Qing dynasty coinage
historical coinage of China
Qing dynasty coinage was based on a bimetallic standard of copper and silver coinage. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty was proclaimed in 1636 and ruled over China proper from 1644 until its overthrow in 1912 as a result of the Xinhai Revolution. The Qing saw the transformation of a traditional cash coin–based cast coinage monetary system into a modern currency system with machine-struck coins, while the old traditional silver ingots would slowly be replaced by silver coins based on those of the Mexican peso. After the Qing dynasty was abolished, its currency was replaced by the Chinese yuan of the Republic of China.
Later Jin dynasty coinage (1616–1636)
Prior to the establishment of the Qing dynasty, the Aisin Gioro clan established the Later Jin dynasty, named after the Jin dynasty of the Wanyan clan. Nurhaci had united the many tribes of the Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens under the leadership of the Aisin Gioro clan, and later ordered the creation of the Manchu script based on the Mongolian vertical script. In 1636, Hong Taiji renamed the realm as "Great Qing", and the Jurchen people as the Manchu people, while adopting policies which fostered ethnic inclusivity.
In 1616, the Later Jin began producing their own cash coins; the coins issued under Nurhaci were written in an older version of the Manchu script without any diacritics, and generally bigger than Later Jin coins with Chinese inscriptions. Under Hong Taiji these coins bore the legend that they had a nominal weight of 10 qián (or 1 tael) modelled after contemporary Ming dynasty coinage, but in reality weighed less.
The following coins were issued by the Later Jin:
History
In 1644, the Qing dynasty captured Beijing from the Shun dynasty, and then marched south capturing the forces loyal to the Ming.
“Qing dynasty coinage” enters the record as historical coinage of China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Qing, dynasty and coinage can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16077912. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1636, 1644, 1912 and 1616.
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This entry incorporates text from “Qing dynasty coinage” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.