Banliang

The banliang (Chinese: 半兩; pinyin: bànliǎng) was the first unified currency of in imperial Chinese history, first minted as early as 378 BC and introduced by the first emperor Qin Shi Huang as China's first unified currency around 210 BC[1] (although coins with this inscription already circulated in the state of Qin prior to unification).

The standardization of currency with this round coinage was part of a broader plan to unify weights and measures during the Qin empire.

[4][5] Qin State coins were inscribed with the Chinese characters "Zhu zhong yi liang" (珠重一兩, "pearls (round coins) heavy one liang"), which might have been kind of lot numbers, while other early State of Qin weighed half a tael or one zi {中冖田} (甾, 錙), which was six zhu.

[5] A seal script evolved further over the centuries, the top horizontal line became longer as is seen in Ban Liang cash coins produced during the time of the Han dynasty.

[7] In order to centralise and standardise the Chinese monetary system, Qin Shi Huang had abolished the existing forms of money.

Western Han dynasty variants include:[2] During the 1950s, a number of Ban Liang cash coins were unearthed at a site somewhere near the city of Xi'an, Shaanxi.

[10] In this article the author explains that in the summer of the year 2006 he had purchased about two-hundred recently discovered and unearthed Ban Liang cash coins.

[10] These cash coins were excavated in the Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County of the Gansu Province in located in northwest China.

[10] Furthermore, Gary Ashkenazy hypothesises that these drilled holes might have been a precursor to the "stars" (星, dots), "moons" (月, crescents), and "suns" (日, circles) found on some Ban Liang cash coins during the Western Han dynasty, which were a primitive form of Chinese numismatic charms, as these symbols gradually developed to become more and more complex until they would finally developed into true Chinese numismatic charms and amulets during the Han dynasty period.

[10] During the early Han dynasty period (200–180 BC), the emperor had ordered the rich and powerful to privately cast Ban Liang cash coins.

[7] Some privately produced Ban Liang cash coins had the Chinese characters for "twenty" (二十) incused or engraved above the square centre hole.

[7] Deng Tong (鄧通) was a wealthy businessman who had a close personal relationship with Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty.

[7] During a period of 3 years, Emperor Wen had allowed Deng Tong to privately produce Ban Liang cash coins.

[7] Since there was "more" metal (or value), these privately produced Ban Liang cash coins by Deng Tong were believed to bring more "happiness" (多福).

[15] Historically Ban Liang coins were very rare in the numismatic community, but as many of them were excavated and exported from China in the 1990s they have become extremely common today with their prices having been dramatically decreased as a result.