User:Donald Trung/Xianfeng coinage (咸豐錢)

This page serves as "the editing history" of the English Wikipedia article "Xianfeng coinage" and is preserved for attribution.



Xianfeng coinage (Manchu: ; Möllendorff: Gubci elgiyengge ni jiha; Uyghur: شيەنفېڭ پۇلى) was the Qing dynasty coinage cast under the Xianfeng Emperor (reigned 9 March 1850 – 22 August 1861), the coinage of this era saw the reintroduction of not only large denomination cash coins known as Daqian, but also the reintroduction of iron cash coins (Tieqian) and various types of government-made paper money.

Limited resources and background
A large number of large-scale peasant uprisings, ethnic and religious minority revolts, as well as foreign invasions of China took place under the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor, including Nian, Miao, Panthay, Red Turban, Da Cheng, and Taiping rebellions, and the Second Opium War. These major events all had very devastating effects on the economy of the Qing dynasty as well as disabling the government of the Qing dynasty from collecting taxes.XUNYAN During the height of the Taiping Rebellion the government's access to its southern copper mines was cut of by rebel forces, this inability to access its copper reserves has a profound effect on the Qing dynasty coinage of this era. While initially like the preceding series of Qing era cash coins the Xianfeng Tongbao was only produced with the denomination of 1 wén (known as "standard cash coins", the government was soon forced to produce higher denominations to continue financing its large military expenditures.

Introduction of new monies


The measures taken during the Taiping Rebellion made the Chinese monetary system even more complicated as it introduced a large number of different types of currency which all circulated concurrently as legal tender. The hyperinflation during the Xianfeng era was caused by the government of the Qing dynasty, in its desperate scramble for revenue, continuously debasing the copper content of its coinage. Furthermore, the banknotes it had issued were all declared to be inconvertible shortly after their issuance. The debasement of the copper content was commenced in the year 1853 with the introduction of the Daqian (大錢).

Starting in April of the year 1853 two metropolitan mints commenced the production of the Daqian, these had denominations ranging from 5 wén to 1000 wén. During this same time the government of the Qing dynasty began issuing convertible cash bank notes, or guan-hao qianpiao (官號錢票), which were mostly backed in Daqian. These government-issued banknotes were modeled after private bank notes, known as sihao qianpiao (私號錢票), which would continue to circulate even after the introduction of these government notes. These banknotes were issued by nine different government banks, four of these banks newly established for their circulation. Both the Daqian and guan-hao qianpiao were calculated using the Jingqian (京錢) unit of account, but they were complicated by the fact that the nominal value of these government banknotes denominated the debt owed to be satisfied by the payment of cash coins.

In order to finance their enormous military expenditures the government took several monetary initiatives, the government introduced the Da-Qing Baochao (大清寶鈔) copper-alloy cash-notes and the Hubu Guanpiao (戶部官票) silver tael-notes although the empire's silver reserves were woefully inadequate to back the new paper currency. The size and weight of the 1 wén Xianfeng Tongbao cash coins were reduced, this was done in order to save copper which was in short supply due to the supply lines from the copper mines of the Yunnan province being disrupted by the wars that occurred in Southern China.

The large denominations of copper-alloy cash coins cast during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor ranged were 4 wén, 5 wén, 10 wén, 20 wén, 30 wén, 40 wén, 50 wén, 80 wén, 100 wén, 200 wén, 500 wén, and 1000 wén. These Daqian were in no way standardised and it wasn't uncommon for a 50 wén cash coin produced by one mint to be both larger and heavier than a 100 wén cash coin produced by another mint, or a 100 wén cash coin produced by one mint to be both larger and heavier than a 1000 wén cash coin which was produced by another mint. Among the various mints that operated in China at the time, the Fuzhou mint was noted for casting a large number of varieties of these Daqian cash coins with local characteristics.

The introduction of the large denomination Xianfeng coinages happened concurrent with the Tenpō Tsūhō 100 mon coin issued by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1835 (in reaction to government deficit), the 100 mun coin, known as the Dangbaekjeon, by the Joseon Kingdom of Korea in 1867,  the Ryukyuan 100 mon  and half Shu cash coins,   and the large denomination Tự Đức Bảo Sao cash coins in Vietnam. All of these large denomination cash coins also caused inflation on comparable levels.

The nominal value of both the Daqian and the guan-hao qianpiao did not reflect reality, as for example in the year 1861 one would get only 7,500 wén in cash coins (or 750 10 wén cash coins) when cashing in government-issued cash notes of 15,000 wén. Furthermore, unlike physical cash coins, the "string of cash coins" currency unit, or diào (吊), was used to represent 1000 wén in government documents, but only 500 physical cash coins were paid out per paper string. In the year 1854 as the copper reserves of the Qing dynasty were being depleted the government of the Qing dynasty began issuing iron Daqian known as tieqian (鐡錢). The process under which the Xianfeng inflation unfolded revealed as much about the capacity of the government of the Qing dynasty to coerce as the constraint in its monetary management. Only a few years after the introduction of the above currencies, they would all start being heavily discounted on the market.

An example of a common Xianfeng era Daqian would weigh as much as two standard cash coins, giving it an intrinsic value of 2 wén, while having a stamped value equivalent to ten wén.

The inconvertible paper notes that were also issued and pushed through the Chinese market received the full coercive power of the central state. These monetary policies led to immediate market reaction in the areas where they circulated, in fact, upon rumour, would cause the closure of local money shops and was behind a capital flight out of the capital city of Beijing. Public distrust in China towards these new monies even worsened when in the end, governmental agencies refused to accept "big cash" as a form of payment.

