The Tang Dynasty Ancient Chinese coinage
1 tang dynasty 1.1 tang issues 1.2 xinjiang issues 1.3 tang rebels the tang dynasty tang issues obverse , reverse of kai yuan tong bao coin. kai yuan tong bao (chinese: 開元通寶; pinyin: kāiyuán tōng bǎo; literally: inaugural currency ) main coin issued tang. cast of dynasty, period of 300 years. first issued emperor gao zu in autumn of 4th year of wu de period (august 621). diameter 8 fen. weight set @ 2.4 zhu, ten liang. 1,000 coins weighed 6 jin 4 liang. legend written famous calligrapher ouyang xun in admired mixture of bafen , li (official or clerkly) styles of writing. first include phrase tong bao, used on many subsequent coins. inscription used other regimes in later periods; such coins can distinguished tang coins workmanship. minting , copper extraction centrally controlled, , private casting punishable death. first time find regulations giving prescribed coinage alloy: 83% copper, 15% lead, , 2% tin. percentages used seem have been on ad hoc basis. actual analyses show rather l...