The ancient Chinese had no regular system of chronology. There were, no exact divisions of periods, and historical events were dated from one sovereign to another. Long pet were calculated by inaccurate ditional lengths, by intervening reigns fof rulers less popular, or, as in some Instances, by pretenders to royal authority. Events were, therefore, recorded in a more or less traditional Prior to #1 BE. there is a long period where tradition disagrees.
Chinere records handed down to us earlier than this are more or less inaccurate as regards actual dates. Not withstanding the fact that the ten stems and the twelve branches forming cycles were probably in use long before the establishment of the Shang Dynasty (1768 B.C.), it would appear from the oracle bone records: that the cycle was not used to design nate a period of years until a much later date. Perhaps, through further investigation, research and the study of the oracle bone Inscriptions, a formula for calculating years by' the ycie as shown on the bones will be discovered at some future date. with numerous modifications and additional new forms, was the foundation of the Chinese character writing of modern times. Prior to the Shang period, it would appear, the Chinese were backward as regards metals, and had not made the same progress had taken place in various parts of the Western Worl We are, therefore, not dealing with fan uncultured people when we refer to the people of Shang. They had a civilization suited to the place and period in which they lived. They traded with outside nations or triber by means of barter. At the same time they had a currency of kind consisting of pieces of silk, cowries, both natural and bone imitations, tortoise shell and gems, which in time developed into a system of token money that was later inaugurated by the states of Chou.
Tortoise Shells and Cowries is mentioned in the I King that the people of Shang had adopted and regulated for their own wants a cur rency in use among the pre-Chinese tribes of Eastern China, consisting of tortoise shells of various sizes, and cowries, From the 17th century B.C. the currency of Western Asia consisted chiefly of armlets and rings, uninscribed, of various sizes, in' gold, silver and bronze. Fins' of this nature were made in the Caucasus, and it would appear that these metal objects were east on the Babylonian standard of weights, This method of currency did not spread to China during the Shang period, notwithstanding the fact that traders from the West began to visit the latter state before the end of the dynasty, It is probable that they brought metal objects or money with them.
In 1131 BE. Wa Wang, son of Wen Wang of Chou, overthrow the Shang-'Yin Dynasty and established the Chou Dynasty. He was assisted by eight non-Chinese nations, and the records show that he rewarded them with the "sal" that that infamous Chou Sin, the last King of Shang or Yin, had hoarded in the Stag Gallery. The sai' referred to probably consisted of silk in rolls, metal, gems, jade, cowries and tortoise shells, of which were considered as money.
Treasury OMces 1103, during the 13th year of his reign, Cheng, the second King of Chou, through his minister Kiang Tai Kung, established nine treasury offices and regulated currency in metal and silk, gold in cubes, bronze im rings, in ingots or in plates, to cireulste by weight, also silk in pieces of a regular size. This historical statement is given in the "Chien Han Shu," or "Annals of the Former Han."
Gold was in square inches, weighing, tone chin, bronze money was round (in rings) or tongue-like, in squares or ingots.
It must have been shortly after this period that the practical minded Chinese devised a currency to represent the article used in carrying 0! their barter. The currency that soon was to come into being consisted of small implements of daily use, which were cast of bronze in the form of thoes, spades and later Knives and swords.
In 950 BE, in his fitty-frst year, Muh Wang, King of Chou, through hhis minister Liu, enacted his penal laws providing for the optional redemption of corporal punishment by the payment of fines in "huan" Ring Money, which had been introduced into Chou from the West. As arly as 1117 BE. trading parties had visited Chou from the West, and it was from these traders that the Chinese of that period learned much sbout the working and casting In 852 BE. the records show that the State of Chu supplied tortoise shells and cowries for currency. This would tend to show that metal money had not yet become established, and that tortoise shell and cowries were still being used.
Metal Coinage Historical records show that about 675 BE. metal coinage began to be come more firmly established, Huan, prince of the state of Chi (modern Shantung), enacted rules for weights of metallic currency.
Coins of this nature were inseribet with characters indicating their place of issue. The knife money of this period bears the inscription: Chi fan wong ts: kiu hue, meaning "returnable or reviving currency of Chi." The reverse shows san shih, meaning "thirty units" Great wealth was acquired by the state of Chi through the salt trade and, as it supplied the inland states of Chou, it caused an extension of coinage in the states, which were forced to pay for their supply of salt in metal coinage. Salt In Glass Case Postmaster Grants Sender's Desire seems that Mr, A: M, Ghapeat, snail "Ponts Comisionses wi Seema ioo inure, any rate the Baba, Causa
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.