The monetary history of China is full of repeated coinage debasements and the government reinforcing them. During the reign of the Manchu Qing dynasty copper cash coins constituted only a relatively small part of the total Chinese money stock, and copper coinage debasement was in actuality not an effective way for the Qing government of raising funds for their expenditures. During the Qing dynasty period it had also become increasingly clear to the imperial government that by minting full-bodied standard cash coins the government mints were effectively losing money. Because of this realisation the Qing government had issued some rather mild debasements of the copper-alloy cash coins before the Xianfeng era, this was done only to minor extends earlier to conceal the Qing government’s wishes to make ends meet. The coinage debasement that had occurred during the Xianfeng reign period was drastic (both in terms of the high nominal values and the coarse metals that were used) and unprecedented in the monetary history of the Qing dynasty, suggesting that the Qing government was aiming for higher seigniorage. But this debasement was also very limited in terms of scale. Moreover, the old "undervalued" standard cash coins were not reminted by the imperial government mints. Instead, the Qing government had explicitly ordered that the newly introduced Daqian should circulate together with the old standard cash coins. Although the imperial mints did not remint standard cash coins into Daqian, the private market did in the form of large scale counterfeiting which meant that all the seigniorage revenues went into their hands.

Given the limited storage of any copper reserves in copper ingots in Beijing at the time, Xun Yan of the London School of Economics and Political Science seems to think that it was more likely that the Daqian were an economical use of the limited copper resources of the imperial mints.

By the year 1857 the overvalued Daqian had completely driven out the Zhiqian from the Beijing market, when iron cash coins were later introduced, with the aim of reintroducing small denominations, the Daqian became a relatively valuable currency on the market. During the beginning of the year 1857 until the middle of 1858 the market value of the Daqian rose. By the year 1859 iron cash coins and Zhiqian no longer circulated meaning that only the Daqian remained. Within a period of six years, the most commonly used money in the city of Beijing had changed from Zhiqian to Daqian.

During the period of inflation, the 10 wén Daqian stayed to gradually replace all the Zhiqian that were in circulation, and a diào of metropolitan cash (Jingqian) was now nominally valued at fifty 10 wén Daqian (which had a nominal value of 500 wén). Despite this, the purchasing power of a 10 wén Daqian would continue to slide during the inflationary period. After the monetary crisis had ended, Zhiqian had completely disappeared from the market, though the market use of Daqian and the practice of counting fifty 10 wén Daqian as 1 diào would remain common practice.

The currency situation in China at the time was chaotic and many cash coins in circulation had unstable metallic contents due to a variety of reasons such as the official debasement policy of the Qing government, implicit mint debasement, as well as the widespread private counterfeiting of large denomination cash coins.

In the year 1854 the Taiyuan Mint started casting 10 wén cash coins, but requested permission to cease the production of copper-alloy cash coins in 1856, as the production of copper coinages was too expensive.

Prince Qing Hui Mint
In April of the year 1854, the Prince Qing Hui, Ke Qin, along with others had requested the imperial government permission to levy copper for the production of Daqian and the establishment of a mint, this was done because of the dire state of payments to the military. They had proposed in their memorial to the imperial court that they needed to collect either 200,000 or 300,000 catties of copper for what they calculated to be needed for the production of 100,000 strings of cash coins. In May of 1854 the Prince Qing Hui had reported that he had established 3 furnaces for the casting of cash coins. In July of the year 1854, the Prince Qing Hui requested permission for the production of Daqian with the nominal values of 200 wén, 300 wén, and 400 wén. On the 24th day of July the Prince Qing Hui ceased the production of 200 wén and 1000 wén cash coins. The cash coins produced by the Prince Qing Hui Mint had the Manchu mint mark "" (Boo Ciowan), which was the mark of the Ministry of Revenue. The cash coins produced by the Prince Qing Hui Mint can be distinguished from those produced by the Ministry of Revenue Mint due to the presence of dots and crescents on the sides of the Chinese character "當" on their reverse sides.

By August of the year 1854 the Prince Qing Hui Mint no longer had enough copper for the production of cash coins to supplement the circulating Zhiqian, because of this the Prince Qing Hui Mint was immediately ordered to be abolished. The surplus copper of the Prince Qing Hui Mint was then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue and the workforce of the Prince Qing Hui was disbanded.

Inflation and depreciation
Peng Zeyi has distinguished three distinct phases of the inflationary cycle during the Xianfeng inflation. First was the introduction and gradual depreciation of the new monies which was followed by a financial crash in early 1857, when standard cash, or Zhiqian (制錢), started disappearing from the Chinese market (Gresham's law), and finally the new monies suffering a steeper depreciation which was linked to a high price inflation.

Only a few years after their introduction both the Daqian and the government-issued paper money would start to be steeply discounted on the Chinese commercial markets. Daqian at this time would start to be traded at their intrinsic value rather than their nominal value.

Both the Daqian and paper currencies proved to be short-lived solutions for the government of the Qing dynasty, with the acceptance of the Daqian coinage having ended within three or four years from its inception. In the capital Beijing, this change would simply translate into a permanent nominal adjustment in the units of accounts used within the city, with a one-time jump in the nominal price level increasing it five fold based on the Daqian units.

Both the inflationary policy of debasing the copper currencies and the issuance of inconvertible paper money were also largely confined to the Beijing capital region and the immediate neighbouring provinces, this was due to the Qing government's limited political control over much of China at the time of Taiping Rebellion. During this era the introduction of the "big cash coins" unit in the capital city made interregional a lot more difficult to conduct because of the regional currency units that existed.

The change of the currency that was mostly in common use into a heavily debased currency had also permanently changed the unit of account, which had depreciated to only 20% of its original value before the introduction of the Daqian. In the Beijing market, prices were now quoted either in metropolitan cash (Jingqian) or a diào of metropolitan cash (which had become 1,000 metropolitan cash coins); but both of these units of account were ghost units. Before the year 1853, a diào of metropolitan cash coins was considered to be 500 Zhiqian (i.e. 500 wén).

By this time, the market value of a 10 wén cash coin (Daqian) was only 2 standard cash coins (Zhiqian). Before 1853 a diào of Jingqian measured in Zhiqian was 500 wén, but after 1861 a diào of Jingqian measured in Zhiqian was only worth 100 wén, meaning that the value of cash coins had deprecated 80% on the Beijing market. This also means that the decline of the purchasing power of money during this period explains the inflation better than the drastic rise in nominal values. After the currency stabilisation that occurred in the year 1861, the quantity theory of money becomes more credible for explaining the general price levels in China.

