User:Donald Trung/Goryeo coinage



This page serves as "the editing history" of the English Wikipedia article Goryeo coinage and is preserved for attribution.
 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goryeo_coinage&oldid=919196963
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 11:16, 2 October 2019 (UTC).



Original draft
Goryeo coinage (Hanja: 高麗-貨幣; Hangul: 고려의 화폐) refers to the different types of coinages which were attempted to become the main currency of Goryeo. During most of its history the Kingdom of Goryeo did not have a money-based economy but most goods were traded using barter. However, the government had attempted several times to introduce various types of coinages include coins based on Chinese cash coins, silver vases known as ŭnbyŏng (銀瓶, 은병), and coins shaped like arrowheads.

These efforts to introduce coinage to Goryeo were all ultimately unsuccessful and the Korean economy would remain to be based on barter until several centuries into the Joseon period in the 17th century.

Earliest coinages
While in ancient Korea various items like clam shells, iron, and precious metals were all traded as a medium of exchange, but the primary forms of currency during this era used in bartering were grain and cloth. During the pre-monetary times anything related to food and clothing was used as a medium of exchange as well as a method to measure the value of products. The types of grains most commonly used for bartering were rice, barley, beans, and millet. Of these commodities millet white rice was valued a lot more than regular rice. The most common forms of cloth as currency in ancient Korea were hemp, ramie, and silk. Other goods were calculated as having a certain value that was in relation to fundamental commodities such as grain, rice, and cloth. As a result of the ancient barter-based economy some modern elderly South Koreans still use the phrase "Go to the market and sell some rice" which evokes the idea of trading rice for other products. It would not be until the 17th century that coinage fully replaced the barter system throughout the entire Korean peninsula.

Hemp was first the most common form of cloth currency but later cotton cloth (or pohwa) would become the dominant form of cloth money. Since the Three Kingdoms period, silk was considered to be one of the most highly valued medium of exchange.

The first definitive record of currency use in Korea appears in the Goryeo period (918–1392). Early in that period, even though some imported Chinese currency from the Tang and Song dynasties were in circulation, commodity currency such as grain and linen continued in general circulation. In the 10th and 11th centuries, iron and bronze coins were issued, but saw limited circulation among the common people. As in modern times Xin dynasty era hwacheon (貨泉, 화천) cash have been unearthed in tombs in modern Korea there is minor evidence that these coins might've been used for the international trade of the time. In 2018 Wu Zhu (五銖, 오수) cash coins, known as oshujeon in Korea, were unearthed in the North Gyeongsang province further confirming an ancient trade relation with China.

The first known metallic coinage known to have circulated in ancient Korea was Chinese knife money, this type of Chinese coin circulated in the Kingdom of Yan during the Warring States period, and was brought to the Korean peninsula by Chinese settlers and in modern times specimens of knife money have been excavated in the provinces of Pyeongan and Jeolla. During the Chinese Han dynasty Wu Zhu cash coins which were known as oshujeon (五銖錢, 오수전) in Korean were brought to the Korean peninsula following the Han conquest of Gojoseon in 108 BC. The oshujeon would continue to circulate in the later kingdoms of Goguryeo and Silla of the Korea Three Kingdoms period up to the 10th century CE. Today oshujeon are most commonly found in the tombs of the former Lelang Commandery.

Around this time period, the Goryeo government issued a new monetary policy regarding the minting and distribution of cash coins. This decree was implemented to both strengthen royal authority and to regulate the national finances of Korea.

Geonwon Jungbo cash coins
The first cash coins that were allegedly minted in Korea occurred under the reign of King Seongjong in the year Seongjong 15 (996 AD). It bore the inscription "Geonwon Jungbo" (乾元重寶, 건원중보) on its obverse and "Dongguk" (東國, 동국), which could be translated as "the country of the East", on its reverse. This series of cash coins bore the same inscription as the Tang dynasty Qianyuan Zhongbao (乾元重寶) cash coins, but the text "Dongguk" was added to its reverse to indicate that the coin was from a country east of China. The Geonwon Jungbo were manufactured in both bronze and iron.

The attribution of the Geonwon Jungbo to Seongjong is controversial. This is because no ancient Korean historical references mention this series of cash coins and the Geonwon Jungbo did not appear in any coin catalogues until the year 1938 when a Japanese coin catalogue named East Asian Money (東亞錢志) attributed it as being an early Korean issue. After its initial attribution notable Chinese numismatist Ding Fubao quoted this book in one of his works in 1940. It is speculated by some Chinese numismatists that the attribution of this series of cash coins to Goryeo may be because of cash coins with similar inscriptions being listed in the "Qian Zhi", a Chinese coin catalogue published in the year 1149 (Shaoxing 19) during the Southern Song dynasty as this catalogue listed not only Chinese cash coins but also Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Southeast Asian coins.

Because of where these cash coins are usually found in the modern era and due to the lack of historical records, it is sometimes attributed to the ancient Korean kingdom of Balhae. But no historical records exist from Balhae in regard to its coinage so the exact origins of the Geonwon Jungbo remain a mystery. Because of these findings many mainstream Chinese numismatists do not attribute the Geonwon Jungbo to Goryeo. Other arguments set forth is that "Dongguk" is an abbreviation for "Haidong Shengguo", one of the names of Balhae, the fact that Balhae was a major exporter of copper to the Tang dynasty and had a very prosperous economy and a developed culture, this meant that Balhae might have issued its own coinage as it had an extremely well developed copper melting industry, furthermore Balhae used the same calendar as the Tang dynasty so when the Tang dynasty entered the Qianyuan era Balhae entered the Geonwon era.

