China, Qing Dynasty (1644-1909), Cash Coins(C)

The Qing or Ching dynasty was China’s last imperial dynasty. The Qing consolidated the territorial base that the modern Chinese state is now built upon. However, in its later years, it also saw the rapid decline of China and ultimately its economic and political subordination to hostile foreign powers. The continued use of the cash coins, designed to be strung into large bunches on strings, with their almost unchanged 2000-year-old design, is emblematic of the both the idea of continuity in Chinese history but also its inability to modernize in the past.