In the year 1883 the imperial government of the Qing dynasty made an attempt to restore the copper-alloy cash coins back to their original units, because the new units had created chaos among private money shops in China who were willing to pay premium copper-alloy cash coins to call back their own privately-produced banknotes that were issued in "Beijing cash" (Jingqian) units. This was done out of a fear of the large capital cost of having to later redeem their banknotes that were based on the previous standards of copper-alloy cash coins.

The coinage issued during the Xianfeng period were both limited in number and in their commercial use. During the entire eleven years of the Xianfeng era there has been an estimated total output of 18,789,580 strings including standard copper-alloy cash coins (Zhiqian), large denomination cash coins (Daqian), and iron cash coins (Tieqian), this was the equivalent to around 9,400,000 taels of silver (based on the official government exchange rate). As the average annual expenditures of the imperial government were around 11,800,000 taels of silver during "normal years" of 1821 to 1850, the production numbers of the debased metal coinages of the Xianfeng era were unable to have relieved the fiscal pressure felt by the government of the Qing dynasty to any significant extent.

Moreover, the debased cash coins themselves could hardly be used for any important government expenditures as these were usually conducted in silver. These debased cash coinages were instead used to pay for the salaries of government workers (including military personnel), making sure that in nominal figures the salary payments seemed to have been unaffected by any actual budget cut.

The seigniorage revenue that is generated by debasement can be quite a lucrative endeavour for the mint if the debasement compels the market in which these debased coins circulate are motivated to bring metal and old coins back into the mint to then have them be reminted into new and lighter (debased) coins. However, in case of the imperial mints during the Xianfeng period, the mints did not remint any old coins at all, meaning that they missed out on these seigniorage profits, which demonstrates that Gresham’s Law took place in China. The reminting process of old relatively high value Zhiqian nonetheless took place during the Xianfeng era via large-scale counterfeiting which would eventually eliminated all Zhiqian from the Beijing market. In this sense, during the Xianfeng reign era lucrative seigniorage revenues did occur in China as a consequence of the debasement of Chinese cash coins, but rather than originally led by the Qing government, the profit went into the private hands of the counterfeiters rather than in the hands of the imperial government.

Fujian
In July 1853, Wang Yide, the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang, had memorialised to the throne that the mint was temporarily closed in the year 1823. In the memorial Wang Yide stated that the production of Zhiqian by the provincial mint of Fujian was primarily used to pay the salaries of soldiers and that the military would spend the money which would allow the coins to be dispersed among the civilian population. The Fujian Mint closed down in that year because the price of silver was relatively high compared to that of copper making the standard cash coins cheap and not valuable enough for the mint to produce at a profit.

Wang Yide mentioned that in the year 1850 the imperial government had authorised the production of new Xianfeng Jiyuan cash coins, however, the provincial government did not actually re-open the furnaces for their casting. By July 1853 the furnace equipment had all been spoiled or were too damaged to be used for the production of cash coins, furthermore the copper and zinc which had been kept by the mint for many years had also began to corrode and rot, governor-general Wang Yide suggested to the Ministry that the old equipment and metals should be used to produce only one or two mao of cash coins as to not let the metals and equipment go to waste, but also to minimise production because of the increased price of silver compared to the early Daoguang period.

In the memorial governor-general Wang Yide noted that the Provincial Treasurer had added two new furnaces and that these new furnaces would be used for the production of Daqian with the denominations of 10 wén, 20 wén, 50 wén, and 100 wén. The memorial states that the people were allowed to hand over copper items to the mint in exchange for cash coins, this was allowed in the hopes that the provincial government would be able to continuously produce new cash coins. It was decided that the 10 wén cash coin would weigh 5 qián, the 20 wén coin would weigh 10 qián, and the 50 wén and 100 wén cash coins would way proportionally more than the lower denominations.

At the end of the memorial governor-general Wang Yide mentioned how there were Xin dynasty coinages with denominations such as 5,10, 30, 50, 100, and 1000 and how the current circumstances required similar actions as it would bring more balance to the economy.

Jiangsu Province mints
During the Xianfeng period, the province of Jiangsu was particularly affected by the Taiping Rebellion. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom set up its capital city in Nanjing the province of Jiangsu was unable to receive copper from Yunnan, but because the provincial government could still import copper from Japan, so the Jiangsu provincial mints could continue to produce cash coins as it had previously did. In March of the year 1854 it was reported that a mint branch was set up in the city of Qingjiang (which at the time was known as Zhun'an). The Qingjiang Mint soon began to produce Daqian with a denomination of 10 wén, which initially had a weight of 6 qián but was later reduced to 4 qián and 4 fēn, as well as 50 wén, and 100 wén cash coins.

In August of the year 1854, the governor-general of the province of Jiangsu had reported to the imperial throne that the casting levels of 10 wén, 50 wén, and 100 wén had reached 6 mǎo (卯), this meant that the Daqian produced by the Jiangsu had reached the equivalent of 10,000 strings of Zhiqian.

The Register of Large Cash states that there was an "Emergency Preparations" Mint (籌濟, Chóujì), "Relief Preparations" Mint (籌防, Chóufáng), as well as mints in the cities of Zhun'an and Dunxin (敦信) producing Daqian.

In April of the year 1855, it was reported by Governor-General Yang that the Jiangsu provincial government had insufficient copper for the continued production of 10 wén and 50 wén Daqian, so the imperial government allowed them to cast iron Zhiqian. It is possible that the permission also extended for the production of iron 10 wén and 50 wén Daqian. A Special Commissioner was tasked with buying up iron and hiring mint workers to make trial casts at the Qingjiang Mint. In July of the year 1855 20 wén cash coins in with a weight of 6 qián and 30 wén cash coins with a weight of 8 qián were added to the casting. Despite these new experimentations, by September of the year 1855 Daqian had fallen completely out of favour, as was the common case across China, and the Jiangsu branch mint(s?) had ceased producing them.

Attribution of Xianfeng period Jiangsu cash coins
The troubled circumstances in the province of Jiangsu had produced a large number of different cash coin variants produced by the provincial mints. While it is possible to attempt to attribute the many variants to the main provincial mints, the attribution based on type remains highly speculative.

