China has a very rich history and one of its main chapters is occupied by numismatics. Chinese history has known hundreds of thousands of various designs in its coinage. Ancient Chinese coins were struck in bronze, copper, iron, lead, silver and nickel. There were also ancient coins that were made in porcelain. Coins minted in copper may also be divided in several categories, and namely: red copper, copper-nickel alloy and brass.

Before coins were struck, Chinese people used shells. However, due to the fact that shells were quite scarce in some regions of the country, people started minted coins in iron and bronze that resembled shells. Some time later, these coins were struck in other shapes rather than emulating shells. Thus there were Bu coins, Dao coins and Quan coins. Bu is the name of an ancient Chinese farming tool, Dao is the term that describes a Chinese knife and Quan is the term that refers to the round shape of the coins.

The economy of any given region of China was reflected through shells, coins and paper money. Chinese money could be small or large, coins were light weight and heavy, there were also thick and thin Chinese coins and their quality, as well as the quality of paper money, could be good or poor. Besides economy, Chinese money, especially coins, played a great role in Chinese society, being important tools in science and technology, culture, religion and surely in the military field.

Chinese currency saw a great development during the evolution of trade. Thus Chinese coins represented the main means of performing trade. Shells were widely applied about 3 millenniums ago, during the rule of the Shang Dynasty. During the continuous development of trade in the empire, people required more shells for performing their trade, and thus shells became scarce and merchants needed other type of currency.

Chinese started creating imitations of shells. Thus bronze shells were developed. Shortly after their introduction, bronze shells became very popular than natural shells due to the fact that they could be easily brought together in size, weight and value. The introduction of bronze shells also market the period of Chinese coinage.

Different types of coins were struck during the Warring States Period, which took place between 770 and 221 BC. Throughout this period coins had the shape of Chinese farming tools or things that were used by people in their daily life.

After the unification of China under one emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, a lot of reforms were made, including the monetary reforms. During his rule, which was in the period between 221 and 207 BC, people started using round copper coins that featured a square hole in center. Such coins were called pan liang qian, meaning "half ling coin". It is worth mentioning that the reform performed by Qin Shi Huang Di in the monetary system is considered to be China's first reform of such kind. With the help of the hole made in the center of the coins, people could easier carry by filling a string through them. All of the coins were introduced as a national standard across China.

It's interesting to note that the pattern of the first Chinese coin with a square in their middle has been applied during the history of China till Qing Dynasty, which ruled in the period between 1644 and 1911.

The rule of the Han Dynasty marked a further development of trade in the Chinese empire. The dynasty ruled between 206 BC and 220 AD. During this period there was another change in the monetary system. In 118 BC, Yuan Shou of Emperor Han Wu Di, a decision from the imperial house was made to issue new coins, called wu zhu. This coin was struck is the same size and weight till the rule of the next dynasty, called Sui Dynasty, which headed the empire in the period between 581 and 618.