Yuan dynasty coinage

Kublai Khan asked his advisor Liu Bingzhong about the usage of coinage and with a Yin and Yang metaphor Bingzhong claimed that no peace could exist within the Yuan empire if coins continued to be used and advised for the exclusive circulation of mulberry bark paper money.

[2] Under Külüg Khan the Yuan dynasty’s treasury was almost completely depleted which eventually led to Külüg Khan issuing a new banknote called the "Zhi Da Yin Jiaochao" (至大銀鈔) which coincided with the minting of "Zhida Tongbao" (至大通寶) coins, which are the most commonly cast Yuan era coins.

[2] Under Külüg Khan the levels of inflation rose to 80% as the government kept printing more banknotes due, and in order to ensure the government’s control on the currency Külüg Khan banned the usage of silver and gold coins, and stopped the circulation of silver certificates in favour of fiat banknotes.

[2] During the periods that paper money was considered to be less valuable due to inflation people would use these "temple coins" (供養錢) as substitute currency.

[2] The first type has the Earthly Branch, indicating the year of casting, written in 'Phags-pa script located above the square centre hole situated on the reverse side of the cash coin.

[2] For example, the words "戌十" (xū shí) would denote that the cash coin was produced in the year 1358 and a nominal value of 10 wén.

[2] For example, the 'Phags-pa transliteration of the word "亥" (hài) written above the square centre hole to denote that the cash coin was produced in the year 1359 and the words "壹兩重" (yī liǎng chóng) inscribed below the square centre hole which translates as "1 tael in weight".

[2][11] The reverse side of the Zhizheng Zhibao cash coins have to the left of the square centre hole the traditional Chinese characters indicating the nominal value of the coin, for example, the equivalent of wǔ qián (伍錢, "5 qián") in paper money.

[15][16] List of coins issued by the Mongols during Yuan dynasty:[17][18][19][2] During the Red Turban rebellion organised by the White Lotus society; many of its leaders proclaimed their own kingdoms and empires that ruled over different regions of China, the most successful of these was Zhu Yuanzhang’s Ming dynasty which would unify China.