Tong Bei

Bronze wampums covered with "gold lead".

Tong Bei (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: 銅貝; pinyin: tóng bèi) literally translated as "Bronze Cowry" or "Bronze Shell", is an ancient coin found in China.

This coin itself is a replica of more ancient Cowry Money, made for the purpose of replacing it.[1][2][3]

A cowry shell or bronze cowry was denominated in bèi (貝) and string of cowry shells was called a péng (朋) however it is not known how many bèi were in a péng.[4]

  1. ^ Giedroyc, R. (2006). The Everything Coin Collecting Book: All You Need to Start Your Collection And Trade for Profit. Adams Media. ISBN 9781593375683. Retrieved 2014-11-16.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "History of China". Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-05-21. A snap shot view of THE HISTORY OF CHINA by YK Kwan
  3. ^ "Shang Dynasty - MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-10-21. Retrieved 2009-10-31. Shang Dynasty Economy Encarta
  4. ^ Chinesecoins.lyq.dk (Ancient Chinese Coinage) - Weights and units in Chinese coinage by Lars Bo Christensen. Retrieved: 13 August 2018.