The usage of cash coins in the pseudoscientific practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are primarily used in two main medical practices, notably coin rubbing and the preparation of "coin teas". Coin rubbing is practiced by ethnic Han Chinese and others in many parts of Southeast Asia and is primarily used as a treatment for "hot" diseases and is related to the more familiar (to Western people) pseudoscientific practices of cupping therapy and acupuncture.WALTERSPIEL, J. N., AND J. R. ROGERS (1987) Coin Rubbing and Acute Phase Reactants. Australian Paediatric Journal 23:310. Victoria, Australia.
Cash coins are category of ancient Chinese coinage which are typically round in shape and have a square central hole, these coins were used as the main currency of imperial China between 221 BC and 1912 AD. The use of cash coins in traditional medical treatments in China is well documented and has been described in medical textbooks as early as the Song dynasty period where physicians commonly used the Tang dynasty period Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins to treat a variety of illnesses and maladies.
Cash coins are typically made of copper-alloys and contain various metals in their alloys such as tin and lead which all have medicinal applications in TCM. The uses of cash coins in TCM vary as they can be ingested, applied to wounds, used as a powder, rubbed against the body to treat supposed "hot" diseases, and made into medicinal teas. A Nature editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action.
The application of cash coins in traditional Chinese medicine exists independently from their usage in feng shui, the use of cash coin and cash coin-like amulets as "lucky charms", or their usage in traditional Chinese fortune telling.
Chinese cash coins
The cash coin became the main standard currency of China in 221 BC with the Ban Liang () and would be produced until 1912 AD there with the Minguo Tongbao (). Cash coins are characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole (). The hole in the centre of the coins allowed them to be strung together.Department of Economic History – London School of Economics Money and Monetary System in China in 19–20th Century: an Overview by Debin Ma. Economic History Department London School of Economics Dec. 2011 Chapter contribution to Encyclopedia of Financial Globalization edited by Charles Calomiris and Larry Neal forthcoming with Elsevier. Published: January 2012. Retrieved: 05 February 2018.
Originally cast during the Warring States period, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of Imperial China.Numis' Numismatic Encyclopedia. A reference list of 5000 years of Chinese coinage. (Numista) Written on December 9, 2012 • Last edit: June 13, 2013 Retrieved: 16 June 2017 The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys, with iron, lead, and zinc coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced. During most of their production, cash coins were cast, but during the late Qing dynasty, machine-struck cash coins began to be made. As the cash coins produced over Chinese history were similar, thousand year old cash coins produced during the Northern Song dynasty continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century.Kann p. 385.
Over the years, cash coins have had many different inscriptions, and the Wu Zhu () inscription, which first appeared under the Han dynasty, became the most commonly used inscription and was often used by succeeding dynasties for 700 years until the introduction of the Kaiyuan Tongbao () during the Tang dynasty. This was also the first time regular script was used as all earlier cash coins exclusively used seal script. During the Song dynasty a large number of different inscriptions was used, and several different styles of Chinese calligraphy were used, even on coins with the same inscriptions produced during the same period. These cash coins are known as matched coins (). This was originally pioneered by the Southern Tang. During the Yuan dynasty, largely deprecated copper coinage was abandoned in favour of paper money. This trend continued under the Ming dynasty. Cash coins only contained the era names of the emperor during the Ming dynasty. Due to a naming taboo the term "Yuanbao" () was phased out from cash coin inscriptions as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had the word "Yuan" () in his name. The trend of exclusively using the era names on currencies continued during the Qing dynasty, and all cash coins issued during this period were written in regular script.
Outside of China, Chinese cash coins have inspired the design of the Japanese mon,TAKIZAWA Takeo, (1996) Nihon no Kahei no Rekishi (History of Japanese Currencies) Tokyo, Yoshikawa Kobunkan. Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese vănED. TODA. (1882) ANNAM and its minor currency. Dr. R. Allan Barker. (2004) The historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam. currencies and the last series of cash coins produced in the world were the French Indochinese Bảo Đại Thông Bảo () during the 1940s.
Chinese cash coins as medicine
According to a number of ancient books on traditional Chinese medicine, such as the Ming dynasty period authoritative work the Compendium of Materia Medica the usage of old Chinese cash coins made of a variety of copper-alloys could be used in a variety of medicines, such as those to treat abdominal pain, menstruation, heart and stomach pain, insect bites, bladder diseases, bleeding, corneal opacity, ulcers, fever, birth complications, among other ailments.. (in Classical Chinese). Generally speaking any ancient Chinese cash coin could be used, but ancient Chinese doctors would favour specific cash coins over others for specific uses. They are typically grounded into a powder before usage. (in Classical Chinese).
