China - 1 Cash Coin
Northern Song Dynasty
Chen-Tsung / Zhenzong Emperor
T'ien Shi - Orhodox Script
Coins were not minted with dates, but this form was used between 1017 to 1021
Emperor Zhenzong was the 3rd emperor of imperial China's Song Dynasty. He reigned from his father Emperor Taizong's death in 997 until his own death in 1022, when he was succeeded by his son Emperor Renzong.
Emperor Zhenzong's reign was noted for the consolidation of power and the strengthening of the dynasty. The country prospered, and its military might was further reinforced. However, it would also mark the beginning of a foreign policy towards the Khitan Empire in the north that would ultimately set the stage for the initial decline of the empire. In 1004, the Khitan waged war against the Song empire. Then in 1005 Zhenzong concluded the Shanyuan Treaty. The treaty resulted in over a century of peace, but came at the price of the Song dynasty agreeing to an inferior position to the Khitan, and also agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 100,000 ounces of silver and over 200,000 bolts of silk. The admission of inferiority would come to plague the foreign affairs of the Song dynasty, while the payments slowly depleted the empire's coffers.
The Song dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279. It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to nationally issue banknotes or true paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy. This dynasty also saw the first known use of gunpowder.
The Song Dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: the Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song(960–1127), the Song capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng), and the dynasty controlled most of inner China. The Southern Song(1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty in the Jin–Song wars.
The obverse incription reads "T'ien-Shi YUAN-PAO" in orthodox script.
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