![]() In the Chinese afterlife burial coins could be used to purchase either less or no punishment for bad karma, or even for the purchase of luxury items. The Chinese custom of burying the deceased with coins can be compared to the ancient Greek and Roman customs of burying people with a coin to pay with a passage to the underworld. Initially archaeologists believed that imitations of currencies were only used by the poor, but the discovery of imitation money in the tombs of the wealthy had changed this view. The imitation metal money found in these ancient tombs ended to be thin and fragile, and were typically made of lead and bronze. Ĭhinese burial money has been discovered made from stones and bones (along with cowrie shells) in the earliest forms, later forms include thin metallic imitations of circulation currency during the Spring and Autumn period. This was done as the contemporary Chinese believed that if the grave was robbed then the spirit of the deceased person who laid inside of the tomb was disturbed by these robbers and the money that was formerly located in the grave that was meant to ensure his or her comfort in the afterlife was now gone, making their afterlife less comfortable. But as the presence of real money and other objects of value would attract the attention of potential grave robbers, the Chinese started to manufacture clay imitations of real money. Chinese graves dating to the Warring States period are found containing contemporary coinages buried as funerary objects such as spade money, knife money, ring-shaped coins, ant-nose coins, and Ban Liang cash coins. Graves that were dated to the Shang dynasty period have been discovered that contain thousands of cowrie shells, for example, the Fu Hao-mu, dating to about the year 1200 BCE, was discovered containing 6,900 cowry shells. See also: Chinese funeral rituals and Chinese numismatic charmīurial money was modeled after the many different types of ancient Chinese coinages, and earlier forms of burial money tended to be actual money. Ĭhinese burial money has been discovered dating as far back as 1300 BCE and remained popular throughout Chinese history until the advent of joss paper and hell money during the late 19th century CE. ![]() The practice changed to replica currency to deter grave robbers, and these coins and other imitation currencies were referred to as clay money (泥錢) or earthenware money (陶土幣). The practice dates to the Shang dynasty when cowrie shells were used, in the belief that the money would be used in the afterlife as a bribe to Yan Wang (also known as Yama) for a more favourable spiritual destination. dark coins (traditional Chinese: 冥錢 simplified Chinese: 冥钱 pinyin: míng qián) are Chinese imitations of currency that are placed in the grave of a person that is to be buried. ![]() A string of clay Ban Liang (半兩) cash coins discovered at the Mawangdui site in Changsha, Hunan.Ĭhinese burial money ( traditional Chinese: 瘞錢 simplified Chinese: 瘗钱 pinyin: yì qián) a.k.a. ![]()
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