Liao dynasty coinage

The Liao dynasty was an empire created by the Khitans that ruled over parts of Northern China, what is now Manchuria, and an area in present day Mongolia, North Korea, and the Russian Far East from 907 until 1125 when most of their territory conquered by the Jurchens who established the Jin dynasty. The Khitans fled westward and created the Western Liao dynasty which in turn was annexed by the Mongol Empire in 1218.

Liao dynasty coins were based on the coins of the Song dynasty but generally tend to be of inferior quality, early Liao dynasty coins were only scarcely produced and it wasn't until the reign of Emperor Xingzong (1031–1055).

Liao dynasty coins (like some contemporary Song dynasty coins) can be read top-right-bottom-left (clockwise), but unlike the Song’s coinage never appeared top-bottom-right-left. Liao dynasty era coins have appeared in both Chinese and Khitan scripts. The coins in Khitan script do tend to have different character orders, Though these coins weren’t meant for circulation.

Liao coinage is extremely rare compared to Song dynasty coinage, while the Song dynasty produced millions of strings of wén annually, the Khitans never exceeded 500.

The majority of the coinage that were recovered are mentioned in records from the year 1021, prior to that year it’s unclear which currency was produced despite later Khitan records mentioning that Taizong promoted metallurgy and coin mintage. Numismatic and archeological research have proven inconclusive to date if any coinage was produced during the early days of the Liao dynasty.

Common hypotheses suggest that crude coinage was produced in the agricultural southern regions of the Liao dynasty (which were only annexed in 938), this however has been deemed improbable by Liao dynasty historians Karl August Wittfogel, and Fêng Chia-Shêng. The southern 16 prefectures continued the production of as well as exchanging older Chinese coins, while in the northern regions of the Liao dynasty barter and the usage of coth money still prevailed until the reign of Emperor Shengzong.

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Wikipedia