Can ancient Chinese jade be used as currency?
Between 4300 and 3800, in today's Gansu, eastern Qinghai, southern Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia Tengger Desert, there is a Qijia culture named after the Guanghe Qijiaping site in Gansu. The Qijia Culture and the Living Economy are a mixed mode of agriculture, animal husbandry and commodity trade. Since the 1990s, Qijia Culture Jade has gradually entered the field of vision of academics and collectors, and its reputation has risen.
The possibility that jade becomes a general equivalent
Qijia culture jade has more obvious characteristics. The first is a large number. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 3,500 pieces. Second, most of them are collections and collections. A considerable part is not from the site and tombs, nor is it a relic of religious sacrifices. It may be related to the market, wealth, and production workshops. Remains. Third, there are clear distribution areas, mainly distributed in the Qijia culture distribution areas such as Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, etc., with Gansu as the center. However, Qijia Culture Jade has many things in common with the Shiji Group jade in Jinshan and Shanmeng and the Jinna Taosi culture jade. Fourth, the class is mainly composed of sheets and strips, such as hoes, axes, hoes (long strips of flat-bladed weapons), hoes, knives, chisels, hoes, rings, cymbals, cymbals, round pieces of jade, and and many more. In addition, there are a large number of jade materials (bars and scraps), jade cores (ç® core and core). Ornaments include bracelets, tubes, and armbands. Fifth, most of the jade objects are plain. Sixth, most jade crafts are rough.
In the past, academic circles have interpreted the function of Qijia culture jade from the perspective of religious sacrifices and ritual jade. However, if we carefully analyze the various characteristics of the above-mentioned Qijia culture jade, we cannot strongly prove that the Qijia culture jade is mainly used for religious sacrifices. More crucially, almost no jade has a background relationship with religious sacrifices. Therefore, the Qijia culture jade function can also be interpreted from other angles. Archaeologist Zhu Naicheng once believed that more than 200 pieces of jade burial in the Wuwei Emperor's Mausoleum in Wuwei may be the original currency. This perspective is worthy of attention.
The Qijia culture is distributed in the Hetao area, spanning the agricultural area, the animal husbandry area, the farming-pastoral interlaced zone, and the jade resources, combined with the geographic access location of the Hetao area, determines the geographical location of its commodity economy. Comparing the information on the commodity transactions discovered by the archaeological finds and researches in West Asia, it can be inferred that the stone “spinning wheel†and small bones unearthed from the Hejia Village in Qijia Culture, Yongjing County, Gansu Province should be counted for commodity exchange accounting. The so-called "red pottery bell" unearthed from the Dahezhuang site is regarded as "the clay ball of the pottery or the stone." M247:1 "Shiquanzhangtou" of Chenqi Mogou, Lintan County, Gansu Province, should be the weight of the stone. The bone shell unearthed from Wuwei Huangniangtai in Gansu is obviously a model of the Indian Ocean son Anbei (the cargo shell), that is, the sub-Amber imitation "token".
This is the economic basis for us to analyze the function of Qijia culture jade from the perspective of general equivalents. Because of the Hetao area and even the Central Plains region, in the process of commodity exchange between various ethnic groups and archaeological cultures, there will be differences in the judgment of commodity value, which increasingly hinder the success rate of conventional and multi-commodity exchanges. Therefore, the general equivalent has come into being. Before precious metals such as gold and silver entered East Asia, between the years of 4300 and 4,000 years ago, the amount of copper and copper materials and sub-Ambers available was too small, and it was difficult to assume the functions of general equivalents in large-scale commodity exchange economic activities.
At the same time, the East Asian region has been worshipping jade since 30,000 years ago. The values ​​of this jade are accepted by Qijia Culture, Shijie Group and Taosi Culture, and become the commodity values ​​recognized by the animal husbandry group, the merchant group and the agricultural group. Moreover, jade production has condensed more social labor time, combined with the monopoly of Qijia culture jade mine, the scarcity and durability of jade, and is more suitable for temporarily replacing precious metals as general equivalents to measure the value of other commodities.
Jade currency is fully functional
At present, the academic community has just begun to explore the monetary function of Qijia culture jade. There are still many specific issues to be explored in the future from the perspective of political economy.
1. The value scale of the equivalent of the Qijia culture jade.
The principle of political economy believes that the commodity value measurement function of the general equivalent (ie, currency) requires the currency to adapt to the specifications of commodity exchange of various scales, commonly known as the face value.
Because the proportion of Qijia culture jade is 1.5-4.7, it is determined that jade as a currency cannot be based on weight, and can only be measured by value of length or diameter. Based on this, the author analyzed 300 pieces (excluding jade decorations) Qijia culture jade articles ("Yade Zexi: Qijia Culture Jade", which was unearthed and collected in Ganqing area with detailed size statistics (Beijing Publishing Group Corporation 2015 Edition) According to the statistical length of centimeter, considering the process error of production and the loss in the circulation process, one person after the decimal point is retained, and the Qijia culture jade is divided into eight grades.
