued by the government at that time did have certain specifications. Then, why did you expel the older half? Based on this problem, the release time of Banliang is discussed below. 3. When can the issue of half a penny be traced back? First of all, Volume 6 of Historical Records, Biography of Qin Shihuang, records: "Wang Huiwen was born in nineteen years, established two years ago, and began to make money." There is also the "Historical Records of the Six Kingdoms Chronicle" Volume 15: "Two years, congratulations to the son of heaven. Line money. " About "making money", what Kato Fan Shi said should be understood as issuing money. According to the records, Qin began to issue its own currency in the second year of Huiwen King (336 BC), so it should be no problem for the government to master the casting right. But at this time, there are different opinions about what money is. Of course, it is not unreasonable to issue half a penny during the Warring States period. Mr. Wang Jiayou pointed out that in the second year, Mr. Wang Huiwen issued half a penny, but Mr. Wu Zhenfeng thought that before Wang Huiwen unified folk coins into half a penny, one or two yuan, half a ring, twelve baht, two steroids and half a penny were all minted and issued by the state. Mr. Tengfang Yamada also believes that the state abolished the previous "122 (4) baht" and issued half a penny. In addition, Mr. Wang believes that it was filial piety implemented by Shang Yang during the period of 12 to 16 years. Then, the first thing to consider here is: the relationship between "harmony between the sons of heaven" and "before departure" in the Chronicle of Six Kingdoms. Generally speaking, according to records, after Shang Yang's political reform, it was not until the second year of King Huiwen that Qin began to cast its own copper coins. However, in the Chronicle of Six Kingdoms, there is a record of "thirty-three years of King Xian of Zhou, He Qin". Although there is no record of "making money", it can still be considered separately. In addition, "one hundred and twenty-two (four) baht" money is cast in gold, so it is not the first currency of half a penny. Is it the square hole round coin that appears after the round hole round coin? The fact that a large number of half-taels of money were unearthed in the currency of the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty shows that King Huiwen issued half-taels of money. Therefore, before King Huiwen, Qin had spent money: Gong Jian rented grain for the first time in the seventh year (the first 408 years) (Historical Records Volume XV Chronicle of the Six Kingdoms), contributed to the public for seven years (the first 378 years), and entered the city for the first time (Historical Records Volume VI Chronicle of Qin Shihuang). Therefore, in 378 BC, the "city" was recognized. Recently, the ruins of the "City" Building were discovered in Yongcheng. The scale of the "City" is 166.5m in the west, 230.4m in the south, 156.6m in the east and 166.5m in the north, with an area of about 34030m2 and a "gate school" around it. 1983, after archaeological investigation, Ximenshu site unearthed a large number of tiles, in addition to half a penny and pottery fragments. At the bottom of one of the pottery, the words "salty □ inside □" are written. Inferred from these unearthed cultural relics, the age of this "city" site is from the early Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties. Therefore, it is considered that the "centralized market system" with strict market management system has been implemented at that time. It can be seen from the excavation of half a penny that currency exchange is carried out under strict management system. In addition, Shang Yang's policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining business proved that business activities were quite active at that time. In order to gain people's trust, he erected a tree outside the city gate, which made the use of money closer to people's lives. Shang Yang's unified measurement policy is entirely for the smooth development of commercial transactions. This policy completely started the issuance of money. Shortly after the unification of weights and measures, a series of domestic monetary unification policies were also implemented. This fact implies the same explanation for the "recovery of money" in the thirty-seventh year of the first emperor. Regarding "recovering money", Chronicle of Historical Records of Six Kingdoms recorded in the thirty-seventh year of the first emperor: "In thirty-seven years, when the emperor looked at it, evil spirits collapsed. Hu Hai was proclaimed Emperor II. Kill Meng Tian. Road nine goes to the original, and the money is recovered. " Mr. Ichiro Inaba understood this record as the unified currency of the first emperor, that is, "it was too late for Qin to implement the unified currency system, and it was extinct before it was popularized", but can it still be speculated that Hu Hai recorded three words after he ascended the throne, so "recovering money" was implemented by the first emperor? However, what is the evaluation of Emperor II? Mr. He Jian said: "We should regard him as a person. After the death of the first emperor, in order to maintain the system of the Qin Empire, we have to rely on the authority of the first emperor to make it more authoritative and promote the development of the great cause of Qin." Emperor II is an emperor who wants to inherit the great successor policy of the first emperor until his death. If understood in this way, then "Re-money" is not the newly issued currency of Emperor II. Among the handed down or unearthed currencies, there is no such currency except half a penny. The