Manchu Inscriptions on Qing Dynasty Coins: Understanding the Script on the Reverse of Qing Cash Coins
Manchu Inscriptions on Qing Dynasty Coins: Understanding the Script on the Reverse of Qing Cash Coins
MING YE
9/26/20265 min read
Manchu Inscriptions on Qing Dynasty Coins: Understanding the Script on the Reverse of Qing Cash Coins
From the Creation of the Manchu Script to Its Use in Qing Government, Literature, and Material Culture
By Ming Ye (MING YE)
Many Qing dynasty cash coins carry Chinese characters on the obverse and Manchu inscriptions on the reverse. To collectors, these inscriptions are often useful for identifying the mint where a coin was produced. From a broader historical perspective, however, the Manchu characters found on Qing coins also reflect the important role that the Manchu language and script once played in the administration and material culture of the Qing dynasty.
During the Qing period, the Manchu language was commonly referred to as Qingwen (清文, “Qing language/script”), while the Manchu script was also described as the guoshu (国书, “national script”).
Understanding the Manchu writing system therefore provides useful historical context for reading the inscriptions that appear on Qing coinage.
From Jurchen Writing to the Creation of the Manchu Script
The Manchus were historically connected with the Jurchens, who had established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234).
The Jurchens possessed their own writing system, known today as the Jurchen script. After the fall of the Jin dynasty in 1234, Jurchen writing continued to be used for a considerable period, particularly in northeastern China, before eventually disappearing from practical use.
By the Ming period, Mongolian writing had become important among a number of Jurchen communities.
A major turning point came in 1599, when Nurhaci ordered Erdeni and Gagai to adapt the Mongolian script for the writing of the Jurchen language.
This early writing system is now generally known as Old Manchu, or more specifically undotted Old Manchu, because it did not yet systematically employ the dots and circles that later distinguished otherwise similar letter forms.
The 1632 Reform: Dots and Circles
In 1632, during the reign of Hong Taiji, Dahai was ordered to improve the existing writing system.
One of the most important changes was the systematic use of dots and circles beside certain letters. These additional marks made it possible to distinguish sounds that had previously been represented by similar or identical written forms.
Additional forms were also developed to facilitate the transcription of Chinese sounds.
The reformed writing system is commonly known as dotted-and-circled Manchu, and it became the standard form of Manchu writing used throughout most of the Qing dynasty.
Manchu is written vertically, with lines arranged from left to right across the page. The form of a letter may change according to whether it occurs at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Traditional descriptions of Manchu calligraphy also identify structural elements and strokes such as uju, a, fuka, tongki, aka, and uncehen.
Unlike the Latin alphabet, Manchu does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Manchu Was More Than an Administrative Script
The historical importance of Manchu extends far beyond its appearance on coins.
Early Manchu documents include the Old Manchu Archives and the Manzhou Shilu (Veritable Records of the Manchus), together with large quantities of government and military records.
These documents have become important primary sources for the study of early Qing history, Manchu society, military affairs, diplomacy, and relations between the Qing Empire and neighboring states.
Manchu also developed a substantial calligraphic tradition.
During the Qianlong period, thirty-two styles of Manchu seal script were systematized, adapting the visual vocabulary of Chinese seal-script traditions to the distinctive vertical structure of Manchu writing. More decorative forms of Manchu calligraphy were also used on plaques, couplets, seals, and imperial objects.
Manchu was therefore simultaneously a language of administration, scholarship, literature, archival documentation, and visual culture.
Translating Chinese Books into Manchu
Even before the Qing conquest of China proper in 1644, Chinese works had already begun to be translated into Manchu.
Historical, military, philosophical, and Confucian texts were among the works translated in full or in part. These included texts associated with the Mencius, the Zizhi Tongjian, military classics, and other works of Chinese learning.
After the Qing established its capital in Beijing, specialized translation institutions—including the Fanshufang (翻书房), or Translation Bureau—played an increasingly important role.