While within these types the calligraphic differences between the character bao (寳 or 寶, "treasure") is one basis of sub-classification for the cash coinage of Jiangsu during this period. Another classification system has been devised based on the character "咸", which can be found with either a curved or hooked left-hand stroke in the "ㄏ" component of the character.

Xinjiang
Under the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor "Red Cash" coins were excessively manufactured negating the reforms implemented by Daoguang causing inflation in the region. As the Taiping rebellion and the Second Opium War had prompted the Qing government to start issuing high denomination cash coins in other parts of the Qing dynasty, this soon spread to Xinjiang mainly due to the decreased subsidies for military expenditures in Xinjiang lowering the soldiers' salaries. In 1855 new denominations of 4 wén and 8 wén were introduced at the Yining mint, further the Ürümqi mint started issuing cash coins with high denominations in response. New mints were established at Kucha, and Kashgar while the Yarkant mint was re-opened. Coins also started being cast in bronze, brass, lead, and iron; this system received a chaotic response from Xinjiang's market. From 1860 denominations higher than 10 wén were discontinued.

Yunnan
During the early 19th century the mint output of Chinese mints started to decline, the main reasons for this decline in the production of cash coins was the exhaustion of the copper supply as well other factors like domestic Chinese disturbances. The copper mine in the province of Yunnan was so over-exploited that from the year 1810 onwards its output started to decline causing a copper shortage for the mints. In the year 1853, the route by which copper from the province of Yunnan was transported to the major mints of the Qing Empire was cut by the Taiping rebels. During a major Islamic uprising in Yunnan the copper mines were completely closed, even after the rebellious Muslims were defeated the copper mines would remain closed. The exploitation of Yunnanese copper was only resumed as late as 1887, this occurred after more than a decade of reconstruction in the province, but even after all of this the production level of the Yunnanese copper mines had dropped to only around 13% of its original level as it was in the mid-18th century. Subsequently the copper supply to the state mints no longer relied on Yunnan, instead it would rely on imports from overseas territories, mainly from its neighbouring country of Japan.

As the costs of raw materials had increased, the output of the Chinese cash coin mints would continue to be reduced. The ratio between the demand for copper and its supply would further widen.

Iron cash coins


During the second month of the year 1854 the government of the Qing dynasty supplemented the already debased coinage system with iron cash coins. The intrinsic value of iron cash coins was substantially lower than that of even the copper-alloy Zhiqian and Daqian. The aim the government had with the introduction of iron cash coins was to provide small change for a market that highly demanded it, as the Chinese market was already flooded with large denomination cash coinage and the Zhiqian 1 wén cash coins) by this point had become a rarity.

The denominations of the newly introduced iron cash coins included 1 wén, 5 wén, and 10 wén. The intrinsic value of the 1 wén iron cash coin represented a debasement of 70% compared to the copper-alloy 1 wén Zhiqian. The market price of iron in 1854 was 40 wén (in Zhiqian) per catty. A catty of iron could be cast into 133 1 wén iron cash coins, or 66 5 wén iron cash coins (which would have a total nominal value of 330 wén), or 53 10 wén iron cash coins (which would have a total nominal value of 530 wén). Disregarding the cost of manufacturing the Chinese itself, a 1 wén iron cash coin indicated a debasement of 70%. Iron cash coins were easily produced with iron scrap, which on the market cost 15 wén per catty in 1854.

While initially iron cash coins were mainly minted by the Ministry of Revenue mint and Ministry of Public Works mint in Beijing, afterwards the government of the Qing dynasty established a specific iron cash coins mint, known as the iron cash office (鐵錢局). The iron cash office also stored the iron cash coins. While the actual production numbers of iron cash coins remains unclear because of the limited entries about them in the records maintained by the Qing treasury, Peng Xinwei estimated, based on information he had gathered from Qing government memorials, that there had been an average annual production of 1,808,160 strings of iron cash coins between the year 1854 and 1855 and an annual production of 1,360,920 strings of iron cash coins during the years 1856 until 1859.

In January of the year 1855 the province of Zhili started casting iron cash coins, a trial casting for a single year was to deliver 120,000 strings of standard cash coins to be brought to Beijing. This work was then carried out by one of the Chinese branch mints with 10 furnaces that was located just outside of the western suburbs of Baoding by the Lingyu Temple (靈雲宮). In May of the year 1857, the four existing copper furnaces of the main Zhili provincial mint in Baoding were altered to be iron cash coin furnaces and a new iron cash coin furnace added, while at the same time 10 new furnaces for the production of iron cash coins was added to the Zhili branch mint. The Zhili provincial mint had ceased the production of 10 wén iron cash coins in June 1857.

Iron cash coin mints were also planned to be opened in the cities of Tianjin, Zhengding, and Daming for the production of 1 wén iron cash coins, but only Zhengding had established a mint for iron cash coins which had 10 furnaces in operation. In July of the year 1859 there were a total of 35 furnaces for the production of iron cash coins in the cities of Baoding and Zhengding and at that time around 1,000,000 strings of iron cash coins had been cast at both mints. Because the Chinese people weren't using iron cash coins it was reported that 30 furnaces in Zhengding (which presumably also includes the furnaces of the Zhili provincial branch mint) were to be closed. In November 1859, the remaining 5 iron cash coin furnaces situated in Baoding were also closed.

The function of iron cash coins was similar to that of Daqian, as it was primarily used as a way to continue paying the salaries of bannermen and other government workers. According to Qing government memorials, large amounts of iron cash coins were used as a means to pay salaries between the years 1856 and 1857 due to a noted justification that "the Chinese public was craving for small change". By the year 1856 the iron 10 wén cash coins were so much depreciated that they were dropped out of general circulation. From this point onwards only iron 1 wén cash coins would remain in general circulation, however, it was common for shops to deny them as a form of payment and there was extensive counterfeiting of iron cash coins, which further lowered the public's trust in them.

Only a single entry in the Qing government archive mentions them from this point, as it is stated that in the year 1856 the government of the Qing dynasty had 431,515.849 strings of iron cash coins deposited in the imperial treasury vault. This entry may be seen as supplementary evidence to suggest that copper-alloy cash coinage had almost completely disappeared in or before this year. Iron cash coins would soon became valueless and the coinage was ultimately suspended in the year 1859.