The length of the jade culture of the Qijia culture is more than 50 centimeters, accounting for about 1% of the total number of jade articles in Qijia culture. Only 2 large jade knives and 1 large jade carp are found, which are from Gulangxiakou, Niumendong and Shangsunjiazhai sites. The central settlement of the non-Qijia culture should be the currency of the huge denomination after the scatter, and it is basically not used for market circulation.
Grade I jade coins are about 35-40 cm long, accounting for about 1% of the total. The instruments are large knives and small holes. It is roughly speculated that it is a large-value denomination currency that is infrequently distributed after the divergence. There is a significant difference in length between the I and the special grades.
Grade II jade coins are about 27.5-34.5 cm long, accounting for about 4% of the total. The class is dominated by sputum, followed by small holes and the largest. This is a large denomination currency that is not commonly used in commodity exchanges.
Grade III jade coins are about 20-27 cm long, accounting for about 9% of the total. It is dominated by 璧 (small hole 璧, 璜璧 璜璧, 异 璧), followed by 戚, jade accounted for the third place. It is about the more common denomination currency.
Grade IV jade coins are about 15 to 19.5 cm long, accounting for about 12% of the total. It is dominated by cockroaches, and cockroaches occupy the second place. Others are chisel, hoe, hoe and medium-sized jade, jade, jade and medium-sized knives, which are commonly used medium-denominated currencies.
Grade V jade coins are about 10 to 14.5 cm long, accounting for about 28% of the total. Mainly based on cockroaches, jade tools (axe, chisel, hoe) jumped to the second place, and the rest were é’º, ç®, ç’œ, jade, and the ring and knives were the least. It was a small currency with very large circulation.
The grade VI jade coins are about 5-9.5 cm long, accounting for about 41% of the total. The class is more complex, jade (jade, enamel and enamel) dominates, and the tools are tied for the second place with the same ç’§ and ç®, and the rest are loop, ç’œ, and round jade, which is the largest circulation. The monetary unit and the instrument are mainly jade materials, similar to the scattered silver in the Ming Dynasty.
Grade VII jade coins are about 2.5-4.5 cm long, accounting for only 4% of the total number of jade cultures in Qijia. The class still dominates the jade material, followed by the round piece of jade, the least chisel, is the smallest unit of "changes", there are not many opportunities to use.
2. The circulation function of Qijia culture jade.
The function of the means of circulation of money refers to the function of money as a medium of commodity exchange. Although we can't find the direct archaeological evidence of Qijia culture jade as a commodity exchange medium, we can indirectly speculate on the media function of commodity exchange based on the archaeological background of jade articles in some sites.
For example, Wuwei Huangniangtai M24 is a male and female adult burial tomb, with 6 pieces of funeral pottery, 1 piece of copper cone, 1 piece of jade enamel, and several pieces of turquoise beads. Among them, the jade stone was originally a currency, and it can be used as a medium for exchanging pottery, bronzes, and people (buried female slaves). For another example, the Zhangye Heishui National Site is a specialized copper smelting and casting site of Qijia Culture. Five pieces of Grade VI jade coins were unearthed, including 3 jade axes, 1 jade material and 1 jade carp, indicating that Blackwater Country The jade coins unearthed from the smelting site are likely to be mainly used as a medium for trading between ore, copper, smelting and casting materials, artisan labor, artisan basic living materials, and bronze products. Therefore, the currency class is mainly based on the production of tool axes.
3. Storage means of Qijia culture jade coins.
The function of the means of storage of money, that is, the currency exiting the circulation field as a general representative of social wealth can be stored. After the serenity, the jade sag of Liugou Village stored 3 pieces of Class II small hole IV and Grade IV ã€, and 1 piece of V ç®, obviously storing jade coins with large face value and medium face value, and small face value. Supplemented by jade coins, its social wealth storage function is fully expressed. The emperor's mother-in-law M48 has two female tombs buried by the female funeral burial, and 83 burial plaques; the shackles and shackles unearthed from the M8 of the Zhaocun tombs are actually performing the function of storage means of money.
4. The “international currency†function of the Qijia culture jade coin in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River.
The so-called "international currency" refers to the function of the currency to balance the international trade balance, the purchase of goods from abroad, financial assistance to foreign countries, loans, war reparations and other functions.
Jade researcher Deng Shuping will have a great commonality of Qijia culture, Shijie Group, Taosi culture and the jade wares of the Qingliang Temple cemetery in Shanxi Yucheng (possibly related to Taosi culture), which are classified as Huaxi jade articles. We further believe that Qijia Culture, Shijie Group and Taosi Culture are more likely to be three different polities. Among them, Shijie Group and Taosi culture have entered the national social form, and they form a common commodity trade circle with the Qijia culture in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Therefore, the Huaxi jade can be used as an "international currency" used by the commodity trade circle and circulated among the three polities.
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