half-taels of money unearthed from the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit belong to the cause of Emperor II, and it cannot be explained that it is a special currency issued by Emperor II. In addition, if "bank money" is half a penny issued by the state, there should be a record of stopping "bank money" before "restoring bank money", what's more, it is unimaginable to give up the casting right of the state at one time. Focusing on the change of half weight, since it is issued according to the weight of Qian Wen's "half weight", it doesn't seem to matter where the records of eight baht, five baht and four baht come from. The purpose of the above investigation is to re-understand that the Record of Emperor II's "Recovering Money" is actually the monetary system since the Warring States and Qin Dynasties. So as to adjust the situation that the reality is inconsistent with the legal tender system. After combing "one money" and "two money" again, the following conclusions are drawn: Shang Yang completely unified the weights and measures in China, and later King Huiwen began to abolish currencies other than half a penny in Qin, and private casting was also prohibited. After the whole country was completely unified measurement, the first emperor abolished the currencies of the six Warring States countries in the process of gradually infiltrating the semi-culture, that is to say, the ultimate goal was to unify the semi-culture. Emperor II's intention was that it was difficult to achieve the power of one country, which made it impossible for the policy to be fully implemented nationwide. Moreover, during the Chu-Han War, the currency of the Warring States was also abolished and eventually unified into the "semi-two" currency of Qian Wen. Fourth, the true state of half a penny. How to use half a penny? Jin Lu Bu in Qin bamboo slips Sleeping Tiger Land records: "Eleven money is one cloth", that is to say, the exchange of Qin currency and half two money is 1 cloth for 1 1 money. Gold may be 1 ten thousand yuan 1 kg. The high price of half a penny is also recorded in the "Golden Cloth Law": "The official who receives money has 1,200 letters. The unprofitable ones are also closed. The money is not good, but mixed. " That is, exchange in thousands. At this point, the good and evil of money is not a problem. The half-taels of money unearthed from Zhang Bao, Chang 'an and Xianyang sites proved the importance of taking thousands as units. As for the different sizes and types of money, there is no problem. Its shape is more important than the weight of a dollar. From the seven and a half coins unearthed in Qingchuan in Table 2, the weight varies from 14.3g to 3.2g, which is quite different. But the diameter is basically about 3 cm, but it is certain. The government has a strict management system, so that it can pass without mistakes under the premise of absolute guarantee from the government. On the other hand, it is inevitable that there will be bargaining in the market about a dollar for a small unit. For a small, light and poor quality half a dime, there are also occasions in the market that refuse to exchange goods. Maybe there are some on the market that calculate the weight of money. "Suburban Law" records: "The balance of gold is not correct, and there is a shield of half baht", that is to say, gold has a scale of half baht and copper is distributed. According to the distribution of scales and copper unearthed in Changsha and other Warring States, some capable businessmen may have brought their own scales when trading. Of course, experienced businessmen can weigh it with their hands. Regarding the value of a dollar, there is a record in the legal question and answer: "If you steal fifteen (five) armour and one sheep, you will get a dollar." What to ask "(399 Jane). Therefore, the rope carried by the sheep's head is worth one yuan. There is also: "Some people steal mulberry leaves and hide them for no profit. Anyway, they are in their thirties" (377 Jane). Therefore, mulberry leaves are worthless. It is also recorded in the Golden Cloth Law: "If you buy or sell, every baby has its own price, and those who can't afford a little thing don't want a baby" (136 Jane). In other words, goods have their own prices, and things less than one dollar are not worth it. It can be seen that in the exchange of small units, half a penny is a gesture of giving and receiving. V. Conclusion As can be seen from the above, half a penny has always been used as the currency of Qin State. More and more valuable unearthed reports will be published in the future. I am looking forward to the new report to answer several exploratory questions listed below. What was the monetary system of Qin before King Huiwen? How to understand the half-money in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty after half-money? What is the reason for burying half a penny? A large number of half-pennies were unearthed for storage, but what did one or two excavations show? In the excavation of Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit, it can be speculated that it was not so much an accidental fall as a conscious burial for the smooth completion of the project. What is the relationship between the currencies of the six Warring States countries and the half of the currency regarded as the domestic currency of Qin State? What kind of exchange rate did businessmen use at that time? Further detailed research on the unearthed situation of currency is still the work that must be done in the future, and the monetary system that has been implemented from King Huiwen of the Warring States to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also needs further research.