Lead cash coins
It was reported in the records of the Qing dynasty that lead cash coins were minted for a brief period in the year 1854, although it seems that these lead cash coins were never actually introduced into the Chinese market and therefore did not circulate.

Zinc cash coins
In July 1854 a superintendent of the Ministry of Revenue mint reported that different metals like gold, silver, copper, iron, and zinc are alike when used and believed that if copper could be substituted for iron, iron could be substituted for zinc. The Ministry of Revenue mint initiated trial castings of zinc cash coins, but caused the mint staff to be anxious over the fact that zinc cash coinage is very brittle and easy to break. It was then decided to make these planned cash coins with an alloy of 80% (brittle) zinc and 20% (soft) lead, as these zinc-alloy cash coins would then be better to circulate and would be more acceptable for the people. It was then proposed to replace the monthly production of 2 mǎo (卯) of Zhiqian with the zinc-alloy cash coins because the Ministry of Revenue mint had zinc in store, which would immediately allow the mint to save 100,000 catty of copper.

List of Xianfeng era currencies
List of Xianfeng era currencies:

Xianfeng Tongbao
List of denominations of the Xianfeng Tongbao cash coins:

Xianfeng Zhongbao
List of denominations of the Xianfeng Zhongbao cash coins:

Xianfeng Yuanbao
List of denominations of the Xianfeng Yuanbao cash coins:

Mint marks and variants

 * Notes


 * Calligraphic differences are usually not listed in this list.
 * = Designs that were not adopted.
 * = Iron cash coins.
 * = Zinc cash coins.
 * = Characters inside of the rim.

Xianfeng era casting quotas
List of Xianfeng era casting quotas in strings of cash coins:

"The King of Qing dynasty coins"
A special Xianfeng Tongbao coin known as the "King of Qing dynasty coins" (清錢之王), or known as the "Daqing Yibai" (大清壹百) to Chinese coin collectors, was a 100 wén pattern coin created by the Fuzhou Mint. This very rare pattern coin, which was never put into circulation, is large in size, heavy in height, and very well cast. The diameter of the "King of Qing dynasty coins" pattern coin is 7.25 centimeters and it weighs 197 grams. The inscription of "Xianfeng Tongbao" was originally only meant to be used for 1 wén coins with the denominations of 5 wén to 50 wén using the term Zhongbao (重寶) and from 100 wén to 1000 wén using Yuanbao (元寶), this meant that if the Fuzhou Mint actually followed the official guidelines of the central government of the Qing dynasty this pattern coin would have had the inscription "Xianfeng Yuanbao".

The reverse side of the "King of Qing dynasty coins" contains the inscription "Da Qing" (大清, "Great Qing") written from right to left and at its bottom the inscription "Yi Bai" (壹百, "one hundred"), also written from right to left. To the right and left of the square centre hole are the Manchu characters "Boo Fu", which are used for identifying the mint in the city of Fuzhou, Fujian. The "King of Qing dynasty coins" pattern coin is unusual in its design because the inscriptions state not only the reign title of the emperor (Xianfeng), the denomination of the coin (100 wén), and the mint name in Manchu identifying the issuing mint (Fuzhou), but also the name of the issuing dynasty (Da Qing).

The style of Chinese calligraphy used by the Fuzhou Mint is known as the "mountains and valleys style" (山谷體).

This coin, which was one of the prominent pieces in the collection of Ma Dingxiang (馬定祥), who was regarded as one of the most famous Chinese numismatists of the 20th century, sold at the Guardian Auction on November 11, 2009 for about $ 314,000 (RMB 1.960.000). At the time of this auction, this was the highest price ever paid for a Chinese cash coin.

Many reproductions and fakes exist of this one-of-a-kind coin, but the only authentic specimen known to exist is now in the collection of the Jin Quan Coin Museum (金泉錢幣博物館).

Xianfeng charms
As was common of Chinese coinages, charms, amulets, and talismans were commonly modeled after Xianfeng period coinages, these coinages could resemble or even be identical to circulation cash coins. While Xianfeng charms are also found based on the many other categories of Chinese numismatic charms, such as a Lei Ting curse charm with the obverse inscription Xianfeng Tongbao (咸豐通寶) and the reverse inscription Léi Tíng bā bù, zhū guǐ jiàng jīng, zhǎn yāo pì xié, yǒng bǎo shén qīng, fèng Tài Shàng Lǎo Jūn, jí jí rú Lǜ Lìng, chì (雷霆八部，誅鬼降精，斬妖辟邪，永保神清，奉太上老君，急急如律令，敕, "O Thunder God, destroy devils, subdue bogies, and drive away evil influences. Receive this command of Tai Shang Lao Qun (Laozi) and execute it as fast as Lü Ling").

Xianfeng era vault protector coins


Vault protector coins were produced for a period of over a thousand years starting in the country of Southern Tang during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and were produced until the Qing dynasty. Speculations exist that claim that coins that had a function of being "vault protectors" might even predate this era by another millennium. These non-circulating coins were typically cast to commemorate the opening of new furnaces for casting cash coins.

These coins were significantly larger, heavier and thicker than regular cash coins and were well-made as they were designed to occupy a special place within the treasury of the mint. The treasury had a spirit hall for offerings to the gods of the Chinese pantheon, and Vault Protector coins would be hung with red silk and tassels for the Chinese God of Wealth. These coins were believed to have charm-like magical powers that would protect the vault while bringing wealth and fortune to the treasury.

The Leizhou City Museum (雷州市博物館) in the city of Leizhou, Guangdong and the Palace Museum in Beijing both own a Qing dynasty era Xianfeng Tongbao (咸豐通寶) vault protector coin. The reverse inscription of this vault protector coin reads Da-Qing Zhenku (大清鎮庫, which could be translated into English as "Vault Protector of the Qing dynasty"). These coins have a diameter of 14 centimeters. The square centre hole is 2.5 centimeters in diameter, the vault protector coin weighs 1.05 kilograms. Only 5 of these vault protector coins were ever produced and during the beginning of the Republic of China, a eunuch had stolen all of them, the aforementioned two cash coins remained in China while the eunuch sold the other 3 Xianfeng Tongbao vault protector coins for what was purported to be "a large amount of money" to a British man. A description of this vault protector coin also appears in the book "Zhongguo Guqian Daji" (中國古錢大集) written by Hua Guangpu (華光普), where it is valued as being worth 1.200.000 yuan. The Leizhou City Museum came in possession of this coin during the 1950s, prior to this it was privately owned.

