Riding the wind of rebirth

"Forget it," He Shiqing laughed. "I'm afraid the one who confuses Principal Zhao and Old Xu the most is yourself, right? Two years for undergraduate, three years for master's, four years for doctoral, and you even went abroad to bring back a bunch of treasures for the country. During the holidays, you visited Principal Zhao, and he said that he knew you would be extraordinary in the future from the moment you went to No. 7 Middle School to get their study materials. But it shouldn't be this fast. Besides, when you were in school, apart from your good calligraphy, I've never heard of you having any skills in appraising or restoring cultural relics."

“That’s because Lao Zhao doesn’t understand pork knuckle,” Yan Xiao said. “When we got the Five Emperors Coins from pork knuckle, no one outside had even heard of this saying.”

"Hey, do you all carry them?" Feng Xueshan asked. "Yang He and I always carry them in our bags."

“I brought it with me too,” Liang Hong said.

“I didn’t bring it,” He Shiqing said. “I left it at home, but Yan Xiao always wears it.”

"Take them out and let me see them. What do they look like now?" Feng Xueshan asked curiously.

When everyone took out their coin strings, they found that the ones that were almost the same before had changed. Feng Xueshan's and Yan Xiao's were the most beautiful, shining with gold and covered with a layer of patina. Yang He's were next, and Liang Hong's had not changed much.

"What's going on?" Liang Hong asked. She had joined the group later and didn't know that Zhou Zhi had explained the methods of playing with and polishing the items.

"It seems Xue Shan and Salt Mouse are the most diligent in handling their coins." Zhou Zhi glanced at the strings of copper coins before continuing to drive. "Xue Shan's are clean, translucent, and have a whitish luster—the result of long-term brushing with a dry hand. Yan Xiao's are also quite good; you can tell he handles them often, but the most convenient method is hand-polishing, resulting in an amber-colored patina."

Yan Xiao said smugly, "That's right, I've broken the rope so many times."

Zhou Zhi continued, "Yang He's must have been broken up and hung on a keychain for a while. It's not as good as Xue Shan's and Yan Xiao's, but the patina is the most natural. However, it's too thin because of the time, and there's still some shine from the metal friction. As for Liang Hong's, it was kept in a cloth bag and then put in the inner compartment of her bag. It's basically been untouched."

The group inquired about each other's maintenance methods and all expressed their admiration for Zhou Zhi. Feng Xueshan said, "I saw Yang He hanging this string on his keychain and then took it off and re-braided it. Zhou Zhi is really good at these things, isn't he? He can tell at a glance how we all play."

Zhou Zhi was quite touched that everyone was carrying the Five Emperors Coins with them: "I didn't expect everyone to still be carrying them."

"I don't have any. I don't even know what Five Emperors Coins are," Yang Honghui objected. "Besides, Liang Hong never told me!"

"I had completely forgotten it was in a hidden compartment of my bag," Liang Hong chuckled. "I wouldn't have remembered it if everyone hadn't brought it up today."

"Huh?" Everyone took turns looking at the Five Emperors Coins. When it was passed to Mai Xiaomiao, she said, "Why are my and Zhouzi's Five Emperors Coins different from yours?"

"What are your advantages?" Feng Xueshan asked.

“Ours are the Five Emperors of the Qing Dynasty, while Yang He’s are the Five Emperors of the Han Dynasty,” Yang He said. “You all don’t remember what Zhouzi showed you?”

“The Five Emperors Coins are divided into large and small sizes.” Zhou Zhi explained to Yang Honghui: “The ones named after the reign titles of the five emperors of the Qing Dynasty are called the Small Five Emperors, also known as the Five Emperors of the Qing Dynasty, namely Shunzhi, Yongzheng, Kangxi, Qianlong, and Daoguang.” “Xiao Miao and I have the Large Five Emperors, namely Qin Banliang, Han Wuzhu, Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao, Song Songyuan Tongbao, and Ming Yongle Tongbao.”

"The coin-making technology in the Qing Dynasty was quite standardized, so the copper coins were of good quality. In addition, they are not from a very old era and are relatively easy to collect, so we are giving you small Five Emperors coins."

