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Eastern Jin
Shen Chong Wu Zhu
東晉
沈充五銖
Item number: A1544
Year: AD 318-321
Material: Bronze
Size: 19.2 x 18.8 x 0.7 mm
Weight: 1.1 g
Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2014
This is a Wu Zhu coin privately minted by Shen Chong, a prominent figure from a noble family in Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang), during AD 318–321, the reign of the first emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor Yuan of Jin. This coin is also known as the “Shen Lang Coin.”
The Shen Chong Wu Zhu coin features a square hole design. Due to its relatively high content of lead and tin, the coin appears in a grey-white colour. The obverse of the coin is covered with a reddish patina, and the characters “五銖” (Wu Zhu) are faintly visible on the right and left sides in Chinese characters.
From the late Eastern Han period to the brief reunification of the central plains by the Jin royal family, the political turmoil significantly reduced the supply and quality of currency. Additionally, the Jin government’s policy of laissez-faire allowed private individuals, particularly local power brokers, to mint low-quality coins that circulated in the market. Among the most famous of these were the Wu Zhu coins privately minted by the Wuxing elite, specifically Shen Chong.
In his youth, Shen Chong was a notorious troublemaker in his village. However, his interest in military strategy allowed him to organise his own gang. Shortly thereafter, he began to engage in the illicit minting of coins, leveraging his family’s ancestral property. This was particularly significant during the period when large numbers of immigrants from the north, fleeing the Yongjia disaster and the invasions by the Xiongnu, migrated south with the Jin imperial family. Supported by General Wang Dun, Shen Chong took advantage of this situation by reducing the weight of the coins to expedite their production. As a result, he quickly became one of the wealthiest and most influential power brokers in the region.
However, in AD 322, Shen Chong’s political protector, Wang Dun, led a failed rebellion. Shen Chong, who had supported the uprising, was killed by his subordinate, Wu Ru, while fleeing. Before his death, Shen Chong swore a vengeful oath to Wu Ru, promising that his descendants would ensure the extermination of the Wu family. True to his father’s dying words, Shen Chong’s son, Shen Jin, later avenged him by slaughtering Wu Ru’s entire family.
After Shen Chong’s death, most of the Wu Zhu coins he minted were collected and recast by the public to be repurposed for copperware. However, these coins, known as “Shen Lang coins”, became a source of inspiration for later poets. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin, in his work “Jiangdong”, wrote the line “謝家輕絮沈郎錢,” vividly describing the lightness of the Shen Lang coins, comparing their weight to the delicate and airy quality of willow catkins.