During the Xianfeng era another type of vault protector coins was cast by the Ministry of Public Works with the obverse inscription Baoyuan Juzao (寶源局造, which could be translated as "made by the Ministry of Public Works"). The reverse inscription of the this coin reads Zhenku (鎮庫, "vault protector coin"). This vault protector coin is very large in its size and has a diameter of 11.52 centimeters, its square centre hole is 1.8 centimeters in diameter, and it has a weight of 837.3 grams. In 1936 Arthur B. Coole (邱文明) claimed that only four of five of these vault protector coins were ever produced by the Ministry of Public Works Mint in Beijing.

A Xianfeng Yuanbao (咸豐元寶) vault protector coin was cast at the Ministry of Public Works mint with a reverse inscription that reads "鎮庫 " (Zhen Ku Boo Ciowan). This vault protector coin a diameter of 117.43 millimeters and a weight of 902.1 grams. Chinese numismatist Ma Dingxiang, in his book "The coins of Xianfeng" (咸豐泉匯), claims that the style of this vault protector coin is consistent to the styles of other Xianfeng era cash coinages. Furthermore, Ma Dingxiang claims that there exists only a single other specimen of a "companion vault protector coin" that was produced simultaneously by the Ministry of Revenue Mint in Beijing.

In 2009 a Baoyuan Juzao vault protector coin was sold at an auction in Tokyo, Japan. This same coin was sold at auction in the year 2013 for $408,279 (RMB 2,530,000). At the time of this auction, this sale had broken the record for the highest amount of money that was ever paid for a Qing dynasty era coin.

Silver coinage
Notable supporters for the use of paper money based on silver included Wang Maoyin (Vice-President of the Ministry of Revenue), Wang Yide (Governor of the Fujian Province), and Huashana (the former vice-president of the Ministry of Revenue). While Wang Maoyin had argued for the issue of convertible notes that would be linked to banks, other officials were all more inclined to issue unbacked paper notes. Eventually the proposals for inconvertible silver notes won out and the Hubu Guanpiao tael notes were not convertible into any silver.

During the Xianfeng period a series of "silver cakes" (銀餅) was issued in 1856 by three private banks in the city of Shanghai, namely the Wang Yong Sheng (王永盛), Jing Zheng Ji (經正記), and Yu Sen Sheng (郁森盛). Their cakes were manufactured by steel matrices and they tended to have a weight of 1 tael and 0.5 tael.

In the year 1857 the Jiangsu provincial mint also produced "silver cake" coins made with steel dies. In the decades that followed various other Chinese regions also started to produce Yinbing with differing dimensions and denominations, and these silver coins tended ti only circulating locally and for rather short periods of time.

The first true Chinese mechanically produced coins were silver coins made in this period by the mint in Jilin.

Bimetallism
During the Xianfeng period China's bimetallic currency system was under increasing pressure. For most of its history the Qing dynasty operated a currency system where copper and silver circulated simultaneously at fixed (government-set) exchange rates. Because of the relative scarcity of copper during the many crises that had plagued China during the Xianfeng period the official exchange rate was altered. During the 19th century the Chinese market became more integrated into the international market, which in turn made the movement of silver both more frequent and more sudden. The forced opening up of treaty ports following the Opium Wars tied the Chinese market closer to that of the rest of refer world causing a more frequent and less predictable flow of silver in and out of the country. The fluctuations of the unofficial exchange ratio between the two currencies were more easily observed by individuals and the financial arbitrage became much more frequent because of the readily available modern communication methods as well as modern transportation mechanisms. These factors all contributed to the end of a stable Chinese bimetallic currency system during the 19th century. China itself became more and more connected with the international market, while internal Chinese markets became more connected with each other, this all caused the relative supply of the two metals in the Qing currency system to change. Furthermore, the Chinese copper mines became almost completely depleted during the 19th century and China became more and more dependent on imports for its copper supply. In contrast, the supply of silver would increase due to all these factors, further skewing the government set exchange rates.

As the opening up of more cities to foreign trade, the Chinese market now had stronger links to overseas markets (and also when the supply of both metals relied almost solely on import), the exchange ratio between copper-alloy cash coins and silver bullion would become a subject to very common fluctuations. The constant fluctuation between the price of copper and silver relative to each other was worst in the urban areas and many Chinese trade centres. Furthermore, the technological developments that aided in telecommunication and large national and international financial networks created a very integrated market where the regional variations in the prices of copper and silver would become an ever growing threat to the stability of the monetary system.

Money supply
The nominal value of the supply increased substantially during the Xianfeng period, especially during the years 1853 until 1861; during this period the nominal money supply increased from 1,140,000 strings of copper-alloy cash coins to 9,500,000 strings of a mixture of different kinds of monies. However, this increase may be misleading, this is because if the original total of money in circulation was large starting from 1853, then even a relatively high increase of the money supply in circulation would not significantly disturb the monetary market. If, however, the original total supply of money in circulating on the market was already a small amount, then even a slight increase of the money supply by the production of more monies would then be serious enough to be detected in the market and cause inflation.

The Chinese money supply, when taking into account the money stock in Beijing in the year 1821 as a benchmark year, increased slowly over time. By using the annual mint output figured and later the annual paper note production, the money supply increased slowly from the year 1821 until 1850, while it dropped all of the sudden in the years 1851 and 1852, then is soared again afterwards until the year 1861. After the year 1861 the money supply mildly decreased, but would then remain stable.

The growth of the Chinese money supply between the years 1853 and 1861 remains very high: by the end of the Xianfeng inflation period, the total money supply in general circulation had risen between 4 to 5 times its original size compared to 1850.