While some recipes only took one or a handful of cash coins, others required hundreds of cash coins to supposedly be effective.- Tang dynasty period – Qian Jin Fang（）
During the Northern Song dynasty period the Materia medica () stated that only the Qin dynasty period Ban Liang (), the Han dynasty period Wu Zhu (), the Xin dynasty period Da Quan Wu Shi (), the Eastern Wu period Da Quan Wu Bai () and Da Quan Dang Qian (), the Liu Song dynasty period Si Zhu (), the Liang dynasty period Wu Zhu (), and the Northern Qi dynasty period Chang Ping Wu Zhu () are the only cash coins suitable for medicinal uses.- Northern Song dynasty period – Materia Medica（）
The use of any particular cash coins by traditional Chinese medicine doctors during the later periods of dynastic China was deemed acceptable, though it was typically recommended that a cash coin should "at least 500 years old" be considered "fit for use" in the procedures of traditional Chinese medicine. (Ancient money can be used if it is more than five hundred years old, but the Kaiyuan Tongbao cast by Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty is especially important in ancient and current times.) – Compendium of Materia Medica（）
The possible origin of the usage of Chinese cash coins in traditional Chinese medicine may be due to the fact that the cash coins produced by the Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties were manufactured mainly using copper, tin, iron, lead, and zinc along with the trace elements of barium, calcium, silver, and gold. Numismatic researcher Gary Ashkenazy on his Primaltrek website claims that the presence of all these elements and minerals in cash coins could have "potentially provided the necessary quantities, to cure or improve the health of those deficient in these necessary minerals". While zinc was already used in medicine in pre-modern China, over the course of Chinese history the zinc content in cash coins steadily increased.
Cash coins were also believed to have cosmetic application, such as fighting bad body odour originating from one's armpits.
Kaiyuan Tongbao
The Kaiyuan Tongbao () is generally favoured among practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, during the Ming dynasty it was considered to be well known that the patina () on these cash coins would kill pathogens.(in Classical Chinese). Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins are additionally used as a measuring tool for taking excessive amounts of traditional Chinese medicine powder.(in Mandarin Chinese).
During the Southern Song dynasty period, the physician Yang Shiying (), wrote in his work the Straightforward Guide to Recipes and Discourses of [Yang] Renzhai () that simply using ordinary Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins wasn't enough, rather he recommended using an "imperial concubine" Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coin that had two "moons" (crescent marks) on the reverse side. " (in Classical Chinese). Yang Shiying stated a medical practitioner should place the special Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coin on the hot charcoals of a fire. Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins not only contain copper but also other metals such as tin and lead. Because the latter metals have a lower melting point than copper, these metals will initially melt and form white "beads" (). These beads would then have to be mixed with either isotrema moupinense () or ginseng () to be effective. According to Yang Shiying the white beads formed in this manner have a "miraculous" effect on phlegm (). It is important to be noted that contemporary people during the Song dynasty regarded the molten tin and lead to be equal to the element mercury.）
The Ming dynasty period acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer Li Shizhen personally favoured using the Kaiyuan Tongbao for medicinal uses. Li Shizhen, for example, wrote that if someone would chew a Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coin together with 2 or 3 walnuts that this could cure syphilis (). (in Classical Chinese). The Kaiyuan Tongbao would also become the favoured cash coin for medicinal uses by later generations of TCM doctors.
During the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor in the initial years of the Qing dynasty period the belief that Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins are an effective cure for a number of ailments caused the price of these coins to skyrocket. In the work Autumn Lantern Series Talks () it is claimed that the price of a single Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coin was as much as 1000 Shunzhi Tongbao () cash coins. The Autumn Lantern Series Talks further claims that the people of Xiaogan, Hunan suffered from illnesses during the beginning of the Shunzhi reign era and that they benefited from having a number of Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins to cure them.(in Classical Chinese).
Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins were also used in regional medicines, for example a popular traditional prescription in the Shaanxi province during the Qing dynasty period claimed that to remove something referred to as "dead muscle" () stated that physician should combine 2 Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins with 2 walnut kernels, and 1 or 2 pieces of sparrow feces, then they should boil the mixture a total of 7 times, quench the mixture a total of 7 times using vinegar and to then apply this concoction to the place of the "dead muscle" externally to supposedly remove it.(in Classical Chinese).