This is the “Songyuan Tongbao” cast in the first year of Jianlong (AD 960) by Emperor Taizu of the Song, the founding sovereign of the dynasty. It constitutes the first coinage issued under the Song.
The coin conforms to the traditional Sinosphere type of round cash coin with a square central perforation. The obverse inscription, in clerical script, reads Songyuan Tongbao in paired order from top to bottom and from right to left. The character Song is closer to regular script, whereas Yuan, Tong, and Bao correspond to the clerical style seen on the Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao. The central perforation is relatively wide, a feature termed guang chuan (“broad aperture”). The characters Tong and Bao are comparatively narrow and elongated, hence the designation chang tongbao (“elongated tongbao”), while Yuan is relatively narrow, referred to as xia yuan (“narrow yuan”). The reverse field is plain, with no additional marks or inscription. The metal appears brass-coloured; it may be smelted brass produced from ore, or alternatively a later imitation casting.
Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin (r. AD 960–976), was the founding emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. Of military origin, he distinguished himself repeatedly during the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou and came to command the imperial guards. In AD 960, at Chenqiao Station, he was invested with the yellow robe in a military coup—known to history as the “Chenqiao Mutiny”—and, with the acclamation of his troops, ascended the throne, founding the Song dynasty and proclaiming the Jianlong era. After his accession, he pursued a strategy of “first the south, then the north,” gradually subduing the southern regimes and laying the foundation for the eventual unification achieved under the Northern Song.
Zhao Kuangyin recognised that the turbulence of the Five Dynasties period had stemmed from the overweening power of regional military governors and professional soldiers. He therefore adopted the policy later termed “relinquishing military power over a cup of wine,” persuading veteran commanders to surrender their commands in exchange for generous treatment. Military authority was thereby concentrated in the central government, and the civil bureaucracy strengthened. This measure established the Song political pattern of privileging civil over military authority, reducing the risk of warlord fragmentation, though it also constituted a remote cause of the dynasty’s later military weakness.
In domestic administration, he rectified official conduct, emphasised the civil service examinations, promoted scholars of humble origin, and reinforced centralised fiscal institutions. In foreign affairs, he adopted a combined strategy of offence and defence in dealing with Northern Han and the Khitan. His reign witnessed relative social stability and a gradual economic recovery, inaugurating the prosperity of the Song period. He died in AD 976 and was succeeded by his younger brother Zhao Guangyi, who reigned as Emperor Taizong of Song.
The monetary system of the Northern and Southern Song was complex. Officially circulating coinage was struck in both copper and iron, functioning in conjunction with paper currency. Silver gradually assumed increasing importance. Copper cash were issued in denominations ranging from one to ten. Different circuits cast coins according to local requirements: some employed only copper cash, others exclusively iron, and still others both. Calligraphic styles varied widely, including regular, clerical, seal, and Slender Gold script, among others. In terms of material, the coinage is often described broadly as “bronze”, but in practice it was chiefly a ternary alloy of copper, tin, and lead. A Song-period compilation, the Zhujia Shenpin Danfa, includes the Rihua Zi Diangeng Fa, attributed to a Five Dynasties fangshi (Daoist technical specialist), which records a method for producing brass by treating red copper with calamine (lu ganshi). On this basis, there is also the view that brass-cast coins may have been used as “mother coins” (pattern coins for mould-making), though the matter requires further verification.