Catalogue numbers

 * Hartill = Cast Chinese Coins by David Hartill. Trafford, United Kingdom: Trafford Publishing. September 22, 2005. ISBN 978-1412054669.


 * FD = Fisher's Ding (丁), George A. Fisher's copy of Ding Fubao's (丁福保) original work catalogue, 1980, 251 pages.


 * Schjøth = "Chinese Currency, Currency of the Far East - A Comprehensive Text Chou Dynasty, 1122 B.C.–255 B.C. Through Ch'ing Dynasty 1644 A.D.–1911 A.D." by Fredrik Schjøth and Virgil Hancock, Oslow, Norway, 1929.


 * Hartill-Qing = Qing Cash (清代貨幣) by David Hartill, Royal Numismatic Society (2003).


 * Krause = C.L. Krause and C. Mishler, Standard Catalog of World Coins, Krause Publications, 1979.

Standard reference templates

 * August 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * July 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * June 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * May 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * April 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * February 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * February 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * January 2021.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * December 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * October 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * November 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * September 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * August 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.








 * July 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.






 * June 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.






 * May 2020.




 * No longer needed as I've imported THE ENTIRE WEBSITE, except for ancient Chinese piggy banks.






 * April 2020.










 * March 2020.






 * February 2020.






 * January 2020.






 * December 2019.





To use














More sources to use

 * http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/41940/1/WP159.pdf
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 11:23, 11 February 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 11:23, 11 February 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 11:23, 11 February 2020 (UTC).


 * http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3307/1/Yan_In_Search_of_Power.pdf
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 22:35, 4 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 22:35, 4 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 22:35, 4 April 2020 (UTC).


 * http://www.transasiart.com/Numismatique/numismatique_chine/qing/xianfeng/ncnimpq09.htm


 * http://www.transasiart.com/Numismatique/numismatique_chine/qing/xianfeng/ncnimpq09a01.htm


 * http://www.transasiart.com/Numismatique/numismatique_chine/qing/xianfeng/ncnimpq09a03.htm


 * http://www.transasiart.com/Numismatique/numismatique_chine/qing/xianfeng/ncnimpq09a013.htm

Manchu Kuche

 * K = ᡴ
 * U = ᡠ / ᠸ
 * CH = ᠴᠠ
 * E = ᡝ


 * Desired result:


 * http://www.anakv.com/msc.php?input=Kuche&font=1&wpc=5&fontsize=25&cspace=10&fcolor=Black&bcolor=White


 * http://www.anakv.com/msc.php?input=Kuche&font=1&wpc=5&fontsize=25&cspace=10&fcolor=Red&bcolor=Black


 * First (1st) attempt:


 * Second (2nd) attempt:


 * Third (3rd) attempt:

/


 * Fourth (4th) attempt:

/

Ban Liang side-project

 * User:Donald Trung/Ban Liang (2020 expansion). ✅.


 * More spin-off side-projects


 * User:Donald Trung/Yushu Qian (禦書錢). ✅.


 * User:Donald Trung/Western Xia Dynasty coinage (2020 expansion). ✅.

Final Gary Ashkenazy's Primaltrek / Primal Trek procrastination spin-off projects

 * User:Donald Trung/Taoist coin charm. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 23:06, 8 March 2020 (UTC).


 * User:Donald Trung/Xin dynasty coinage. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 22:47, 11 March 2020 (UTC).


 * User:Donald Trung/Mongol cash coins 2020 expansion. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 18:58, 22 March 2020 (UTC).


 * User:Donald Trung/Spade Money (2020 expansion). ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:11, 4 April 2020 (UTC).

Craig Greenbaum spin-off projects

 * User:Donald Trung/Vietnamese numismatic charm (2020 expansion). ✅.


 * User:Donald Trung/Five poisons expansion. ✅.


 * User:Donald Trung/Lei Ting Curse charms etymology. ✅.

Kaiyuan Tongbao spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Expansion of Kaiyuan Tongbao (2020). ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:36, 5 April 2020 (UTC).

Chinese coin hoards spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/List of coin hoards in China, this will encompass literally EVERY (still) unimported page from Gary Ashkenazy's Primaltrek / Primal Trek. But this will also take a lot of time away from this article. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 07:09, 18 April 2020 (UTC).

Iron cash coins spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Iron cash coins (鐡錢). ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 14:23, 20 April 2020 (UTC).

Dr. Luke Shepherd Roberts spin-off projects

 * User:Donald Trung/University of California at Santa Barbara expansion of "Japanese numismatic charms". ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 17:43, 20 April 2020 (UTC).

Tianxia Taiping spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Tianxia Taiping coins.
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:27, 1 May 2020 (UTC).

Mikazuki-mura cash coin tokens spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Mikazuki-mura cash coin tokens.
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 20:21, 5 May 2020 (UTC).

Hongqian copy

 * = Qianlong Tongbao (乾隆通寶) "red cash coins" that were posthumously produced during the Jiaqing period.
 * = Qianlong Tongbao (乾隆通寶) "red cash coins" that were posthumously produced during the Daoguang period.
 * = Qianlong Tongbao (乾隆通寶), Daoguang Tongbao (道光通寶), and Tongzhi Tongbao (同治通寶) "red cash coins" that were posthumously produced during the Guangxu period.

Marriage coin charm spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Marriage coin charm. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 15:00, 18 May 2020 (UTC).

Chinese burial money spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Chinese burial money. ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 17:10, 25 June 2020 (UTC).

Shingi Tongbo (新起通寶) spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Shingi Tongbo (新起通寶). ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 20:25, 1 June 2020 (UTC).

Huachuanqian (花穿錢) spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Huachuanqian (花穿錢).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 16:28, 16 August 2023 (UTC).

Lead cash coins (鉛錢) spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Lead cash coins (鉛錢).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:10, 21 August 2023 (UTC).

Xianfeng era vault protector coins
Vault protector coins were produced for a period of over a thousand years starting in the country of Southern Tang during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and were produced until the Qing dynasty. Speculations exist that claim that coins that had a function of being "vault protectors" might even predate this era by another millennium. A description of this vault protector coin also appears in the book "Zhongguo Guqian Daji" (中國古錢大集) written by Hua Guangpu (華光普), where it is valued as being worth 1.200.000 yuan. The Leizhou City Museum came in possession of this coin during the 1950s, prior to this it was privately owned.

