I have already talked about the characteristics of some coins in the early Ming Dynasty, that is, the Hongwu period, and a coinage situation at that time. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in the Yongle Xuande and Hongzhi years, what was the situation of their coins?
First of all, they inherited the phenomenon that Hongwu Tongbao paid more attention to paper money and light copper coins in the early Ming Dynasty. Therefore, when it comes to the three emperors’ periods, the casting of copper coins was even less important, that is, copper coins were banned even for decades at that time. A situation of casting, which has greatly resulted in very, very few of these copper coins that can be circulated in the market.
At that time, there was a phenomenon we call atavism, that is to say, in addition to trading with silver and paper money, there was even a situation of bartering, which also led to the stagnation of the economy in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. It also laid a very important foreshadowing for the rapid decline of its politics and economy in the late Ming Dynasty.