The Monetary Bamboos of Suzhou (1875-1949)
By: François Thierry

We know, since Marco Polo, that the Chinese invented paper money, but we know less that they also used other supports for money, such as fabric, wood, rubber and bamboo. Bamboo coins mainly circulated in the lower Blue River valley at the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Republic, and particularly in the Suzhou region in Jiangsu province. Until now, these bamboo coins had hardly attracted the attention of historians and numismatists, even in China where there is little work on the subject.

This work, the first in a Western language devoted to these objects and their history, therefore fills a void: it is a synthesis which reveals the circumstances of their appearance and the reasons for their success, explains the monetary system in which they are inserted, describes the environment of traders and entrepreneurs who issued them, and studies the different types. Accompanied by a rich, largely unpublished iconography, this book studies in detail more than 350 monetary bamboos preserved in public and private collections in Europe and China and thus immerses the reader in the daily life of a Chinese province.

François Thierry is an associate professor of the University, historian and numismatist, honorary general curator in the Department of Coins, Medals and Antiques of the National Library of France where he was in charge of the collections of oriental coins from 1989 to 2015. He is the recipient of the medal from the Royal Numismatic Society 2006 and the Hirayama Prize from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 2018.

152 pages. 37 black and white photos and 16 color photo pages

Year of publication: 2023
Pagination: 152 p.
Size: 16 x 24 cm
ISBN: 978-2-86377-284-3
Availability: In stock
€55.00

John adds:

Ted Puls writes:

For more information, or to order, see:
The Monetary Bamboos of Suzhou (1875-1949)(https://www.leopardor.fr/index.php/les-bambous-monetaires-de-suzhou-1875-1949.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MARCH 10, 2024 : Chinese Bamboo Money Book Sought(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n10a06.html)