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Sung bronzes—an economic analysis1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Jerome Ch'en
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Extract

The question under discussion here is both perplexing and easy, a paradox arising from the scarcity of precisely datable Sung bronzes. Because of the scarcity of such bronzes, art historians have not succeeded in forming a definite view about their quality, casting, and designs; however, it may be possible for specialists in other fields to say something about them. Unfortunately, records, too, are scanty. Under such circumstances, we may be justified in resorting to exogenous, namely economic, factors in the hope of finding an acceptable provisional conclusion.

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Articles
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , October 1965 , pp. 613 - 626
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1965

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References

2 18, tax 5, 178b.

3 Financial administration under the T'ang dynasty, Cambridge, 1963, p. 64, map 4 which shows the concentration of mints in the south and particularly in the east in the eighth century, and p. 69 which, quoting from the T'ang hui-yao, says that Chianghsi‘ contained important sources of copper’.

4 Vide infra, §C.

5 North of the boundary of the Southern Sung Empire.

7 Sec also Hsin-wei, P'eng, Chung-kuo huo-pi shih, II, 314Google Scholar. P'eng quotes only four figures which agree with ours. A very high figure, 21, 744, 749 catties, is mentioned in SHYK, FM, 33, 17565, 26b-27a. Judging by the trend of increasing output, this may have been a figure for the 1080's, but could not have been later than 1094 when Ts'ai Ching, the President of the Board of Revenue, voiced the urgent need for copper for minting. For earlier figures (in 806–48), see Ch'en, Kenneth, ‘The economic background of the Huich'ang suppression of Buddhism’, HJAS, xix, 1–2, 1956, 88.Google Scholar

7 Districts; number of mines unknown.

8 TK, 9, money 2, 97a. If one may hazard a guess, the complaint about the search for rare stones in this period was in fact a popularized version of the hardship caused by the search for copper. The discovery of rare stones for decorating gardens and the fashion of collecting inkstones were both by-products of this.

9 Money and credit in China, Cambridge, Mass., 1952, 38.Google Scholar

10 D. C. Twitchett, op. cit., 76–8.

11 TK, 9, money 2. 93b.

12 SS, 185, 6b.

13 SHYK, FM, 34, 67, la.

14 SS, 180, lb.

15 This was stated in a decree issued in 996. See SHYK, FM, 34, 67, la.

16 ibid.

17 Yen-i i-mou, in the Li-tai hsiao-shih, 32, 12b. It was issued in 991.

18 TK, 9, money 2, 93c.

19 ibid.

20 ibid., 95b.

21 SS, 180, l i b.

22 ibid., 12a.

23 Here are a few examples: 1170. In Ssuch'uan, people melted down money to obtain copper and the government then bought it from them for minting (ETC, 141, 3772). 1176. More than 8, 000 taels of copper products in the Palace were given to the Administrative Council (Shang-shu sheng). See SHYK, FM, 34, 67, lb-2a. 1196. The melting of coins for manufacturing purposes was strictly forbidden; those who disobeyed were to be banished to barbarian regions (SS, 180, 12b). 1197. More bronzes of the Palace collection were given to the Administrative Council and another decree was issued prohibiting the illicit manufacture of bronze ware (HTC, 154, 4149). 1201. Another attempt was made to stop the making of bronzes and brass articles (SHYK, FM, 34, 66, la).

24 Li-shih yii-yen yen-chiu-so chi-k'an (Academia Siniea), no. 10, 1948.

25 D. C. Twitchett, op. cit., 76-83.

26 Li-shih ytt-yen yen-chiu-so chi-k'an, no. 20, 1948, 216–17.

27 II, 281.

28 143.

29 The planned amount for that year.

30 The gross weight of a coin was reduced by almost 60%.

31 SS, 180, 8a; HTG, 100, 2629; and TK, 9, money 2, 96b.

32 Money and credit in China, 38. See also Ts'ao T'ien-ch'in, Ho Ting-yü, and Needham, J., ‘An early mediaeval Chinese alchemical text on aqueous solutions’, Ambix, VII, 3, 1959, 144–7.Google Scholar

33 Shen Kua, Meng-hsipi-t'an, 25, 249; 88, 180, 12a; Sung Ying-hsing, Tien kung k'ai wu, part II, 59a (chinois 5564).

34 SHYK, FM, 34, 67, 6b.

35 SS, 180, 12a.

36 ibid., 10b.

37 TK, 9, money 2, 94c.

38 Su Ch'e, Luan-ch'eng chi (Ssu-pu pei-yao edition), 359a.

39 HTC, 50, 1204. I n 1084 t he Liao government issued a decree forbidding the melting of copper goods for minting money (ibid., 77, 1946). This could be necessary only when the value of copper coins was high.

40 Ch'üan Han-sheng, ‘Sung Chin chien ti tsou-ssu mao-i’, Li-shih yii-yen yen-chiu-so chi-k'an, no. 11, 1948, 339.

41 C. Schlegel, Toung Pao, Sér. I, Vol. x, 1899, 33 ff. and Crawford, A dictionary of the Indian islands, 94.

42 See F. Hirth and W. W. Rockhill's translation, Chao Ju-kua, 127. For the travellers' aceounts, see Wang Ta-yüan, Tao-i chih-lüeh; Ma Huan, Yin-ya sheng-lan; Fei Hsin, Hsing-ch'a sheng-lan. Wang made his voyage at the end of the Yüan dynasty; Ma and Fei accompanied Cheng Ho on the latter's famous voyages.

43 Kenzo Akiyama, The history of Nippon, 158.

44 Lu-chiang, 1934–5, 74, 76, 77, 78.

45 See, for instance, Chang K‘ai-yu’s article in Wen-wu, 1957, 8, 37.

46 Yen Chung-p'ing, Yunnan t'ung-cheng k'ao, Peking, 1957, 1.