Chinese cash (currency unit) in the context of "Yuan (currency)"

A string of cash coins (Traditional Chinese: 貫, 索, 緡, 繦, 鏹, 吊, 串, 弔, 錢貫, 貫錢, 貫文, 吊文, or 串文; French: Ligature de sapèques) refers to a historical Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese currency unit that was used as a superunit of the Chinese cash, Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn currencies. The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings. The term would later also be used on banknotes and served there as a superunit of wén (文).

Prior to the Song dynasty strings of cash coins were called guàn (貫), suǒ (索), or mín (緡), while during the Ming and Qing dynasties they were called chuàn (串) or diào (吊). In Japan and Vietnam the term 貫 would continue to be used until the abolition of cash coins in those respective countries.

Jiaozi (Chinese: 交子) was a form of promissory note which appeared around the 11th century in the Sichuan capital of Chengdu, China. Numismatists regard it as the first paper money in history, a development of the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE). Early Jiaozi notes did not have standard denominations but were denominated according to the needs of the purchaser and ranged from 500 wén to 5 guàn. The government office that issued these notes or the Jiaozi wu (Chinese: 交子務) demanded a payment or exchange fee (Chinese: 紙墨費) of 30 wén per guàn exchanged from coins to banknote. The Jiaozi were usually issued biannually.

In the region of Liang-Huai (Chinese: 兩淮) these banknotes were referred to as Huaijiao (淮交) and were introduced in 1136. Still, their circulation stopped quickly after their introduction. Generally the lower the denominations of the Jiaozi the more popular they became, and as the government was initially unable to regulate their production properly, their existence eventually led to undesirably high inflation rate.

A sycee (/ˈsaɪsiː, saɪˈsiː/; from Cantonese 細絲, Jyutping: Sai3 Si1, lit. 'fine silk') or yuanbao (traditional Chinese: 元寶; simplified Chinese: 元宝; pinyin: yuánbǎo; Jyutping: jyun4 bou2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Goân-pó; lit. 'primary treasure') was a type of gold and silver ingot currency used in imperial China from its founding under the Qin dynasty until the fall of the Qing in the 20th century. Sycee were not made by a central bank or mint but by individual goldsmiths or silversmiths for local exchange; consequently, the shape and amount of extra detail on each ingot were highly variable. Square and oval shapes were common, but boat, flower, tortoise and others are known. Their value—like the value of the various silver coins and little pieces of silver in circulation at the end of the Qing dynasty—was determined by experienced moneyhandlers, who estimated the appropriate discount based on the purity of the silver and evaluated the weight in taels and the progressive decimal subdivisions of the tael (mace, candareen, and cash).

In present-day China, gold sycees remain a symbol of wealth and prosperity and are commonly depicted during the Chinese New Year festivities. Paper imitations of gold- or silver-colored sycees are burned along with hell money as a part of Chinese ancestral veneration for Tomb Sweeping Day and the Ghost Festival.

The mun (Korean: 문; Hanja: 文, Late Middle Chinese: 文, romanized: mjun, Middle Korean: 문, romanized: mwun) was introduced as the main currency of Korea in 1625 and stayed in use until 1892. Prior to the mun, cash coins with the inscriptions tongbo (通寶) and jungbo (重寶) and silver vases called ŭnbyŏng were used as currency in the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), as well as imported Chinese currency. The mun resembled and was derived from the Chinese wén (cognate also to the Japanese mon, Ryukyuan mon, and the Vietnamese văn). Coins denominated in mun were cast in copper-alloys such as brass or bronze and were round with square holes. From the 17th century until the end of the 19th century, coins denominated in mun bearing the inscription Sangpyeong Tongbo (상평통보, 常平通寶), introduced in 1633, were the most widely circulated currency. In 1888, coins were struck in small numbers denominated in mun and won (written as "warn", which were equal to 1000 mun). The mun was replaced in 1892 when the yang was introduced.

The cast coins of the mun would remain in circulation long after their abolition. They continued to be legal tender in Korea at a value of 0.1 chon (1⁄1000 won) until 1908, when they were revalued to 0.2 chon, or 1⁄500 won.

The Ryukyuan mon (琉球文, Ryūkyū mon; Okinawan: Ruuchuu mun) was the currency used in the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyuan monetary system was based on that of China, like those of many nations in the Sinosphere, with the mun (文) serving as the basic unit, just as with the Japanese mon, Vietnamese văn, and Korean mun. Like Japan had also done for centuries, the Ryukyuans often made use of the already-existing Chinese cash coins when physical currency was needed.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Kingdoms of Chūzan and Ryukyu produced their own coinage, but eventually transitioned back to Japanese mon and Chinese wén. Regardless of their origin, mon coins remained the de facto currency in the Ryukyu Kingdom throughout history up until 1879, when the kingdom was fully annexed by the Empire of Japan and the currency was officially replaced by the Japanese yen. Even after the introduction of the yen, however, mon coins continued to circulate within Okinawa Prefecture well into the 1880s, as the Ryukyuans were initially unwilling to use Japanese yen coins.