Clay cash coins (泥錢) spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Clay cash coins (泥錢).
 * . --Donald Trung (talk) 17:29, 22 August 2023 (UTC).

Qianheng Zhongbao (乾亨重寳) spin-off project

 * User:Donald Trung/Qianheng Zhongbao (乾亨重寳).

Images to add (Prof. Gary Lee Todd)

 * https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Coins_of_China_in_collection_of_Prof._Gary_Lee_Todd&filefrom=401+S-1516%2C+Daoguang%2C+1820-1850%2C+18mm.jpg#mw-category-media

Redirects

 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) Xianfeng Coinage.
 * 2) Xianfeng coin.
 * 3) Xianfeng coins.
 * 4) Xianfeng Coin.
 * 5) Xianfeng Coins.
 * 6) 咸豐錢.
 * 7) 咸丰钱.
 * 8) xián fēng qián.
 * 9) Xianfeng era coinage.
 * 10) Xianfeng period coinage.
 * 11) Xianfeng currency.
 * 12) Xianfeng Currency.
 * 13) Xianfeng currencies.
 * 14) Xianfeng Currencies.


 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) The King of Qing dynasty coins.
 * 2) King of Qing dynasty coins.
 * 3) The King of Ch'ing dynasty coins.
 * 4) King of Ch'ing dynasty coins.
 * 5) The King of Qing Dynasty coins.
 * 6) King of Qing Dynasty coins.
 * 7) The King of Ch'ing Dynasty coins.
 * 8) King of Ch'ing Dynasty coins.
 * 9) 清錢之王.
 * 10) Daqing Yibai.
 * 11) Da-Qing Yibai.
 * 12) 大清壹百.
 * 13) The King of Qing dynasty cash coins.
 * 14) King of Qing dynasty cash coins.
 * 15) The King of Ch'ing dynasty cash coins.
 * 16) King of Ch'ing dynasty cash coins.
 * 17) The King of Qing Dynasty cash coins.
 * 18) King of Qing Dynasty cash coins.
 * 19) The King of Ch'ing Dynasty cash coins.
 * 20) King of Ch'ing Dynasty cash coins.


 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) Xianfeng Tongbao
 * 2) Xianfeng tongbao.
 * 3) Xian Feng Tong Bao.
 * 4) 咸豐通寶.
 * 5) 咸丰通宝.
 * 6) Xianfeng tong bao.
 * 7) xianfeng tongbao.
 * 8) xián fēng tōng bǎo.
 * 9) Xián Fēng Tōng Bǎo.
 * 10) xián fēng tōngbǎo.
 * 11) Xiánfēng Tōngbǎo.
 * 12) 咸豐通寳, factually correct contemporary spelling that for some reason is only used by the Japanese today.
 * 13) Hsien Feng T'ung Pao.
 * 14) Hsienfeng T'ungpao.
 * 15) Hsienfeng Tungpao.
 * 16) Hsien Feng Tung Pao.
 * 17) Hsienfeng tungpao.
 * 18) Hsien Feng tung pao.


 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) Xianfeng Zhongbao
 * 2) Xianfeng zhongbao.
 * 3) Xian Feng Zhong Bao.
 * 4) 咸豐重寶.
 * 5) 咸丰重宝.
 * 6) Xianfeng zhong bao.
 * 7) xianfeng zhongbao.
 * 8) xián fēng zhòng bǎo.
 * 9) Xián Fēng Zhòng Bǎo.
 * 10) xián fēng zhòngbǎo.
 * 11) Xiánfēng Zhòngbǎo.
 * 12) 咸豐重寳, factually correct contemporary spelling that for some reason is only used by the Japanese today.
 * 13) Hsien Feng Chung P'ao.
 * 14) Hsienfeng Chungp'ao.
 * 15) Hsienfeng Chung p'ao.
 * 16) Hsien feng chung P'ao.
 * 17) Hsien Feng Chung Pao.
 * 18) Hsienfeng Chungpao.
 * 19) Hsienfeng Chung pao.
 * 20) Hsien feng chung Pao.


 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) Xianfeng Yuanbao
 * 2) Xianfeng yuanbao.
 * 3) Xian Feng Yuan Bao.
 * 4) 咸豐元寶.
 * 5) 咸丰元宝.
 * 6) Xianfeng yuan bao.
 * 7) xianfeng yuanbao.
 * 8) xián fēng yuán bǎo.
 * 9) Xián Fēng Yuán Bǎo.
 * 10) xián fēng yuánbǎo.
 * 11) Xiánfēng Yuánbǎo.
 * 12) 咸豐元寳, factually correct contemporary spelling that for some reason is only used by the Japanese today.
 * 13) Hsien Feng Yuan Pao.
 * 14) Hsienfeng Yuanpao.
 * 15) Hsienfeng Yuan pao.
 * 16) Hsien feng yuan Pao.
 * 17) Hsien Feng Yuan P'ao.
 * 18) Hsienfeng Yuanp'ao.
 * 19) Hsienfeng Yuan p'ao.
 * 20) Hsien feng yuan P'ao.


 * #REDIRECT Xianfeng coinage


 * 1) Xianfeng charm.
 * 2) Xianfeng charms.
 * 3) Xianfeng amulet.
 * 4) Xianfeng amulets.
 * 5) Xianfeng talisman.
 * 6) Xianfeng talismans.
 * 7) Xianfeng coin charm.
 * 8) Xianfeng coin charms.
 * 9) Xianfeng coin amulet.
 * 10) Xianfeng coin amulets.
 * 11) Xianfeng coin talisman.
 * 12) Xianfeng coin talismans.
 * 13) Xianfeng numismatic charm.
 * 14) Xianfeng numismatic charms.
 * 15) Xianfeng numismatic amulet.
 * 16) Xianfeng numismatic amulets.
 * 17) Xianfeng numismatic talisman.
 * 18) Xianfeng numismatic talismans.