During its heyday Balhae was complete imitation of the Tang dynasty with its Three Departments and Six Ministries system, Balhae was strongly influenced by the Tang on political, economic, cultural, and military levels and the country was commonly referred to as "Dongguk" because of its geographical location. Meanwhile it is very unlikely that Goryeo would’ve adopted the Tang dynasty Qianyuan Zhongbao inscription as by its time this series of cash coins came to be associated with the inflation and political instability of the late Tang period.

Another hypothesis claims that the Geonwon Jungbo were either a commemorative issue or a military issue akin to the much later Qianlong Tongbao cash coins issued during the Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa campaign which had the characters "安南" (Annam) inscribed on its reverse.

In the modern era these cash coins are mostly unearthed in the Chinese province of Liaoning and North Korea. Some of them being unearthed in the city of Kaiyuan, Liaoning. The iron cash coins are more commonly found than the bronze ones. Currently only 10 pieces of the Geonwon Jungbo are known to exist making it an extremely valued object among East Asian coin collectors.

Coinage of King Sukjong of Goryeo
King Sukjong of Goryeo created a new monetary system based on round copper-alloy coins with square holes as well as the ŭnbyŏng (, 은병) shaped like the Korean peninsula. The coins were produced bearing the inscriptions (동국/Dong guk or "Eastern Country"),  (해동/hae dong or "Eastern Sea"), and  (삼한/Samhan).

An extremely rare variant of the Samhan Tongbo (삼한통보, 三韓通寶) cash coin exists that bears the character written in "official script" instead of, of which only 2 have currently been found.

A new government department, the Directorate of the Mint was created, this government agency in charge of regulating the newly established currency system, and the Dongguk Tongbo (東國通寶) was the first of the these new Korean cash coins to be minted.

In order to strengthen the monetary policy of Goryeo, government officials were encouraged to receive their salaries in cash coins and it was hoped that if they would spend the new currency at local taverns that this would encourage their circulation to become widespread throughout Korea. However, the new cash coin's value would prove to be rather unreliable in the marketplace and it was considered to be impractical for purchasing and trading goods. Because of this perception the new cash coins of Goryeo did not find any wide usage and the government of Goryeo did not try to natively establish a money-based economy afterwards.

There is evidence to suggest that the Chinese used to extensively export Chinese cash coins to Korea for local circulation. The Sinan shipwreck, which was a ship from Ningbo that sank off the Korean coast in the year 1323, carried some 8,000 strings of cash coins, which weighed about 26,775 kg.

Ŭnbyŏng
The ŭnbyŏng (銀瓶, 은병), or hwalgu, were silver vases that were shaped like the Korean peninsula and were widely used during the Goryeo period, they primarily circulated among the aristocracy. These ŭnbyŏng produced from the year 1101 and were engraved with an official state seal to mark them as a legitimate currency which was valid throughout Goryeo. The ŭnbyŏng weighed around one Kŭn (斤, 근) which is roughly equal to 600 grams, this made them very useful for paying for large transactions. Historians suggest that the ŭnbyŏng primarily used by the aristocratic classes and that were also often involved in the bribing of government officials. In the year 1282 the government enacted a law that pegged the value of one ŭnbyŏng at between 2,700 and 3,400 litres of rice. But regardless of the fact that this currency was highly impractical for paying for low value items, the ŭnbyŏng would continue to be used during the next two centuries.

During the reign of Chungnyeol of Goryeo the government had permitted the circulation of rough or broken pieces of silver. By the year 1331 the ŭnbyŏng had completely disappeared from circulation. No specimens of the ŭnbyŏng are known to have survived to the modern era.

Arrow coins
In the year 1464, King Sejo had introduced a new form of currency known as the "arrow coin" (箭幣; 전폐, chŏn p'ye). This currency was shaped like an arrowhead which allowed it to be used as a medium of exchange during times of peace and as a weapon when the country was fighting another war.

The royal instructions regarding the "arrow coin" and how it should be circulated can be translated as the following excerpt:

The blade of the "arrow coin" resembled a leaf of a willow tree and its stem was inscribed with the text P'albang T'onghwa (八方通寶; 팔방통보, which could be translated as either "currency in eight directions" or "eight directions universal money") this text indicated that the "arrow coin" was legal tender throughout Korea.

The arrowhead had a length of 55 millimeters long and its stem was an additional 52 millimeters making the "arrow coin" 107 millimeters long. 1 "arrow coin" was nominally worth 4 pieces of Joseon era paper money.

The new currency did not receive the support of the Korean people causing the failure of yet another attempt to establish a money-based economy in Korea to fail. No surviving specimens of the Korean "arrow coin" ave ever been discovered.

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Wikidata link

 * https://m.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16183980
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 11:15, 2 October 2019 (UTC).

Redirects

 * #REDIRECT Goryeo coinage


 * 1) Goryeo coinages.
 * 2) Goryeo coin.
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 * 4) Goryeo currency.
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 * 6) 高麗-貨幣.
 * 7) 高麗貨幣.
 * 8) 고려의 화폐.
 * 9) Goryeo Dynasty coinage.
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 * 21) Koryŏ coinage.
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