A remarkable range of Chinese literature was eventually made available in Manchu.
This included not only Confucian classics and historical works, but also literary works such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and the Romance of the Western Chamber.
Even Jin Ping Mei was translated into Manchu, with a printed Manchu edition appearing during the Kangxi period.
This extensive translation activity demonstrates that Manchu was never restricted to military orders or bureaucratic paperwork. It became a medium through which Chinese history, philosophy, fiction, and literary culture could be transmitted to Manchu readers.
Dictionaries and Tools for Learning Manchu
As interaction between Manchu and Chinese intensified, numerous books were compiled to assist readers in learning and translating between the two languages.
These included introductory textbooks, pronunciation guides, dictionaries, collections of administrative terminology, and bilingual reference works.
Among the most ambitious lexicographical projects of the Qing dynasty was the Pentaglot Dictionary (御制五体清文鉴), which brought together vocabulary in Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian, Chagatai, and Chinese.
Other multilingual and bilingual works were compiled for administrative, diplomatic, educational, and translation purposes.
These dictionaries and reference books show the extent to which Manchu had become embedded within the multilingual administrative culture of the Qing Empire.
Manchu as a Bridge Between Languages
Manchu also played an intermediary role in cultural transmission.
Some Chinese works were first translated into Manchu and subsequently translated or adapted into Mongolian. Manchu could therefore function as a bridge connecting Chinese and Mongolian textual traditions.
This multilingual environment is an important part of understanding the Qing dynasty.
The Qing Empire did not operate through a single written language. Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and other languages were employed in different political, administrative, religious, and cultural contexts.
The Manchu inscriptions found on coins should be understood within this larger multilingual world.
Why Is Manchu Found on Qing Coins?
Qing cash coins provide one of the most accessible surviving examples of Manchu in everyday material culture.
The familiar round coin with a square central hole generally carries the reign title in Chinese characters on the obverse. On many Qing coins, the reverse contains Manchu characters identifying the mint.
This means that the Manchu inscription can help a collector determine where a particular coin was produced.
For example, different Manchu mint names could identify coins produced by the central mints in Beijing or by provincial mints throughout the empire.
To someone unfamiliar with Manchu, these inscriptions may initially appear to be little more than decorative vertical lines and dots.
They are not decoration.
They are readable Manchu words.
Once the basic structure of Manchu writing is understood, the reverse of a Qing coin becomes another kind of historical document.
A Simple Guide to Manchu Mint Inscriptions on Qing Coins
The most useful way to read the reverse of a Qing cash coin is to recognize that the Manchu inscription usually identifies its minting authority or place of production.
Two of the best-known inscriptions are associated with the central Beijing mints:
Boo Ciowan — the Board of Revenue mint
Boo Yuwan — the Board of Works mint
Other Manchu inscriptions were used for provincial mints.
For collectors, identifying these Manchu forms can help distinguish coins that share the same Chinese reign title but were produced in different locations.
A Kangxi, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, or Xianfeng cash coin, for example, may look broadly similar from the Chinese inscription on the front, while the Manchu characters on the reverse provide additional information about its origin.
This is why learning even a small amount of Manchu can be surprisingly useful in Qing numismatics.
From Imperial Documents to a Small Copper Coin
During the Qing dynasty, Manchu could appear in imperial edicts, archives, dictionaries, literary translations, palace inscriptions, seals, monuments—and on ordinary copper cash coins.
This enormous range of uses is important.
A language does not survive historically only through great books.
Sometimes it survives on the back of an object that millions of people once carried in their hands every day.
Today, a Qing copper coin may be only a few centimeters across. Yet the Manchu characters on its reverse connect that small object with a much larger history: the creation and reform of the Manchu script, the multilingual administration of the Qing Empire, the development of Manchu-Chinese translation, and the everyday use of Manchu as an official written language.
For collectors, those characters identify a mint.
For historians of language and writing, they are another surviving fragment of the world in which Manchu was once a living written language.
— Ming Ye (MING YE)