Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .7
Almashik burial site in Tien Shan, and in a similar grave in the Mardan burial site at
the Otrar oasis in Southern Kazakhstan.
Finds of bronze Hou ch’uan (Huo Quan) coins from the time of the Emperor Wang
Mang (AD 9–23) have been rare. These coins appear to have been issued originally in
AD 14, when the emperor undertook a monetary reform of the Han Empire. They were
officially in circulation only during his reign. One Hou ch’uan coin was found on the
burial grounds of Khangaz I in Ferghana, one in Penjikent, and another at Afrasiab in
Samarkand; such finds are also recorded at Kanka in the Tashkent region.
Most finds of ancient Chinese coins in the eastern and central parts of Central
Asia have been in Ferghana and adjacent areas. Separate finds have been made in
Sogdia, Chach, Ustrushana and the Otrar oasis, and probably mark the western
border of the spread of ancient Chinese coins in this region.
The origin of wu zhu coins found in Ferghana is believed to be connected to the
opening up of the Silk Road in the late 2nd century BC, as one of its routes went
through this area. It has been suggested that wu zhu coins were not used as actual
money here, but as ornaments, because the coins found in Ferghana have only been
found in burial sites. However, it is probably premature to see the use of wu zhu coins
as limited to this. More recently, such coins have been found not just in burial sites,
but also in habitation layers of sites such as Penjikent, Munchak I and II, and Kanka.
Unlike Sogdia and Bactria, ancient Ferghana did not issue its own coins and it is
possible that wu zhu coins were used as a means of currency here.
The further spread of Chinese coins into the eastern and central regions of Central
Asia was during the Tang dynasty, the coins of which gained even wider circulation
there. Three kinds of bronze coins of the Tang dynasty have been found.
The most common are those with four Chinese characters, one along each side
of the square hole on the obverse that read kai yuan tong bao; the reverse side is
smooth, without inscriptions, but sometimes there is a thickening in the shape of a
semicircle or crescent to the left of the hole, which, according to Chinese tradition
was interpreted as the mark of the emperor’s fingernail. They were issued from
AD 621 to 907. The second type of Tang coin has the legend da li yuan bao on the
obverse and was issued in AD 766–779. The third type of Tang coin has the legend
qian yuan zhong bao and was issued from AD 758 to 760.
Going from east to south, Tang coins have been found in the following locations:
Kitai-gorod (China town) island at Issyk-Kul – 2 specimens; Krasnaya Rechka – 8
specimens and 2 fragments; Balasagun – 1 specimen; Turtkul, near Novopavlovsk
village near Bishkek – 1 specimen; Tashkent region, at the Kanka site – 3 specimens;
Khanabad – 1 specimen; Afrasiab – several specimens; Penjikent – 1 specimen;
Budrach – 1 specimen; Shurob-Kurgan – 2 specimens; Old Termez – 3 specimens
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