“Not only are the Five Great Emperors from ancient times, but the quality of copper coins from Qin, Han, and Song dynasties is also relatively poor. Given their age, it’s extremely difficult to find coins in good condition.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “That’s why I only recently collected these for Xiao Miao. If Brother Yang wants them, it won’t be difficult for me to put together a string of the Five Lesser Emperors for you later.”

Then he told Yang Honghui about the ancient customs of divination and warding off evil with coins. Just then, the Five Emperors Coins from Mai Xiaomiao and Zhouzhi were also passed down to Yang Honghui.

The five ancient coins from Zhouzhi were already in very good condition. With careful maintenance and the ropes being beautifully woven, they broadened Yang Honghui's horizons, as he had never seen any of these five types of currency before.

"I've learned something new. These two half-ounce coins of yours look to be of good quality, even heavier than Kaiyuan Tongbao coins."

“There are many types of Banliang coins, some of which were cast as early as the Warring States period, and some were still being cast until the Han Dynasty,” Zhou Zhi said. “The main thing to determine is to study the material and the inscriptions.”

"The characters on early Banliang coins were not standardized. They were written in the Great Seal script and the writing was rather casual. Some of them were very thick and heavy, far exceeding the level of about seven grams per Banliang coin, reaching more than twenty grams. This was caused by the lack of standardization in early coinage."

"After Qin unified the country, it became more standardized. Apart from the large qian type cast in the early period, the rest were basically seven grams, and the script was the small seal script written by Li Si with a standardized size."

“Our two half-ounce coins belong to another type. Each one weighs more than 40 grams and is called ‘Fan Qian’. Fan means mold or model. Although it is in the format of a copper coin, it is not actually used for circulation, but rather as a weight.”

"The heavy-duty Banliang coins from the Spring and Autumn period, the large-mold Banliang coins from the later period, and the Banliang coins with molds like ours—these three types of Banliang coins are thick and heavy, with exquisite characters. If they are still well preserved, they are very precious. Especially the molded coins; there are only about ten of them with a history of circulation worldwide."

"You can gather all of these here?" Yang Honghui exclaimed, thinking to himself that it was no wonder Mai Xiaomiao liked Zhouzhi so much. In his opinion, this was almost as difficult as plucking stars from the sky, since there are far more meteorites that fall to Earth than this.

"Actually, they are all hard to collect. For example, Wuzhu coins. During the Han Dynasty, prefectures and kingdoms were allowed to mint coins, and private minting was also permitted. The quality was very poor. Good coins generally weigh around three grams, and some can exceed four grams. The superior quality of Wuzhu coins generally refers to rare items, local misprinted items, and items with special markings, rather than the quality of the copper coins themselves."

"These two coins, mine and Xiao Miao's, are Shanglin official Wuzhu coins, issued by the state during the Han Dynasty. They are of relatively high quality. The bronze casting of the inner hole was not completely filed to be flush with the square hole. In fact, they are semi-finished products before issuance, which is why they are heavier, weighing more than six grams, making them more suitable for making coin strings."

"The two Song-Yuan Tongbao coins are called 'Kaiyuan Hand'. If you compare them with the Kaiyuan Tongbao, you will find that they are very similar in terms of material, layout, and font. In particular, the Song characters have absorbed the writing style of seal script, which is more gentle. The 'bao gai' radical is symmetrical, rather than the two short strokes of regular script. The rarity is average, but the material is the best."

"You can tell from the coins that Emperor Taizu of Song was initially ambitious and wanted to emulate Emperor Taizong of Tang. Unfortunately, he lacked the strength, and with the surge in trade, Song coins quickly began to be lighter and smaller, degenerating into inferior coins like those privately minted during the Han Dynasty."

"Generally speaking, the Kaiyuan Tongbao and Yongle Tongbao are the best in terms of quality. However, it's important to note that Yongle Tongbao is relatively rare due to its official minting. It is exceptionally exquisite, and the place where Yongle Tongbao was minted the most was not in China, but abroad." (End of Chapter)